| N | Route | Km Altimetry |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basilea − Soletta | 67 km |
| 2 | Soletta − Saint-Blaise | 62 km |
| 3 | Saint-Blaise − Morges | 97 km |
| 4 | Morges − Genève | 62 km |
After having traveled by bike through many countries of Europe, especially Central Europe, I had managed to avoid one of the countries closest to Italy, that is Switzerland. In reality I had already touched on it during 1997, from Donaueschingen to Zurich, towards the end of a trip along the Donauradweg, and then during 1999, as the first leg, from Zurich to Rheinfelden, of a trip along the Rhine. Therefore I had already touched twice upon Switzerland’s largest city.
During 2010, seeing a train schedule and in the station a direct train from Venice to Geneva with space for bikes, an ETR-600, the same type of train as the (*)Frecciargento [Silver Arrow], operated by Trenitalia, suggested the idea for a trip that would connect the other two large Swiss cities, Basel and Geneva, touching upon the lakes of Biel, Neuchatel and Geneva.
Both Basel and Geneva are border cities, Basel within the German-speaking part on the border with France and Germany, Geneva within the French-speaking part virtually surrounded by its border with France.
Basel to Geneva or Geneva to Basel? In the end I selected the first direction based on weather forecasts that eventually would prove to be very, very inaccurate.
The trip took place between August 14 and 21, 2010: August 15 was dedicated to Basel, the four segments between August 16 and 19, August 20 was dedicated to Geneva and the 21st was the return to Venice by way of the ETR-600 train described above.
The weather this trip was not very accommodating: the arrival in Basel on the 14th was greeted with a terrific downpour; the morning of the 15th started drizzly but let up during the afternoon to sunshine and to become somewhat warm. The 16th of August, the leg from Basel to Soletta, the forecast had called for light rain for the entire day; the rains were anything but light. The 17th and 18th of August the weather was gray but without rain. The 19th, the day of the final leg along Lake Geneva the weather was sunny. The 20th, in Geneva, the weather was identical to the weather in Basel, drizzly in the morning, sunny and warm in the afternoon. And naturally, on the 21st, the day for my return the best weather of all, calm and warm.