The most noteworthy thing from today’s walk was that I visited three countries. I started in Liechtenstein, walked through Switzerland and ended up in Austria. A first for me. I have never walked in three countries in one day before.
Otherwise it was a very uneventful day. I walked 24km and there was 100m of total elevation (if that even counts as elevation). The biggest climb of the day was over a bridge over the Rivel Ill, just before it joins the Rhine.
Similar to much of yesterday, today was spent on top of a dike next to the Rhine. The weather was good, and I met a few walkers out for the day, whilst it was otherwise mostly older cyclists on their e-bikes.
The Rhine marks the border between Switzerland and Austria or Liechtenstein. However, at one point the Rhine (Alter Rhine) makes an arc to the east, whilst a canal has been built that runs straight north. According to a sign I read, this was done to avoid flooding, which happened every now and then at the start of the eastern arc. As the border between Switzerland and Austria follows the Alter Rhine, and I walked along the canal, I walked through Switzerland for a couple of kilometers. When the Alter Rhine rejoined the Rhine, I was back in Austria.
For walkers at least, there are no official borders. I did however notice a sign at the border between Liechtenstein and Austria, but no others. Cars were however being randomly stopped as they entered Austria.
There were a number of solar driven electronic devises along the path in Austria. They are about to build a new dike along the river and devices measured any movement in the ground, to be able to find weak spots before the dike is built. They had wires sticking up from the top of the device, to stop birds sitting on them, as that would probably cause the machine to move and register a movement.
There were no services along today’s route, so it was good that I had plenty of water with me. About 1km before I reached the brand new Holiday Inn where I was staying, there was a baker. I stopped for a coffee and cake until 3pm when I could officially check in.
The weather has been good all day and whilst writing this at 19.30, it is still 25 degrees. I was pretty tired when I arrived at the hotel, and fell asleep before taking a shower and then walking the couple of kilometers into town. A lot of people are out and about given the beautiful weather, but beyond a massive church and a single commercial street, there seems little else in Lustenau.
