Our two days off in the French town of Huningue near the Swiss border city of Basel could have literally and metaphorically been a damp squib. It was cold and rainy for most of the time we were there – and we ended up on a pitch on one of the smallest sites we have stayed on so far – and probably the grumpiest campsite owner. So we had plenty in the negative column. But it was far from being totally miserabasel in Basel! (Thanks to son Tim for this dodgy pun) We had plenty of visitors to cheer us up – Leila and Rolo the dog who are also travelling to Rome on two wheels; Phil’s good uni friends Crofty and Ellie who are spending a week in Switzerland on holiday: Kev, Phil’s American friend from Seoul who now lives near Lausanne three hours away by train from Basel – and last but not least, the aforementioned Tim who joined us at the Au Petit Port site after flying from Luton to Basel-Freibourg-Mulhouse airport which serves three countries. He was soon in action showing off his gym moves.

So we had plenty of company and stories to swap to keep us going in the damp weather. We have really loved people joining us on the route to encourage us on our way.
We also really enjoyed wandering around central Basel with the majestic Rhine flowing through it.

And of course we had the added bonus of the English premier league starting. So Friday night we were out at an Irish bar in town watching Arsenal against Leicester. To get home we had to travel in three countries – by tram from Switzerland to the German town of Weil am Rein – and then crossing over a long footbridge over the Rhine into France where our campsite was. As we walked into the entrance we saw dozens of swans hold up in a small sheltered bend on the river – an amazing sight in the moonlight.
Despite all the attractions of our couple of days off we were nonetheless glad to return to our routine and for Phil to don his cycling gear again on Saturday morning.