We awoke to steady rain ... how weather changes so quickly in the mountains! We had a slow breakfast and dawdled with our packing in the hope that it would stop. It didn't. Leaving Chur in full waterproofs, with the surrounding peaks swaddled in cloud, we rode past the less scenic industrial areas on the outskirts and into the countryside. We passed pretty villages, with the odd steep climb which happily generated some heat as it was pretty chilly. An early lunch stop at a guesthouse restaurant was a great relief as very little is open in Switzerland on Sunday. We sat outside as the view was to die for, as was the bill. Two bowls of soup, 4 half-slices of bread and two very small (100 ml) glasses of wine relieved us of £29!! The soup was nice; just as well! The rain didn't stop all morning and continued sporadically all afternoon, so not too many photo opportunities today, and no incentive to remove waterproof jacket and over-shorts. As it was a short day today we sidetracked to Bad Ragaz, a pretty spa town, where we had coffee and cake and bought provision for tea. From here we rode up onto the Rhine flood dyke for several kilometres into a light headwind (nothing changes, winds are always headwinds). Surface was fine, flat, velvet smooth tarmac so was a pleasure to ride. As the river swung right we crossed the bridge into our second country. Welcome to Liechtenstein (pop. 35,000). We passed through Vaduz centre into the next part of town, Schaan where we searched for a while for the Youth Hostel. Asking one resident, we got a scare as she told us it was "no more, closed". She was wrong. As we knew there was no catering in the hostel, we feasted on tuna salad stuffed into seeded croissants. Delish! Now I must go and make my bed.
57.1 km; 15.6 kph avg; 3:42 moving time; 302m ascent
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