Daryl Goes Transcontinental Part 4

In this section of the  journey home, Daryl travels over the Alps to the  source of the Rhine and again you can devour the unedited, full length version here: The long way home part 3, Switzwerland, August 2024 – Tales from the Saddle

On the map it may look like the route we took was crazy, looping so far to the east, when we could have worked our way west. But we both wanted to do the Furka Pass, as it was a pass I had never done, plus who wouldn’t want to ride past the iconic Belvédère Hotel near the summit. It was also the pass used in the James Bond film, Goldfinger. I remember watching it as a kid and wanting to drive those twisty hairpins with those spectacular views, but these days riding them on a bike, where you must earn the right to see the view or carve through the bends, is so much more rewarding.

We took the train from Naples to Milan made one major error as we boarded by thinking that, on a journey of this length there would be a buffet car where we could get some food during the day. We were wrong, very wrong. All they provided was a vending machine full of crisps, biscuits, sweets and soft drinks. By 13:00, anything that could be described as proper food had gone and we were down to cakes, and even they were getting low in numbers.

By 22:00 we could just about hear noise of the train above the sound of our rumbling stomachs, and we were trawling Google to see where we could get food at this time of night near the station. It was then that we realised we would finally have to give in and resort to a McDonalds, again.

Sure enough, we picked up our “Very Happy Meals” and headed to the hotel, just 100m from the station. The receptionist was brilliant and didn’t bat an eyelid as two guys rocked up at 22:30, McD bags in hand, and then loaded the bikes into the lift as we headed up to our room.

Day 15 of our adventure saw us cycle from Milan to Domodossola. We made our way steadily up towards Lago Maggiore, which we reached by lunchtime. What a view, the lake, the mountains in the background, truly stunning. At the top of the lake is the town of Mergozzo, where we spotted a bar overlooking the beautiful lake, and as it was hot and we were on holiday, it would seem rude to pass, so we parked up and order drinks in the sun.

In  Domodossola we found a lovely little hotel with a separate storage room for the bikes, which we actually had to pay for. That was a first, but at least we knew they were safe.

The next day we tackled the Simplon Pass. I had ridden this pass before back in 1981, descending it, having come from the Grimsel Pass, on a Honda 400, but it wasn’t until I got onto it that it started coming back to me. It is not the ideal pass for a cyclist, there are a few wide-open sections where the wind blew into our faces and almost stopped me dead in my tracks. In contrast, there were many sections which were tunnels in the mountain, some fully enclosed and some with balconies looking out on to the mountains. The enclosed tunnels were noisy, smelly with fumes and quite busy, and as they were dark, made me worried about how visible we were to any of the fast-moving traffic, even with our lights on. This is a main route from Italy into Switzerland and is used heavily by commercial traffic as well as fun-loving motor bikers, heading out to storm the passes.

As we reached the village of Paglino, we rode through the old border post between Switzerland and Italy. At this point we knew it was only 22km to go to the top, but on any Alpine climb, it always gets harder towards the top. It’s as if the start to build the pass, then suddenly realise, if they keep climbing at 4%, they will never get to the top, so they ramp it up to 8%, and that will do the job.

We cracked on past a ‘town’ call Simplon-Dorf, which is about 500m off the main road to the left, and at that point the valley opens wide with the wind barrelling down the 8% incline straight into my “parachute” panniers and all I can do is grind away until I hit some shelter from the mountains again.

There are a few places on the climb where you are forced to get off the main road and take some quieter roads, as cycling is not permitted. It was nice as it offered some relief from the traffic.

Day 17 took us  from Brig to Andermatt via the Furka PassAfter surviving yesterday’s climb, I could look forward this day in the saddle, although I knew it was going to be tough.  An average of 7kph for the final 20km made the total climb five and a half hours long. Phew!

After the summit, we rolled over and into the descent to Andermatt, only 20km and completed in 50 minutes. The descent did include some stops for movie photos, firstly at the spot where James Bond had been shot at by Tilly Masterson, as he spied on Goldfinger several bends below him. This section is now named James Bond Strasse.

 

The next leg took us  to Chur via the Ober Alp Pass. When we reached the Oberalpsee, a lake perched at the summit we saw the symbolic red lighthouse there marking the start of the Rhine and reflecting the red lighthouse we will eventually see when we hit the North Sea at the Hook of Holland.

When we got to Trun we saw signs for the EV15, the Euro Velo route we intended to follow most of the way to the sea, so, we decided to start following it from here. This was the best decision we could have made, as the roads became quiet and offered some amazing views of the Rhine in its infancy, winding away down in the valley. The road we were on took in some good climbs and rapid descents through the stunning valley and the small towns within it.

Over these days the  temperatures had still been in the 30’s, but I guess we had now got used to that and hadn’t really suffered like we had in the south. The air, however, had been much fresher, the roads much better and the drivers more aware of cyclists.

I have ridden in the Alps many times and it never fails to impress, but being fully loaded this time gave me more opportunity to take in the views as I crawled up the ramps.

To be concluded