Stage 12 Two wrong turns and a trip to A & E

Today's route: 101 Miles (after detour) 

Mulhouse -> Sursee (Switzerland)

Ascend: 1150m, Descend 905m

I got a great nights sleep and felt recharged enough for the difficult day ahead: Long distance with big climb. 

Domenico and I met at 7:15am for breakfast, keen to make an early start as he needed to be at Zurich airport by 7pm. Zurich airport is 90 minutes by train from today's destination: Sursee, Switzerland.  So we aimed to get to Sursee by 4pm to allow wiggle room on timing. 

I made great progress early doors, managing to exit Mulhouse quickly during their early morning rush our. The sun was shining (at last) and I had the wind on my back. All was good. I was even feeling a little smug as I had found a short cut on the planned route shown by the Nav on my handlebars. 

That little short cut turned out to be the first of the days wrong turns. In trying to be clever, I ended up traveling 9 miles in the wrong direction, realising late, I turned around. The days stage had automatically been lengthened from 83 to 101 miles . 

Trying to put that behind me I powered on. I met Domenco after about 40 miles, refilled my water bottles and applied the sun cream that he had kindly sourced for me. 

I crossed the river into Basle and entered Germany again:- 

Then hung a right after 1 mile and crossed the Swiss border: 

It wasn't long before I was out of Basel, and heading out into the mountains of Switzerland. 

I even stumbled across a garage which could repair my "F" niggles. 

Then I took my second wrong turn of the day. 

I was 75 miles in and following the sat nav religiously. I had to turn right at 90 degrees onto a canal path, so did so without looking ahead. Out of nowhere appeared a deep gravel crossing before the canal path. I didn't stand a chance.  I had a split second to think before landing heavily on my right elbow and leg in a cloud of gravel. 

Two women, out waking their dogs, came to my aid and were very concerned. They checked me for head injuries before I explained that I was English, on a tour, and with my mind rapidly turning to the blog opportunity, immediately requested a photo. 

The Swiss lady "Pier", cleaned my wounds with wet wipes that she had in her car and told me I had to go to hospital ASAP due to the large amount of gravel still stuck in my deep wound (Zoom in if you haven't eaten already).  Pier was interested in the ride, so I gave  her details of the blog site. So if you are reading Pier, thank you again. 

I phoned Domenico, he met me and also tried to clean me up as best he could. After applying Petes bandage from his nose injury, I proceeded to soldier on.

Then came the days big climb. 500m over only 6km. For Maldon readers, that is like going up 10 market hills back to back. 

Once at the top, I could see Sursee 30 miles below. I descended at speed (top speed 51mph) down the valley and finally made it into Sursee at 4:20pm.  101 miles completed, 1150 meters climbed, and a new injury. 

Domenico and I had time for a beer, he helped me check into the hotel (read carried all my luggage again for me), then I dropped him off at the station, we man hugged and said our goodbyes. 

What a top tour support driver Domenico was. Plenty of laughs, and always there. Tks mate. 

I then set off to A&E at Sursee hospital. Supreme efficiency in motion. They saw me immediately, and after a good look at my wound, "Hans" and his soft hands went to work. See here: 

He administered a local anaesthetic and then managed to remove 10 large bits of grit from my elbow. I was all done in 30 Mins.  Not bad for CHF 110. 

What an eventful day. Lessons learnt. 

I'll make sure to look ahead a bit more, especially at speed, and also try to work a little more on my erratic navigation skills. 

Having just nailed a pizza AND spaghetti bolognaise AND a bottle of red, I feel very sleepy all of a sudden. Thank god I'm in bed already .  Fortunately I have a rest day again tomorrow, ahead of the big big climbs to come in the days ahead and another support driver change. Dominique is coming back! 

Until then. Brett x