Travelogue: Swiss Alps

Day 20 to 24: The Alps from Lake Constance up to the Italian border. This time with a bit less text and a bit more slideshow, at least for the second half. I passed a small piece of Austria and also Liechtenstein at the beginning, but most of the rest is Switzerland.

Day 20 - Tuesday, 26th August 2014 (Part 2)

It's noon when I cross the border to Austria. The rain was kind enough to take a short break for now, but since the clouds up there still don't look trustworthy at all I just keep that plasic bag wrapped around my handlebar bag for now. Don't want everything to get soaked.

"state border"

There are no hills to climb yet, but thanks to more rain showers combined with a fiercely blowing headwind cycling is not fun. Guess I have to look for a shelter now and then. For example at a kiosk, having a pair of the Austrian ice pop specialties Twinnie and Jolly. Best ice pops ever.

My way through the westernmost tip of this country isn't long: Following Lake Constance's shore for a little while and then continuing straight to Liechtenstein.

I'm not the only one just transiting this borderland full of commercial areas; German and Swiss license plates are almost as frequent as local ones. What also strikes the eye are numorous election posters, there seem to be communal elections at the moment. The political parties remind me a lot of those at home...

Stubbornly I continue following the main road. You can't see a lot in the distance; rain is too strong and the clods are low. I'm cycling ahead, against the wind, slowly but surely getting quite wet. The rain poncho is flapping wildly. When I finally reach shelter again I stop for a while and send someone a text message... A few minutes later I look up again; it cleared up in the meantime and suddenly I can see the first giant mountains of the Alps towering in front of me.

Later in the afternoon I cross the border to Liechtenstein. This principality is not part of the EU and there are actually some customs officers around for a change, though they just wordlessly wave me through.

A few kilometers later I finally reach the border of today's fourth state: Switzerland. In Buchs, just a few hundred meters next to Liechtenstein, I found a host at whose place I can stay for two or three days. Our meeting point is a language café: Every tuesday evening each of the tables is decorated with a country flag, then people meet up around them to chat in the respective language. Today at the German desk there are sitting Brigitt, who is my host, as well as an Italian girl and a Japanese guy who tells us about volcanic calderas in his homeland.

Day 21 - Wednesday, 27th August 2014

After breakfast it's money changing time - I could need a few Swiss Francs. But banks are charging tall fees and Swiss people can make use of some Euros as well sometimes, so I just trade with Brigitt. 80 Francs for 58 Euro, following current exchange rate.

As for the rest of the day I'm busy exploring Liechtenstein, especially Vaduz and is surroundings. (And looking for geocaches.) More impressions and facts in the blog post over there:

>> The Liechtenstein Entry

In the evening it's time to plough through maps and infos on the internet, I want to set up the exact route for crossing the Alps. Eventually I choose a far shorter one than originally scheduled, because I want to arrive in Venice on a certain date...

Going straight southwards and over the Splügen Pass is the plan. There's even a glacier nearby which I could hike up to. With an unmanned alpin hut on the way, nice accommodation option.

Day 22 - Thursday, 28th August 2014

Break. Writing E-Mails, fiddling with the blog, going outside in the afternoon because the weather's just too beautiful... Well, sometimes at least.

The pictures below were taken in Werdenberg, probably the smallest town in Europe: It's located directly next to Buchs, barely has 60 inhabitants and around 40 houses, but still possesses historical town privilege. Meanwhile over in Lichtenstein not a single settlement is officially regarded a town, including the capital.

  

Day 23 - Friday, 29th August 2014

Time to continue. Following the Rhine Valley I pass springs of fresh mountain water everywhere, as well as lots of tasty looking grapes. Especially around the village of Maienfeld, locally famous for its vine. The architechture kind of reminds me of South Tyrol in northern Italy. But here I still have to cross the Alps' main ridge, up until now my way through the mountain range has been almost flat.

In one of the villages I encounter a colleague: Another guy who's on the move with his bicycle and two Ortlieb bags. Edgar, a religion teacher from Allgau, aways likes to cycle the Alps for a few days in his spare time. The bike is still the best way to explore the world he says. Yup. From Chur he wants to take a train elsewhere though. We cycle a few kilometers together until we reach the tain station of this small city, which is considered the oldest one in all of Switzerland. As farewell he wishes me a ride wihout accident, a guardian angel. Yo, thanks!

I proceed to stroll around the city center for a bit. Performing musicians everywhere, kids kicking the ground with their city scooters in the sun. Those things seem to be quite popular in the Alps, I keep seeing them everywhere.

As I leave the town, traffic on the main road comes to a complete standstill since a herd of cows is calmly marching over to their next pasture on the other roadside. Meanwhile I get some apples from a nearby tree. They're already riper than the ones in Bohemia two weeks ago and free fruit is always welcome, especially here in Switzerland.

Following the Rhine a bit further... Over there behind the train station I'm going left and try to follow a forest path. Suddenly: Cloudburst. I hurry back to the station and find the probably most perfect sleeping place you could imagine in this kind of situation. A waiting room: Heated, dry, having two large benches and just enough space for my bicycle. Only the milk bottle has to stay outside, a night in the mountains works well as a refrigerator.

Of course I'm not going to sleep immediately, it's not very late yet and there are still people coming around now and then. While it's still raining outside, a young couple comes running for shelter. They look quite sad, she sits down on his lap... for almost an hour they're just sitting there, not saying a word, apparently lost in thought but happy to be side by side. Very melancholic atmosphere. Let's eat some muesli. As the next train is advancing they go outside, embrace each oher really tight. The girl has to board her train. Suddenly I feel almost lonely.

Not for long though: A Swiss guy comes around the corner ad asks if he may call his wife from my phone. Because else she'll be worried and his battery's dead. As thanks he slips two Francs in my hand, cool. Would be like one week's worth of bread rolls in Czechia I guess.

Another evening observation: Looks like you have to press a button here at the station if you want to take the next arriving train, or else it won't stop.

Day 24 - Saturday, 30th August 2014

The weather is better again. So I carry on and buy some food at a Lidl supermarket on the way. This probably is the cheapest discounter in the country, but to a foreigner the prices still are very tall.

Here's a comparison with Germany and some more palaver:

Blog entry: Swiss Prices

 

Lunch! Noodels are still from Brigitt's place, ketchup was found at the roadside.

The green stuff is monks kress, you can even eat the blossoms of that one.

Slowly but surely it's going upwards. In Cazis there are nuns walking about everywhere since it's the location of an dominican convent, but apart from that there's nothing special to report.

At least until I reach the scenically perhaps most impressive part of this stage: The Via Mala. Its way leads along a deeply engraved ravine, passing giant faces of rock and numerous tunnels (in which it can be quite noisy by the way).

When arriving in Zillis, first settlement after the ravine, you're in a height of 945 meters already.

I like life-sized statues. It's so easy to nicely decorate them.

Oh, what's this? A bilingual sign! Below the German place name there's another one in Rhaeto-Romanic. This language is only spoken here in Switzerland, locally in their easternmost canton Graubünden, which is the one I'm traveling. There are around 60.000 speakers in total. I'm not crossing the core region but one of the many dialects seems to be around.

The local Church St. Martin in Zillis apparently has a very neat ceiling painting, but since current construction works conceal most of it and they still want 5 Francs for entry I gleefully ignore it.

At dawn I start looking for a sleeping place, consider a rock outcropping below the motorway bridge for a second, but decide to go on a little further after all. A bit later I find a suspension bridge which leads into a forested area, there should be a good place.

Rain's drizzling on my pate, even though vertically above me there's just a sparkling starry sky... Guess I don't have to understand everything. There's "lighntning", or rather flashing as well, but that's coming from the nearby motorway. Some people over there are quite in a hurry, it seems.

Beneath a rock overhang I finally set up my tent.

Day 25 - Sunday, 31st August 2014 (Part 1)

First official act after waking up: Shoving a few spiders out of the tent. There's quite a few of them in this place, thats's why I didn't just lie down with my sleeping bag. Next up picking some raspberries. The forest looks quite nice with all the moss.

"Eisloch" means icey hole and they didn't write this on that sign just for fun: Stand right in front of it or dare to crawl inside and you'll freeze your butt off. Places like this can be found here in the Alps occasionally. Way up on the slope air enters the crevices, proceeding downwards and cooling off inside the rock. What emerges at the bottom is usually a lot (more than 10 degrees) colder than its surroundings.

Crossing the suspension bridge again I head back to the main road, on the other side there's someone with a fully loaded bicycle waving at me...

I may introduce: Mickey Boulton from western Australia. His plan: Crossing the alps and going on to Rome, seeing a bit of the exotic and unfamiliarly crowded Europe. And in Australia there aren't any mountains as tall as the ones over here, too. He wants to cross the Splügen Pass as well, so we team up for a little while.

How the heck do they manage to mow the lawn at slopes like that?

Before challenging the pass Mickey wants to charge some energy by having lunch. Originally I didn't plan to eat until I reach the top, but he just goes ahead and buys me a sausage with chips. Well, I won't say no to that! Thanks!

Stomach being filled it's time for the last big challenge for this part of the way: An ascent up to more than 2000 meters above sea level, stubbornly going uphill all the time...

Looking back at the village Splügen, which the pass is named after.

Mickey shifts down a few gears and cycles... further and further up the mountain, slowly but without ever stopping. It works better than he thought. As for me, I'm not sure if my bicycle is inept or if I am, but after a short while I have to start pushing. Going uphill just as steadily, but slower. Now and then looking back into the valley to see what's been achieved already...

Meanwhile Mickey unwaveringly cycles on, if you once found your perfect groove you better shouldn't stop. After a little while I eventually lose sight of him. But that's not only because of the distance, a bit further up it's getting quite foggy by now...

Time and again there's the sound of a cow's bell making its way through the fog. I'm counting the curves, that gives you some motivation as you slowly close in to the number of 18 in total. One last glance back into the valley when it shortly clears up a little...

...and it's done.

On top. Finally. Hah.

The Splügen Pass: Situated 2115 meters above sea level this is where the border to Italy has been drawn. Mickey's nowhere to be seen, probably went downhill already. Which is absolutely understandable, since up here it is

1. flipping cold

2. extremely windy

3. drizzling down.

Not a very fun mix. And that also means horrible conditions for the glacier hiking tour I wanted to do. A few minutes later yet another cyclist with travel bags arrives on top, this time from Zurich. He says the weather up here and in the Swiss Alps in general will most likely not get better in the next few hours or days. Some other people passing by are saying the same...

So... looks like I have to abandon that plan. Can't be helped I guess. Well then, downhill it is! Let's go to Italy! I just hope the weather's better down there.