Rain, max 13deg
Skipped breakfast and walked 10 minutes to the city ferry
terminal for the 8:02am catamaran to Friedrichshafen,
Germany. The
fare cost A$23 return for a 40 minute crossing of the lake.
I had been looking forward to this visit to Eurobike 2012, ever
since I knew that it was going to be part of this trip. Eurobike is the
biggest bicycle show in the world. There are displays from 1,000s of
exhibitors from over 100 countries. Every conceivable type of cycling discipline
was catered for. It ran for several days, with just the one day set aside
for Joe public, on Sat 1 Sep. There were
also separate days for the cycle trade people and one for demos and try-outs. The first thing I noticed was that the
electric bicycle was making significant inroads into the market and there were
100s of these great looking machines on display. Actually on the tour I had noticed there were a
lot more people riding e-bikes around Europe
than I’d seen previously. The riding range of e-bikes has increased
significantly since battery technology has improved. If an e-bike takes a car off the road it has
got to be a good thing. I get the impression that some people would not ride at
all if it wasn't for an e-bike so that's another reason why they are okay,
especially for the aged or frail. The size and the number of exhibitors
at Eurobike were quite overwhelming and I left the exhibition completely
satisfied that I had seen sufficient bikes for one day.
Caught the ferry back to Constance. I stayed on the other side of the lake from
the bike show because even six months before the tour, accommodation within
30km of Eurobike was booked out completely.
I knew the ferry option was available and I had enjoyed the brief visit
to Constance in 2005.
The lake at this point is about 14km wide while it is 65km
long and over a massive 250m deep in places. It was created by a glazier in the ice age.
Germany, Switzerland and Austria all have territory on its
shores. Just after Graham and I visited in 2005 heavy rain caused the
water to rise 70 cm resulting in widespread flooding and damage. You could see
by looking at the proximity of many houses, buildings and roads to the water
that it wouldn't take much for it to flood.
Spent the remainder of the day wandering around Constance in intermittent rain.
The ferry to Friedrichshafen
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