Day 22: Heat Wave Day 3

The heat relented a little today, with a high of a lowly 88. We moved the tent last night to try and get better airflow, and it might of worked (although I think it was just a little cooler last night). I think everyone slept for a least a few hours, so that was good. The sun woke us up at 7:45 or so, and we made quick work of breakfast and got out of there.

Getting on the bike was actually refreshing as the rush of air cooled us down and we got into a good rhythm. Route 5 was not that will marked at the beginning of the day, so we ended up just riding on roads and following signs to Yverdon, which was the next city we know route 5 went through. That turned out to be a good move, as we cut a good 10km off the trip.

Yverdon was a cool town. The center of town looks like an old square from medieval times. We decided that beheadings definitely used to take place here. They didn't allow any cars in the center of the city, so it was a nice place to relax and refill water at one of the many drinking fountains we've found here in Switzerland.

After our brief stop in Yverdon, we moved to our final destination of Estavayer-le-lac, a nice resort town. Our campsite is once again right on the lake, which worked out for a wonderful afternoon.

We arrived at the campsite at noon, and immediately hit the beach. The beach was fairly empty and we found a nice place in the shade to sit, read, and occasionally go for a dip in Lac de Neuchâtel. Right next to where we were camping was a water skiing and wakeboarding park. There's a cable that forms a large loop out into the lake and back, and tow ropes that hang off metal runners that go around the cable. One just sits on a dock with a wakeboard or water skis on, gets handed a tow rope handle by the operator, and waits for the next metal runner to come along. The operator then presses a button and the rope gets picked up by the runner and your on your way. It's pretty cool how it all works.

Matt and Mark went over and got 30 minutes of wakeboarding in. Nate opted to sit this event out. It was a blast. Matt got up first, after one fall, and Mark was quick to follow after a fall on his first attempt as well. It took us awhile to realize the operator was telling us to get larger boards (he was originally just speaking French and we had no idea he was speaking to us) but the bigger boards helped and we had a great time.

Note: No pictures of us, just others

After wakeboarding we went back into town for food. There was a Doner Kebab shop along the way, and we couldn't resist some Doner so went into the shop and got some Doner. It was delicious.

The trip to the grocery store brought us into town, which was very cool. In this town, this castle that used to be here is still very in tacked. Entering town from the north side, it looks like the road goes through an old castle door, which is pretty cool.

After overheating by going to the grocery store (I'm glad we're finishing biking in the mornings) we went back to the lake and drank some beers and talked to pass the time before dinner.

It's finally cooling off here, at least a little bit (though we were sweating just from eating dinner). I think it's around 84 and its the last bit of dusk as I write this, so we will hopefully sleep well tonight. Tomorrow we bike to Solothurn, and get closer to our final real stop in Switzerland, Zurich. The heat wave is supposed to break tomorrow, with a big storm, so we are looking forward to that.

All in all, a pleasant day, we just can't wIt for the heat to break.