Rhein Route

Stage 4: Buchs (SG) – St. Margrethen

The St.Gallen Rhine Valley is an area where you often enjoy a warm wind. A lot of new land was created when the course of the Alpine Rhine was corrected here, land which ultimately turned into Europe’s largest freshwater delta with a rich and varied birdlife.

The bustling regional centre of Buchs is followed by «Switzerland’s smallest town». Werdenberg has a population of just 60. It also has the country’s oldest settlement of wooden buildings. You can’t help but stop and enjoy the little lake and the picturesque village in the background. Surrounded by luscious fields and by the Alvier Group and the Kreuzberg mountains you continue in the direction of Schlosswald. Except for the riverside forests, this is the only remaining forest in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley. One wonders if people ever considered what the aftermath of so much clearing might bring.

It feels terrific to look down from the embankment and see the 1320 km Rhine River. For bike riders steaming in the hot sun it is difficult to find a shady spot along the Alpine Rhine. Unlike the local wildlife for which an interconnected habitat system was created over a period of decades, consisting of grassland, small bodies of water and groves of wood. Wildlife movements across the river and the highway are made possible with «stepping stone biotopes» between the Rhine area and low-level moors on the valley floor and the highway bridge with visual barriers.

It is possible that the name Diepoldsau sounds familiar. What was it again? In 1923 the course of the Rhine was shortened with the so-called Diepoldsau breakthrough, creating the Old Rhine with its lovely loop near Diepoldsau. Today, it is divided into four sections that are connected by small creeks. Any excess water runs down a chute into the Diepoldsau channel below. Austria and Switzerland signed the International Rhine Regulation (IRR) treaty as early as 1892. Its main purpose is the flood control on approximately 30 km between the mouth of the Ill near Rüthi (St. Gallen) and the area leading up to Lake Constance.

You know the lake is close as soon as you see some kind of contraption in the sky: it’s a Zeppelin. Customs stations remind you that the neighbours are very close. Just a short while ago you peeked into the Principality of Liechtenstein and now it’s Austria on the other side of the Rhine. As soon as you leave the Rhine embankment and head for St. Margrethen it’s over with peace and tranquillity. The Rheinpark, currently the largest shopping centre in eastern Switzerland, is located directly on the highway.