#aargau

In all seriousness, we're stopping at the next station, Stein-Säckingen (28 km), for another town with an interesting border crossing: a covered wooden bridge.

Over 200 m long and over 300 years old (with renovations, though a bridge has been recorded here since 1272), the Holzbrücke is open to pedestrians and cyclists. Until its last refurbishment, it even took cars, which sounds nuts today. The border is in the middle of the bridge, and is neatly marked.

On the German side, Bad Säckingen (32 km from Basel Bad Bf) has a historic centre with a richly decorated cathedral (seen in the photo above) to offer, as well as some charming literature folklore associated with 19th century stories about a trumpeter, featuring the aforementioned tomcat Hiddigeigei.

Next morning, and the fog has rolled in, somewhat obscuring the establishing shots of our next location, Laufenburg (40 km). Similar story to Rheinfelden: the town was established on both sides of the Rhine, and one day, Napoleon arrived on his high horse and decided that the river shall be the border, splitting Laufenburg in two. That said, today, the Schengen agreement means that the border is hardly ever closed, to the point where the barriers can be reliably used to string up party banners for the town fete - Fasnacht is coming up.

The Swiss side, served by a branch line at Laufenburg (37 km from Basel SBB), features a church and some castle ruins above its historic centre, which seemed to be in the process of being repaved. I was struck by how calm everywhere was, but it is January. I expect it'd be much busier in spring or summer. The place looks fantastic for hiking too. Either way, the fog lifted ever so slightly as I left for Waldshut, revealing some snow on the hills.