Home. And yet not, somehow… Of course, I still have to pass through Basel with the ArgoFram, but without landing (for customs reasons). The Rhine is an international body of water, freely navigable, even through Basel, because east of the city, with the town of Grenzach, Germany also rejoins the Rhine (the river remains formally divided into two until Schaffhausen). At the ‘Dreiländereck’ (border triangle), north of Basel, even three countries meet with their borders: France, Germany and Switzerland.
I now sail in and out of the border triangle every day, make trips and visits as far as the Birsfelden lock, cross in front of the new Roche towers, in front of the cathedral, between Greater and Lesser Basel. Even my mother doesn’t want to miss out on the chance to experience this driving feeling for herself, and like her, I also drive my kids and friends through this unmistakable scenery in the Rhine bend.
But at the same time, it’s time to tidy up the ArgoFram, clean it, get it ready for the trip to Tallinn – thankfully Marko will pick it up and prepare a nice place for it to hibernate.
It is an advantage that I was able to find a place in the crowded marina of Weil am Rhein where I can do this work without the waves of the big ships. And I become a temporary guest in this well-organised marina, whose restaurant is visited daily by many excursionists from Basel, be it for lunch or in the afternoon for coffee and cake.
So every day I commute with my bike between worlds, between water and land, between Switzerland and Germany, between the ArgoFram and my ‘Horst’. It’s a strange feeling – all of a sudden a journey is over, a journey from Tallinn to Basel over some 13,000 kilometres along the coast of Europe, which I wanted to explore just like this, without having the slightest clue about what would come my way every day, every hour, indeed every moment.
Now I’m here, back in Basel, after what feels like an everlasting summer, and yet I’m in a completely different place than when I left – because I’ve continued to develop myself in unexpected ways during this seemingly unbelievable journey.
Everything is still a bit confused, not yet grounded. But I realise: my perspective on everything that comes before my eyes now and in the future has definitely changed, expanded, differentiated. And I am tired, but happy.