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| Camels!? |
Not a promising start to our biggest day so far, as we took a wrong turning along the riverside and had to scramble back up onto the main road. And then, first mishap of the tour, I flew over the handlebars in a misjudged attempt to catch a travelling photo opportunity. However, only a few colourful bruises ensued - even the camera miraculously survived! On through farm roads we travelled, past a couple of camels happily ruminating in their Swiss field, traversing verdant river flats, with a stop for coffee in on of the many charming Walliser mountain villages, church and castle ruins perched on a rock, ancient wooden storehouses on stilts. The second mishap of the day as we set off again: Hilary's tire fell off - puncture or faulty valve? We couldn't tell, but in the time it would have taken Hilary and I to work out how to remove the wheel, Mary had the new tube in, wheel back on, and tire pumped up in a handily placed mechanic's garage.
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| Soaking the feet after the hill climb |
So on to Brig and the train up the mountain to Lax and our first real hill test. It was a slow grind up to Ernen, feeling every gram of our heavy panniers, and finally we were on the tough but beautiful Gommer route to Oberwald. It was a mountain bike trail, a little too bumpy for our unsprung road bikes, but at last we approached the source of the Rhine, and the end of part one of our journey. The final few kilometres were a struggle into a fierce headwind, almost enough to blow us off the trail into the turbulent waters alongside. But at last we arrived at Oberwald, and the train to Andermatt - showers, laundry, and a long quiet sleep...
71.5km, 2010 calories. 6 hrs 30
Not a promising start to our biggest day so far, as we took a wrong turning along the riverside and had to scramble back up onto the main road. And then, first mishap of the tour, I flew over the handlebars in a misjudged attempt to catch a travelling photo opportunity. However, only a few colourful bruises ensued - even the camera miraculously survived! On through farm roads we travelled, past a couple of camels happily ruminating in their Swiss field, traversing verdant river flats, with a stop for coffee in on of the many charming Walliser mountain villages, church and castle ruins perched on a rock, ancient wooden storehouses on stilts. The second mishap of the day as we set off again: Hilary's tire fell off - puncture or faulty valve? We couldn't tell, but in the time it would have taken Hilary and I to work out how to remove the wheel, Mary had the new tube in, wheel back on, and tire pumped up in a handily placed mechanic's garage.
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