Waking up to a blast of sunshine today was a welcome change from the rains of the past two days. With that in mind I headed out for a wee bit of a hike. Walking along the river Rhine, I went from the old town of Schaffhausen to the largest waterfall in Europe the Rhinefalls. It was an impressive ton of water but not really what I was expecting. I had thought height of the falls as opposed to width and volume of water. Still it was gorgeous.
I had originally planned to get a boat out to the rock to get a close up but the place was crawling with tour buses and my least favourite type of tourists-teenagers. No matter what country they are from teenage tourists are the most annoying as well as the rudest. I say this a wealth of tourist experience and snobbery.
So that scuppered that plan so I continued along the right side of the Rhine bank. It was glorious. I stopped for a picnic lunch (there were many picnic benches along the way) and walked a total of 17km till I stopped at the tiny village of Jestetten then I crossed the river. I walked back along the river and then to the top of the Rhinefall. Back around to the other side of the falls again and then a well earned beer overlooking the falls.
Along my walk I encountered bright blue dragonflies longer than my fingers, snails the size of my palm, black sheep, donkeys, an animal I can only presume is a cross between a goose and a turkey and an alpaca called Romeo.
Also a lovely lady in a canoe in her 50s. We had a great chat, she couldn't quite understand why on earth I was traveling in Switzerland by myself, she has never her village of 135 people let alone gone to another country. She has 3 daughters and one of them is away for 2 weeks and she has found it really hard and is missing her so much. I tried to explain the reasons for traveling but we lost a lot in translation.
Anyway after the falls again I got back to Schaffhausen into for the Swiss playing in the world cup. I had walked a total of 40km plus so I was more than happy to sit down with a beverage.
The game went for two hours and for reasons I can't fathom all the extra time was to allow the Swiss tone to score (must get Conor to explain all that when I get home) but unfortunately the Swiss couldn't and so they are out. Everyone was a bit woeful for a while but they rallied well!!
Picnic lunch overlooking the river
Schaffhausen on the river
The falls!
Wine and soccer
I love that the plates and the biscuits are being put to good use!
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