European tour day 7

European tour day 7

 

I had a good night’s sleep but I woke early, I had lots to do, so I crept out of the room and into the kitchen where I set about sorting out the bits and pieces I had to do and making sure that we didn’t have a repeat of yesterday, I did this by going on websites and checking for Pass closures.

Although the whole journey was an adventure I quietly was looking forward to today, as not long ago this route was voted “THE BEST DRIVING ROAD IN THE WORLD” by a certain T.V. presenter. I had previously ridden half of it but was looking forward to completing the whole drive.

 

The sun was already up and the skies were blue, the weather forecast was good. Then one by one the others awoke and started the daily routine. We were going to go across the road for breakfast, but the breakfast bar remained closed so Sue decided to walk down to the COOP and get some breakfast bits.  After breakfast we packed the vehicles and headed out for the usual fuel stop. Today was particularly easy as two petrol stations were in view of the apartment. We then headed out of Davos through the Swish countryside toward Livingio through the Fluelapasstrasse (28) pass and a little tiny tunnel which led under a mountain from Switzerland into Italy.  This part of the Swish Alps is lovely as there are small alpine trees lining the side of the road under which grass and thick moss grow, it just makes the whole place look green and lush, and the roads just twist and wind through the mountain valleys. Again one or two road works hampered our progress but nothing compared to yesterday.

 

Once through the tunnel at Munt La Schera in the Parc Naziunal Svizzer, we headed down the lake road to Livingio but the view I could remember from the petrol station had changed as once again the lake was at least half empty and cars were driving out on to the lake bed. Also what had gone from the petrol station was the funny loo sign they had there.

 

 

 After a short break we headed off towards what I considered to be today’s highlight the Bermio and the Stelvio pass. We passed the tree line and the lush green turned into slate grey of rock faces and mountain tops. The roads twists and turns and is laden with switch backs and hair pin bends. As we weaved our way up the mountain the roads got tighter and one particular tunnel is so tight that you enter beeping your horn so to warn others coming the other way of your presence. Luckily none of the tunnels are long. On one of the switch backs a motorcyclist had come off, he was ok. We had just missed what had happened but I jumped out the car to help pick up the bike and check he was ok.  I think he had either taken the turn too fast or had clipped the handle bars of another motorcyclist going the other way. But apart from a few scratches all ways ok and everyone just wanted to get on.

 

 

  Once we were most of the way up the west side we stopped for some photos and a quick snack before heading the last few miles to the top of the pass. We set off again up the last few switch backs then onto a small valley before the top, here the snow lay thick. As we got higher the snow got deeper. The top was in sight and soon we were turning into the car park. Now was time to chill out do a little souvenir shopping and grab a drink and a bite to eat. We sat in the restaurants court yard and enjoyed the warm sun, even if we were surrounded by snow. We also took the time to look at our descent and admire its twists and turns.

I had ridden this part of the route before and was just going to sit back and enjoy the drive. White snow turned into grey stone, then green appeared and trees before we knew it we were in deep pine forest. The road follows a river and jumps from one side to the other. Along this road is a bizarre artist museum with all sorts of dead things on display. It’s worth stopping and chucking him a couple of euros for the privilege. Soon we were in a large valley with lush green fields both sides of us.

 

Our next planned stop was Lago di Resia Reschensee. As with all the lakes here in the Alps, the water is a deep blue, surrounded by lush green countryside and snow-capped mountains as a backdrop. There is a carpark where an old church spire breaks the surface, you can get drinks and refreshments here and take a leak if you need too. Just past the lake is a garage where you can fuel up for the final part of the day’s journey.

 

The last part of the day’s ride sees us leaving Italy, and the SS40 turns into the 180 as we enter Austria. The road weaves its way along a wooded valleys and cuts through Alpine villages and town.  A nice relaxing ride. We entered Landeck around mid-afternoon giving ourselves plenty of time to relax and have a nice break after yesterday.

European tour day 6

We woke to the sound of people waking up around the hostel, starting their daily business, doors opening and closing, showers going on and off.  It wasn’t too unpleasant as we had to get up on this glorious morning and head toward todays destination.  Not a long day today but I had a couple of things that I wanted to do and see.  As with every day the bags had to be packed and loaded but now this was down to a fine art.

The route was loaded into the satnav and with a fuel stop located we were soon on our way.  The destination time was 1.30pm just what we needed a relaxing day after yesterday’s long haul.  The first stop for the day was about 20 to 30 minutes down the road from where we were staying at Interlaken.  The place is called the Riechenbach Falls.  It’s an impressive 120m high waterfall and famous because it is where Sherlock Holmes and his arch enemy Moriarty fought to the end, both falling to the deaths.  The falls were lovely and the 10 Swish francs it cost to get up via the vernacular railway was money well spent.  Once up at the top of the railway there is a walk which will take you up to the top of the falls and then around to where the duo fought and met their end.  It’s a lovely walk but not really that easy and if you do want to take the walk I would set aside a couple of hours to make the most of it.  We then ate breakfast at the café, which I think is part of the local hospital, as there was no breakfast laid on at the hostel we stayed at.

 

We then made our way through the lush green countryside of Switzerland, the satnav saying we would reach Davos by about 3.30pm.  We then started to climb up into the mountains, Ian had requested we ride the Grimselpass then turn left on to the Furkapass, we would then take the Oberalps pass/Via Alpsu.  Then end our day in Davos.

 

We wound our way up the mountain but unlike other mountains we seem to just round a corner and there was the snow. There seemed to be no warning that we had reached the top, we were just there. We stopped at a car park to take photos before dropping down the other side, and it was quite a drop as the road laced its way down the side of the mountain. The Grimselpass is a stunning road as it reaches the valley bottom it forks, we took the left fork heading up the Furkapass. This is another amazing road weaving its way up the steep mountain side so steep that they have had to build the road out on stilt bridges so turns can be made. Once we reached the top we stopped again to take more photos but also to see where we had come from, the views were breath taking not only because of it’s stunning beauty but because it was also bloody cold.

 

We worked our way down the other side of the mountain through the beautiful colourful country side. We went through the narrow cobbled streets of Andermatt and started our climb to the top of the Oberalps pass.  However we had made the initial climb some 15/20 minutes only to find the road blocked off.  A man came to the window and said something in Swiss, we looked blankly back at him. He looked at us and said English, we nodded.  He walked back to his seat and produced a piece of paper.  It basically said the road was shut due to resurfacing and might be reopened at 8pm.  Why they hadn’t put a sign at the bottom of the mountain I don’t know as it was the only way up.  So we had to turn around and take a detour.  Thank goodness for paper maps.  Unfortunately this was Switzerland and there was going to be no short cut. Thenstretch of road they had closed was only about 10km long, the detour however was a 4 hour drive.  We dropped back down into Andermattt back along the Furapass turning left at Hospental and headed toward Biasca.  Here we turned left again now heading toward Disentis/Muster.  We were now back on the road we should have been on, the views and sights had been lovely, but today was meant to have been a relaxing day.  As we went through a small village, despite only being about 40 minutes away from our final destination, Davos, I decided that we all needed a break and we pulled into a carpark and found a local restaurant. The break couldn’t have come soon enough and we all enjoyed the rest.

 

 

 

 

One of the roads we had travelled on for a while just made the inner child in me giggle.

 

After a lovely meal, refreshments and ice-cream we decided to make the final push to Davos before it got dark. Here we had hired an 8 birth self-contained apartment. It was cheaper than any hotel, you can get some good deals on apartments in the summer as they are mostly used in the winter for skiing and stand empty during the summer. We found the accommodation easily, parked up and secured the bike then headed up to the accommodation where we had a well deserved cuppa and settled for the night.