Worth seeing and knowing
Km 2.5 | A dam blocks the flow of the Rhine at the hydroelectric power station in Rheinfelden. We continue the trail along the Rhine skipping Möhlin over to the right. |
Km 9.5 / 10.5 | We pass by the ruins of two further watch towers linked by a nature reserve which our path takes us through. On the opposite side of the Rhine, the German side, is Schwörstadt, whose castle is quite visible from the Swiss side. |
Km 16 | In Mumpf the Roman Catholic Church of St Martin is worth a visit. It was built in the 10th Century but was first mentioned in 1302. |
Km 19 | We pass through Stein. The more than 200-meter-long wooden bridge is the longest covered wooden bridge in Europe. It connects Stein with German Bad Säckingen. The historical Old Town with its Fridolin Cathedral is well worth a detour. Friedolin was a missionary in Ireland, among other places (538).
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Km 23 | Sisseln was originally a fishing and rafting village. To the east of the village there used to be a fortified Roman building. As it was already in existence from the second half of the 4th Century, it was certainly still standing when Columbanus travelled through the area.
Along the whole stretch of our path beside the Rhine bunkers attract our attention. They were constructed in the Second World War to protect the northern border of Switzerland. |
Km 29 | We now reach the final goal of this second stage of our trail – Laufenburg. The Rhine here flows through a 12-meter-wide gorge with numerous whirlpools. Settlements on both sides of the Rhine were named ‘Laufen’, meaning ‘whirlpool’.
The whirlpools (or Laufen) were huge obstacles for the fish as well as the boats. This led to earning opportunities for the Laufenburg inhabitants. Servants with carts were made available (at a price) to unload the boats above and below the danger zones and haul the empty boats with ropes through the whirlpools. At the beginning of the 20th Century a dam was constructed in the Rhine to generate energy. The whirlpools were consequently flooded in the dammed water. |