Biking Day 7

• Length ridden: 105 km
• Ascent: 430 meters
• Rating: 8.0 out of 10 - wonderful towns, especially Thun
• Highlights: the weather, Thun, Thun, Thun and Bern, plus the calzone
• Lowlight: missing the goal scored right after the half-time
• Map of the day

I was all packed up, ready to roll a little after 7 am and it was wonderful sunshine that day.

And I rolled. and soon I arrived at Interlaken. Inter = between, laken = lakes, so between the lakes. Yes, correct, the city lies between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun and is a bit of a jewelry box - just take a look at these pictures.

I got some breakfast in a grocery store (note: it was a Sunday, but as it was a very touristy place, there were multiple stores open even that day) and rode on. Now I was done wit Lake Brienz - where I had taken the south shore - and now I was riding on the north shore of Lake Thun. In contrast to the previous day, my camera said "click-click-click" the entire day - this was the Switzerland we all know. Blue skies, white mountains, green pastures, turkis water - all very elegant and organized - something like on the picture below.

Somewhere along the shore of Lake Thun, I went in for an amazing swim. It was a bit chilly at first, but then it was a real love affair with the velvety water, a feeling of profound happiness surrounded me. At the shore, I struck up a conversation with another swimmer, he was a doctor from Germany who had just relocated to Switzerland - and was discovering his surroundings. He was cautiously optimistic regarding his integration into the Swiss society.

Riding on, I found people celebrating the summer weather with jazz concerts - right next to a castle, which was right next to the lake.

I eventually reached Thun, the namesake of Lake Thun (surprise, surprise). Wow, what a town! A white castle from the 12th century crowns the town, overlooking a medieval old town. I was really impressed and yet again I made a note to return to discover more here. I could easily spend a couple of days here.

As I was standing in the main square, a biker rolled to me and asked where I was coming from and heading to. Without even listening to my reply, he told me - and I agree wholeheartedly with him - that biking is the best one can do and that I should not even stop before reaching Portugal. Well, I did not have the intention to bike that far, but I thanked him for the recommendation and he was gone as suddenly as he showed up.

Remember, I mentioned that I would meet my friend Karin and her daughter Sarah on the 16th in Geneva and I checked to see how much road I would have to cover - and it was just 200 kilometers. I felt quite relaxed, so I thought of riding to the capital of Switzerland, Bern.

Bern was just 30 kilometers away and I made it by around 3 pm. The first thing that struck my eye, looking at the UNESCO World Heritage old town from a hill above the river, that there were people swimming in the river, called Aare. There is a story to this - you get to a few kilometers outside town and jump in the Aare and let yourself drift to downtown. A perfect program for me, but I started thinking about logistic, where to put my bike, how to get to the starting point, so I dropped the tempting thought - feeling rather jealous for the people drifting there. Another reason to return.

As said above, the historic downtown is a heritage of the world and I could soon understand why. It is largely medieval, and it has a clock tower with moving puppets. You can also find an impressive 15th century Gothic cathedral, called Münster. Moreover, there are 6 kilometers of arcades, it is one of the longest covered medieval shopping promenades in Europe.

Again, I had a major dilemma whether I should stay or I should go - and again, I opted for leaving the place. It was, after all, July 14th, the final of the EURO 24, which I wanted to watch by all means. Leaving Bern around 5 pm, I could have ridden in a southwestern direction directly to Geneva, which would have been around 160 km or ride to the western shore of Lake Neuchâtel , visit Neuchâtel itself, then Lausanne and then only make it to Geneva - this option was longer by around 40 kilometers, but more scenic. With two days to go, I went for the latter option.

That evening, I had about 40 kilometers to reach La Tène on the Lake Neuchâtel - it was a rather uneventful ride, along farm roads. I was thinking which other country would have a capital city with such a boring and quaint area surrounding it - this kind of boredom is probably very Swiss. At La Tène, I found a very pretty campground, the reception of which was already closed. I went it still (something I would keep on doing later, i.e. entering even after closing time), pitched my tent quickly and then found out that at a local football club they were showing the final of Euro 2024, so a kind of public viewing. They were twenty people or so watching the game - and they were enjoying the cooking of a small bistro, with the cook coming from Napoli. I ordered a delicious calzone, if I recall correctly, it cost CHF 13 - a real steal in this otherwise very expensive country. I played with the young son of the pretty waitress and missed the score just after half-time, oh well, it was often replayed. I slept rather well that night yet again, after riding of some 105 km.