ViaRhenana: from Albbruck to Bad Zurzach

Rivers and floodplains characterize the varied landscape in the canton of Aargau, on whose northern border we hike through the "Land am Wasser" (= Alemannic for Aare-Gau). Over 70% of the total volume of water in Switzerland flows through the Aargau. The Aargau Floodplain Protection Park was established in 1997 to renaturalize the remaining remnants of the once extensive floodplain landscapes along the Aare and Rhine. For flood protection reasons, the rivers were often obstructed and dangerous rapids removed. The Lauffen and the Rhine Falls are the only remaining intact rapids in the Rhine between Schaffhausen and the mouth of the Rhine in the Netherlands.

The Rhine was already of strategic importance to the Romans. In the 3rd - 4th centuries, they built watchtowers and forts to secure their northern border in order to fend off the invasion of the Alemanni. Numerous remains of walls from the late Roman Limes bear witness to this, including the reconstructed Roman watchtower "Oberes Bürgli" near Schwaderloch and the Roman watchtower on the Kleiner Laufen.

Completely preserved bunkers date from the time of the Swiss border fortifications in 1939/1940.

The Hochrhein is also used for ecological power generation. The Albbruck-Dogern Rhine power station, built between 1930 and 1933, supplies electricity to Germany and Switzerland, two countries bordering the Rhine. The Leibstadt nuclear power plant also uses the High Rhine - to cool its boiling water reactor.

Switzerland's largest outdoor thermal pool in Bad Zurzach is also hot. A thermal spring was discovered near Zurzach as early as 1914, but it was not drilled until 1955, making the town one of the most important thermal spas in Switzerland. The Romans already used the hot springs here.