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| Water wheel at the Basel paper museum |
Then we hopped on a tram back to the Marktplatz and transferred to take us down to the wonderful Basel paper museum, which we visited the last time we were here. This time, we just wanted to pop into the gift shop. Then we walked back to the apartment for a quick lunch and met up with Catherine, who was to lead us on a hike in the hills southwest of Basel above the French town of Leymen. The border between France and Switzerland here is rather tortuous, so we crossed back and forth several times along the way.
It was a 12-kilometre bike ride out to Leymen, and then we fortunately got a ride up to the trailhead. Then we climbed petty steadily for over an hour to reach a ridge overlooking Basel to the north and the Jura Mountains to the south—some pretty spectacular views on either side. As a reward for making it to the top, we stopped at an overlook and shared the little Linzertorte we had bought earlier.
Then we made our way back down to Leymen, via the Kloster Mariastein, a pilgrimage church, and an old ruined castle, the top of which offered an amazing panoramic view of the surrounding area. We made it back to Leymen about 7 pm, pretty tired and quite hungry. Luckily, the town boasts and excellent restaurant, so Sonia and I bid Catherine farewell and then had a lovely dinner before riding our bikes back to Basel. All told, I estimate we walked at least 20 kilometres and cycled 24. One of our fullest days so far. But the weather and the company was unfailingly excellent, which kept our spirits from flagging, even if our legs did protest at the indignity of the last cycling leg.
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