| Day # |
15 |
State of Legs |
:-) |
|
Distance (miles) |
Distance (km) |
Ascent (feet) |
Ascent (metres) |
Punctures |
| Today |
26 miles |
km |
3524 feet |
metres |
0 |
| Trip Totals |
692 miles |
km |
30379 feet |
metres |
0 |
Travelogue
I'd read quite a lot about the route I was to cycle today and not all of it was good. I'd read, for example that there could be a lot of traffic, despite the route following "the old road" which has a shiny new(ish) and faster road as its counterpart, running up the same pass more or less in parallel and which you'd expect to be taking most of the traffic. I'd also read that there are a series of long tunnels higher up and that these could be particularly perilous to cycle through. It was also forecast to be *hot*.
With these factors in mind, I set the alarm for 4:15 a.m. with the intention I be on the road by about 5:00 a.m., hopefully avoid a proportion of the traffic and enjoy a cooler part of the day for what was likely to be a challenging climb up to Andermatt.
I carried the bike and then my luggage down the flights of stone steps from the apartment to the street in the dark, using my bike light to make it just that little bit safer! It was already warm and felt humid, too. By the time I went back up the stairs to lock up and place the keys in the lock box, sweat was running down my face.
I glanced at the sky and was surprised to see dark clouds. The forecast had been for sunshine all day. I checked again at a Swiss meteorological web site for the Alps. It now mentioned the clouds but said they would soon clear. Good news as I didn't fancy heading up into the mountains with the possibility of stormy weather ahead!
With the bike loaded up, I set off, first for the ferry terminal where I'd arrived from Lucerne and then from there along Swiss Route 3. The sun was not yet up but you could see well enough in the early morning twilight.
The route up to Andermatt is about 24 miles in length. From Fluelen it follows a gravel path along the river Reuss upstream. It is uphill but the gradient so gentle, you wouldn't know it.
It's really well sign-posted and this trend continues all the way up to Andermatt. I checked my Swisstopo app from time to time but I'm not sure I ever actually needed to. It's just reassuring when you haven't seen a sign for a while to know you're still heading in the right direction.
Some of the earlier part of the route runs alongside the main highway, which is not pleasant but at least you're well away from the fast moving traffic and safe!
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| These signs rapidly become your best friend! |
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| In case you ever wondered, this is where gnomes come from |
After about 11 miles from Fluelen, the real ascent starts, In fact a sign appears, warning you of this just in case you didn't know what you were letting yourself in for!
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| My German's not good but I think this means "Quite big hill coming" |
From here and for most of the way, it's moderately steep. Probably not much more than 8% but given the length of the climb and the fact that I am riding such a heavy bike (have I mentioned my bike's heavy?), it's plenty steep enough and I was in the bottom 2 or 3 gears most of the time. There are a couple of short stretches where it flattens out and even goes downhill a bit but that doesn't last!
Carrying on at the pace of a fairly speedy snail, I continued to climb, slowly but surely, passing through various villages along the way.
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| I liked the cow's head motif on the roof of this house. Maybe when I get home.... |
At about 18 miles into my ride I decided it was time to take on some fuel and broke into the jam sandwiches (AKA jam butties for anyone from Northern England) that I'd made the day before and found a bench to sit on whilst I tucked into this culinary cycling delight.
At about 20 miles into the route I encountered the first of the dreaded tunnels I'd read so much about. Happily, the road was quiet, the tunnel wasn't that long and I passed through unscathed.
A mile later I passed an enormous boulder which had a painting of The Devil on it!
Apparently the boulder was moved from its original site up at the
Schöllenen Gorge.
Onwards I pedalled.
I could soon see a series of switchbacks ahead and knew this to be the site of the series of tunnels. I could also see that the road got much steeper here. And the road I was on, which due to the early hour had been pretty quiet, merged with another, *much* busier road before getting to this section. Things were about to get tough.
It definitely got steeper around here, with only 3 or 4 miles to go as well. I braced myself for the stress of the busy tunnels as I climbed the last of the ramp-like switchbacks. But I was in for a nice surprise! Evidently since those old blog posts I'd read were written, those nice Swiss authorities have made some safety improvements to the route and there's now a tarmac-covered cycle path that runs *over* the tunnels! A sign directs you off the road at the last bend before the first big tunnel, up a steep incline and round a tight bend to follow the path along a similar line to the road but using the roof of each tunnel as the base for the cycle path. Much better! So, I had a nice quiet ride along this section rather than the trauma-inducing experience I'd anticipated! It was pretty steep at times but there's no trauma in that :-)
With only a couple of miles to go, if that, I encountered this monument carved into the stone of the mountainside:
About a hundred metres on from the monument, I found myself cycling across the teufelsbrücke or "devil's bridge", quite a famous landmark in these parts.
Not far from the devil's bridge, I found myself entering Andermatt! I stopped at the Co-op supermarket and bought some nice Swiss bread and other supplies and carried on to
the campsite where I soon had my tent pitched in a lovely area with great views and other campers with similarly active reasons for being there.
It was only 9:20 in the morning, I'd made pretty good time (given how heavy the bike is etc etc) and had the whole day ahead of me.
I showered and, feeling refreshed, had some food and reflected on the day. I was feeling really pleased that I'd managed the climb. It wasn't as hard as I'd expected overall but it certainly had its moments. What with the heavy bike and everything.
There was a charging point for phones etc at reception so I went over and sat charging my phone. While I was sitting there, I chatted with an Austrian couple who were camped close to my tent. They were in Andermatt for rock climbing. I'd noticed the climbing gear in their car as I had walked to reception. I've done lots of rock climbing in my past and we talked for a while, with them sharing photos of the enormous 14 pitch route they'd completed that day. Very cool.
A bit later, I found myself sat with a young Belgian man who I'd seen camped with a touring bike outside his tent. I asked him about his trip and learned that he was taking three years to cycle around the world! He was also intending to make a documentary about indigenous music as he travelled. Also cool!
I chilled out in my tent for a while, with both sides open. It was very hot! I read my book and ate a load of tasty Swiss "savoury biscuits" called
Basler Leckerli. There's about a thousand calories in a bag! But then I needed calories!
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| A room with two views |
The campsite filled up as the day turned into evening with a few more bikepackers like me, lots of the other sort of biker with their motorcycles and even a group who seemed to be touring the Swiss Alps on mopeds!
On returning from a trip to get drinking water, I found a group of three motorcyclists had turned up and parked close to my tent. They were sat in fold-up chairs they'd brought as I arrived. I greeted them with "Hello neighbours!" and we got talking. They were a couple of guys and a woman from Norway and they'd ridden down to Switzerland over the previous 4 or 5 days with no particular plan but to enjoy the trip. They were really nice and all spoke great English (though they were very self-deprecating despite my reassurances). Also very cool.
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| The Norwegian bikers |
To close, here's the profile from today's awesome ride!
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