Stage Two - Kreuzlingen to Rheinau
We started the day in Kreuzlingen, a Swiss town joined to the German city of Constance by a few customs posts and a fence or two. Both sit on the shores of Lake Constance. From here the lake flows into a smaller lake before once again becoming the Rhein which continues its journey westwards, forming a natural border with Germany for much of its journey to Basel.
There are several very pretty little towns along the river but we stopped just a couple of times, once to eat our sandwiches on the shores of the lake (untersee) and once to stroll through the border town of Diessenhofen. Having seen the sights and enjoyed a coffee and a sort of fat marzipan cake, we set off towards Schaffhausen.
Canton Schaffhausen posed the first real obstacle to 'Round the Edge'. It is a bulbous piece of country bordering Germany. Many of its roads disappear over the border never to be seen again, and according to my map there is no realistic way of driving around its perimeter without covering the same stretches of road several times.
The canton actually contains the German town of Büsingen which is surrounded entirely by Swiss territory. To cover everything we would had to retrace our steps several times, so we compromised. On our first visit to the area in March we decided to make life simple and covered just a small part of the canton around the Hallau area, well know for its wine. However, it was pointed out to me that we had missed a couple of very important bits -thanks Leo. So we revisited the canton in May to include the most northerly village of Bargen.
I expected a large sign to inform us that we were standing in the most northerly Swiss village, but alas there was no such sign. Perhaps I overlooked it? The village has a population of about 250 and boasts two restaurants and a handful of houses.
Journeying on, we hugged the border as closely as possible, stopping for coffee in Beggingen, and cruising through Schleitheim before once again reaching Hallau. I decided to use the pictures of Hallau from our second visit because they seemed more green and lush than those taken in March. Our last photo-stop in the area, was Wilchingen-Hallau railway station.
From here we crossed the border, travelling over German territory, crossing the wooden bridge over the Rhein back into Switzerland at Rheinau. Rheinau is particularly known for it's Abbey. After the Abbey's dissolution in the 19th century it was used as a psychiatric clinic until 2000. It has recently undergone extensive renovations and now houses a concert hall.
Preamble - Stage One - Stage Three
