Four Passes in Three Days

After a slightly cooler night camping at just over 1000m elevation in Grindelwald (we got to try out our new long johns!) we packed up our rather dewy tent and mentally prepared ourselves for the challenge of the day ahead. We would be heading over Grosse Scheidegg, a pass closed to private vehicles with some rather steep sections (they were mostly coloured coded bright red in our helpful diagram of different gradients over the pass.)

A chilly mountain morning.

Cycleway grade sign: STEEP!

We headed up through Grindelwald, and were soon on a small road with only hikers, fellow cyclists and a few public buses to share the road with. The road was too narrow and curvy for the buses to safely pass while cycling, so they tooted their loud, slightly obnoxious horns as a signal to pull over while they passed through. This horn soon became my new favourite noise, as it provided a legitimate excuse to pull over and let my legs and lungs recover for a few seconds, without any admission of fatigue.

Looking back to Grindelwald, with views of the Eiger

We made our way to the top of the pass and enjoyed our lunch while looking down to the valley we would roll our way down that afternoon. We haven't quite managed to get our head around the fact that there are almost always hotels, kiosks and accessible public transport to many of these high alpine areas. Solitude is not easily experienced anywhere in Europe, even in the mountains.
We cruised down to Innertkirchen, set up camp and cooked our standard pasta/pesto/salami/vegetable-of-some-sort/whatever-else-we-can-find one pot meal to fuel us for the mammoth journey we had planned for the next day. We would be heading over the Grimselpass and Furkapass to Andermatt, which included about 2300m of elevation over about 65 km. This would be our biggest daily elevation gain and had me nervous whether I would make it through the day for the first time in a while.

Slightly tense smile

We made it to the top of Grimselpass and took advantage of one of those convenient shops, to partake in a sugary, ice cold beverage. I guess they do have their benefits! We had a steep downhill, followed by another uphill ahead. This particular view towards Furkapass was quite intimidating given we had already completed a whole morning of solid uphill.

Pondering my choices in life

We were feeling pretty proud of ourselves as we made it to the top of Furkapass and had even overtaken a fellow cycle tourer on our way up the hill. We were overtaken by a friendly local road cyclist, who thought we "were mad" for cycling in this area with all our panniers on. He then commented that this would be the third alpine pass he had traversed on the same day, which left us wondering who was "the mad one".

Still smiling

The highest point we have cycled to

It appears chivalry isn't dead, see the guy below pushing his girlfriend's bike up the hill

We arrived into Andermatt and set up camp under the shadow of tomorrow's hill. The cycle tourer we'd overtaken cycled by an hour or so later, and when I had a closer look at his face, I realised he was about 70 years old! What a legend!

The next day we climbed to the Oberalpass where we joined the Rhein River again at its source. It was interesting to see the river in its baby form, as we had followed it quite a way much closer to the sea in Germany and Holland.

I am meant to be showing seven fingers - 7000 km done and dusted!

We meandered down the valley, managed to set up camp and were halfway through cooking dinner when the forecast thunderstorm hit. This eased off sometime during the night, and I was looking forward to enjoying a deeper sleep. However, the local village church bells then started chiming at about two o'clock in the morning and they seemed to go on forever. Why? Does anyone actually enjoy hearing these bell at all sorts of ungodly hours!?! Maybe they don't bother other people, as somehow Dave didn't stir the whole time.

Even the clotheslines in Switzerland are spectacular

We had one more day of cycling before checking into an Airbnb in Austria for a bit of a rest - it would be seven days in a row of pretty intense exercise and my body was starting to moan. We headed further down the Rhein River, crossing over into Liechtenstein for a few kilometres and ending up in a town near Lake Constance in Austria.
Our time in Switzerland was awesome. Although it was expensive, and at times I thought my lungs might explode, it has definitely earned a special spot in my heart. The scenery is simply stunning and the rewards were definitely worth any challenges along the way. Maybe next time we visit we will be cruising through the mountains in one of those ridiculously expensive cars which kept passing us on those hills, smirking at those young ones that are cycle touring and camping.

 -  Sarah