The Rhine is a hiking trail and a trading, border, energy and boundary river
10 March 2025
Helvetia gazes westward from the Mittlere Brücke in Basel, downstream along the Rhine. What is she thinking about? In the good old days, when the Rhine was still called Renos (Celtic) or Rhenus (Roman), was it meandering and flowing wherever and as high as it wanted?
About the river landscape on both banks of the Rhine without buildings and human intervention? About the Petite Camargue Alsacienne few kilometres further? About the salmon that inhabited the Rhine, numerous and well-fed? Or has she found peace in the old bishop’s city of Basel?
The Rhine near Rekingen
Helvetia can also direct her gaze upstream. The once flourishing salmon fishery is no longer, buildings are more abundant, and the Rhine is ‘tamed’ and partly canalised with busy shipping traffic. Yet, even the modern Rhine still has many nature reserves, and human intervention can also be beautiful.
The Rhine near Eglisau
Moreover, the Rhine is not everywhere a border river between Germany and Switzerland. For example, the town of Eglisau (canton of Zurich) is located on the right bank of the Rhine. The cantons of Schaffhausen (excluding the German enclave Büsingen) and Basel-Stadt (partly the city of Basel, Riehen, and Bettingen entirely) are also partly or mainly on the right bank of the Rhine.
The bridge near Eglisau
Although the Rhine is ‘tamed’, nature reserves in various places still give an impression of the situation before human intervention. Switzerland would not be Switzerland if the flow of the Rhine were not used for ‘white (and clean) energy‘, which covers about 50% of the country’s electricity needs.
Hydroelectric power station Eglisau
Hydroelectric power station Rekingen
For example, two hydroelectric power stations are 20 kilometres away. These do not make life easier for the salmon, although fish ladders may offer perspective in the long term.
Until the French conquests by Napoleon (1769-1821) in 1798, the Rhine was not so much a border river as it was a primary trade route and the preferred means of transportation for people. The large wooden rafts, measuring 300-400 meters in length, sometimes 50 meters in width, and accommodating more than 500 paying passengers and goods, also testified to this.
Beeld: Museum De Bastei, Nijmegen
They sailed, or drifted, with the current, mainly via Nijmegen to the delta in Rotterdam. Many Swiss emigrants also used this means of transport! The trade of goods, including wood and salt, primarily took place on the Rhine, with Schaffhausen, Rheinfelden, and Basel serving as important transhipment points.
Wooden rafts have long been replaced by motorised shipping, but the Rhine is still a vital traffic artery. Towns like Kaiserstuhl (canton of Aargau) show the prosperity and importance of the Rhine region in earlier times.
The centuries-old political, economic, judicial, and personal relationships between the Bishopric of Konstanz (Constance) and the old Swiss Confederation, including the county of Baden, show this. Moreover, the Alemannic language was also shared.
The bridge over the Rhine from Kaiserstuhl to Hohentengen
The current stone bridge over the Rhine nowadays connects Kaiserstuhl again with Hohentengen (Baden-Württemberg) without obstacles, as it has done for centuries, until the rise of nation-states in the 19th century and the tightly closed borders during the war periods of the 20th century.
Poets and writers also found the Rhine. One of the most famous Swiss writers, Gottfried Keller (1819-1890), even has a riverside path named after him.
Nevertheless, the Rhine has not always been a place for poetic inspiration. Many bunkers on the Swiss banks give an impression of defensive works from the 1940s.
Rümikon
Kaiserstuhl
Kaiserstuhl is now part of the municipality of Zurzach, which includes Bad Zurzach and its renowned bathing culture, Saint Verena and its castle, as well as the villages of Rekingen and Rümikon.
Bad Zurzach Castle
The Swiss Alpine Club
The Swiss Alpine Club (Schweizer Alpen Club, SAC / Club Alpin Suisse, CAS) regularly organises hiking tours in this area and elsewhere in the country.
Although the name suggests otherwise, the SAC not only organises ski tours, mountain climbing, and other sports in the high mountains and the Alps but also (walking) activities in other regions.
Impressions
