Mammern - Schaffhausen

Today's stage takes us through an area where countries and cantons are quite mixed. To make it simple, the canton of Schaffhausen, whose capital city Schaffhausen is our stage location today, lies almost entirely on the right bank of the Rhine. We practically hike the whole day on the left bank of the Rhine and thus only enter Schaffhausen at the very end of the stage. We mostly walk in the canton of Thurgau, precisely until we pass the former Altparadies monastery. The next community, Feuerthalen, is then located in the canton of Zurich, and from here we cross over the Rhine to enter the canton of Schaffhausen.

It is more demanding on the other side of the Rhine. At the starting point Mammern, the opposite shore still belongs to Germany, but this changes shortly before Stein am Rhein, which lies on both sides of the Rhine and in the eastern part of the canton of Schaffhausen. This eastern part of Schaffhausen lies almost exclusively north of the Rhine, with a small bridgehead on the left bank. As a result, the Rhine subsequently forms the canton boundary between Thurgau on the left and Schaffhausen on the right. This remains so until we have left Rheinklingen. Then on the right bank, there is again a strip of land with German places like Gaillingen and Gottmaddingen, which are connected northwards toward Singen without a border crossing with the rest of Baden-Württemberg. Next follows the western part of the canton of Schaffhausen with the city of Schaffhausen, which is separated from the eastern canton part. To make the confusion complete, the German exclave Büsingen am Hochrhein lies in the western canton part, surrounded by Schaffhausen toward Germany.

It is obvious that with such border courses, which resemble more of a puzzle than grid squares, liberal, cross-border, neighborly relations and cooperation are sensible or even indispensable, as is often the case in other border regions.

Our stage ends at Schaffhausen station. The Munot fortress as well as the old town are worthwhile landmarks of the city.