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Nicolas and I went for our last walk together to the Sevelen SG [Sevelen, Switzerland] train station, where our ways part. His southbond train arrived a bit before mine, and we said our fond goodbyes there. Thanks Nico! He came to experience train travel, and he wasn’t disappointed: it was not the easiest bit of the trip in terms of time spent in the train. And he also had two full days of travel to join and leave me! But he handled it like a champ, and appreciated it, thanks a lot to Switzerland epic sceneries.

For my part, I was going North for five minutes, to Buchs SG [Buchs, St. Gallen] for a quick change.

And from there, I took a train to Schaan! It lasted a whopping three minutes, half of it being in Switzerland.

Hallo Liechtenstein!

If I’m not mistaken, Liechtenstein marks the milestone of being the fourtieth country I’ve visited so far in my life! Let’s see what it has to offer.

A pleasant walk to the hostel, where I’m allowed to put my bag in a locker already. That makes my crazy stupid plan for today possible: I will attempt to cross the country by foot, from its two farthest points. I couldn’t do it in San Marino, which would have been a shorter dstance although much less flat, because the only day I could have done it was a Sunday, where buses don’t run in San Marino. Another time maybe?

First things first, get a bit of cash to take the bus. Turns out that the minimum amount of money you can get from an ATM in Liechtenstein is no less than 50 €! That won’t do for the bus ticket, so I grab a five euros bottle of Coca (a small one, of course). After a stop to the souvenir shop for a freaking 10 € keychain, I jump back in a bus and go all the way to the South of the country.

From there, it’s a half-hour walk, with the end uphill, to the border. I stop some meters before to not interupt my 24-h strike within the country, watch a roedeer crossing it, have a lunch, and start the self-imposed ordeal: about six hours of walking, 28 km. Luckily for me, except the beginning which is downhill, the near-entirety of the path is completely flat, as the starting point is close to the Rhine, and the end point is on its bank.

There isn’t a whole lot to say, except that the route was wonderful, walking with the Rhine (and thus, the border) by my left, and both the Swiss and Liecthenstein mountains on both sides. I walk past Balzers Castle and a covered bridge over the river. Many bikes and rollerbladers, most smiling.

At the mid-point, after three hours of walking pretty quick. I took a break just 900 m from the hostel. But I stayed strong and went on. An hour and a half later, fatigue started to kick in, but mostly, I was nearly out of water. I did a one-kilometer detour to get a new bottle (and some celebratory candies). However, during the following snack-break, I realized that finishing early enough to get back on time to check-in at the hostel (it was too early this morning) might be an issue.

So started the race to the last seven kilometers. I walked fast fast fast, indeed much faster than Maps indicated. And by 18:15, there I was! I had reached it, just stopping about 300 m before to be extra safe. I had crossed by walk an entire country between its two farthest points!

I was too exhausted for that fact to really sink in now, but I didn’t forget the candies. Why did I do this stupid ordeal though? Am I savage? I took back some forces on a bench conveniently located at the crossroad to the way back to the closest bus station.

I reached it largely in time, and even took a bus that got me to the hostel an hour before what I expected. Just before the hsotel, I reached the mighty 50,000 steps in a day! 38 km according to my phone, but I feel like it’s a couple more in reality.

After an agonisingly long check-in and an unexpected Liechstenteiner pint, I crashed pretty early. Our dorm was impressive: A French interrailing through all Europe, a Colombian guy cycling Europe, a Latvian guy running marathons all over Europe and a Brazilian guy doing the Camino de Santiago, and visiting here as his last European country.