A few general thoughts on Switzerland:
- Switzerland really was a stunner. While we both kind of knew this, Switzerland has never really been on either of our lists – so, I guess, it was a nice unanticipated treat.
- That said, notwithstanding the promise of stunning scenery, we were both somewhat less than excited about the visit. This was largely due to the additional promise of a massive mountain pass to get over in the middle of the country. Again, regardless of the decision to up sticks and cycle through Europe, neither of us are, in fact, cyclists. As such, we were (understandably) less than enthusiastic about the coming Swiss mountain passes. Suffice to say, one of the key characteristics of Switzerland was the fact that there were mountains. More on that below.
- The second key characteristic of this country is that it really was VERY expensive, even by comparison to the northern European countries through which we had been travelling to this point. The result: we camped our way through the country and ate a whole lot of bread, cheese and pasta. Ironically, because we resolutely refused to eat out or stay anywhere that was not a warm shower or camp site, Switzerland actually ended up being one of the cheaper countries we travelled through so far overall.
- There are a lot of rivers in Switzerland (not a massive surprise) and the Swiss seem to enjoy the activity of floating down them at rather a rapid rate. It seems that in summer, a major activity (in Basel, Aarau and Lucerne) is to hop in the river at one point upstream and float several kilometres down the river and hop out again. The rivers are very cold, so there was not a chance we would be convinced into this activity (water cooled to 28 degrees in Abu Dhabi really is more my speed), but it was very popular with the somewhat braver Swiss population.
In any event, we entered Switzerland at Basel. The city looked quite pretty, but we did not stick around and instead proceeded to a campsite on the Rhine about 15km out. The campsite was idyllic, but also entirely packed and looked like a coronavirus hotbed. Thankfully, several months later, we remain healthy.
From here, we proceeded to head to Aarau (many hills and some very steep) and then on to Lucerne. Aarau was set on a river and we wild camped with some locals who had lovely, but very loud, children. Lucerne was quite gorgeous with a stunning old town situated on the lake. We were guests of a great warm showers host and were treated to a night of what I can only describe as Swiss mac and cheese (so yum!) and a bed inside while it bucketed down. These days included gradual and less gradual inclines, but overall, the theme was that we were proceeding uphill – and were (hopefully) developing some good thigh muscles for our on-going journey.
We spent a couple of days around Lake Lucerne meeting up with friends from the Netherlands who had come down to Switzerland in a campervan. Specifically, we set up in the stunning Vitznau (about 25km around the lake) and settled in to prepare for the mountain pass ahead by drinking lots of wine and eating all the Pringles in the local shop.
After a couple of days of relaxation, the weather promptly packed it in and we took off around a misty lake in the direction of the mountains. Tom thought this was very atmospheric. I thought this was just very wet.
Accordingly, as we got to the end of our first day in the direction of the Gotthard Pass (the ultimate high point goal), I was in a less than stellar mood with the weather and with the start of the climb. This lack of enthusiasm was further compounded by the narrow cliffside roads I was climbing with my less than exceptional technical skills and which were shared with Swiss drivers in fancy cars whizzing by about 30 cm away from me. This was our first experience of such cars in Europe – while the other countries we visited so far were filled with boxy, practical little cars, the Swiss appear to enjoy screeching around mountain passes in vehicles that would seem more at home parked at the Palm in Dubai than going for a joy ride through the Alps.
In any event, as we climbed, we realized that our ideal of finding a perfect alpine campsite was potentially not as easy as anticipated due the topography of the area including (almost exclusively) narrow roads with massive drops on either side. Finally, though, Thomas managed to find a spot next to a bridge (yes, we camped under a bridge), which really did look pretty idyllic. After setting up the tent, I plonked myself down and proceeded to consume my share of the red wine I had carried in my saddle-bag while Thomas made dinner. All seemed to be going okay so far. Unfortunately, shortly after pitching our tent, I came to the realization that this spot had, perhaps, the most significant slug population with which I had yet had the questionable pleasure of crossing paths. As we settled in for the night, I watched this slimy army exercise somewhat uncoordinated training manoeuvres across the netting of our tent directly above my head (doing nothing to improve my already entirely questionable mood). In the morning, I refused to get up and out of the tent until Thomas had fished significant numbers of these little suckers out of both of our shoes. I am very mature like that.
The next day was the real climb. We managed only 28km in a day, but climbed about 1.5km in vertical ascent – which, with all of our gear, was a bit of a feat. Happily, the weather did improve and the views were spectacular. Also, Bertie, my tank-like steed, performed admirably and managed to get me up the hills to a point 3km short of the pass. At this point, we decided we had achieved quite enough for the day and set up camp. The day had been pretty successful, notwithstanding the whizzing Swiss drivers and various statements of “I just don’t think I can do this” from me to Thomas. The campsite itself was also much more successful. We found a spot in what was effectively an alpine meadow just up from a river and staked out our site. After wine (yes, I carried this during my complaining up the mountain), whisky, chocolate and soup, we retreated into our (now less sluggy) tent and passed out.
The final 3km of climbing the next morning were achieved in short order and good spirits and we made the top! From there, it was all downhill, we were promised, to Lugano. Largely this was true (although, they did lie about one particularly nasty hill) and we swept down the hills in a much happier state than during the forgoing climb.
At this point we had also reached Italian-speaking Switzerland – so the vibe changed from German efficiency, snow capped mountains and alpine villages, to stinking heat, grape vines and general relaxation coupled with pizza and gelato at most turns. We did not hate this development. After our descent through the Leventina Valley, some more stunning lakes, cute towns and excellent scenery, we cycled out of Switzerland and into Italy in blistering heat.
July 2020
Hi