Pretty big day today. Luxuriated in the relative comfort of the hostel. Did Laundry. Went.

Traveled back through the old town of Basel.

Crossed the river a few times.

After some monkey business, we find the route and, suddenly, were deluged with francophone signposts and advertising. We had arrived in France.

We were now in Andrew’s World.

To fit the occasion, we stopped and had pain au chocolat.

Soon we found the Rhine/Rhone canal, which made for some of the nicest cycling of the trip. Often shaded, always straight with a nice consistency of riding surface and with slowboats here and there, the day was spent in pleasant pedaling.

We had lunch in Neuf-Brisac, which was one of my favorite towns along the way. The whole city is shaped like this:

Because it was built as an impenetrable fort by the French as a bulwark against the nearby Germans. Passing through the dried-up moats and high gates and seeing the grid pattern streets meant for maximum military efficiency, all of this made our stop at a Kebap stand seem epic. This is where I had my first french fail: Wanting fries, I asked for ‘pommes’ (pum-us) as the Austrians call them and then said “PUM” - which, I’m told, means ‘apple.’

More canal riding. Then a few Pssssssss flats. Then we found a campsite in Erstein, a massive complex of trailers and more trailers.

And we cuddled up with some of the folks and watched the World Cup final before going to bed. Damn you, Spain.