Part 2: The Swiss Alps and the ride back home
Wed 21st July
Wednesday seemed likely to be another good day although the waitress at breakfast thought it was going to rain – well ultimately she was right but it was still good at 12.45pm when I eventually got on the road.
I headed south on the A13 past Chur and Thusis towards Splugen where I branched off the main road and onto the Via Mala – the old pass road.
The new road unsurprisingly takes most of the traffic leaving the Via Mala pleasantly quiet. The old and new roads criss cross each other frequently such as before Andeer and later on before Splugen.
The Via Mala before Andeer (L) and later on before Splugen (R)
The section up from Andeer to Sufers winds up beside an alpine stream which is very pretty scenery.
The Via Mala about a mile past Andeer
Between Andeer and Splugen is Sufers where you get a good view of the Wisshorn and where I came across a lake.
The road to Sufers (L) and parked up by the lake with the Wisshorn in the background (R)
Arriving in Splugen I turned left to go up the Splugen Pass, which connects Splugen in Switzerland with Chiavenna in Italy.
The first section of the pass road consists of a few gentle hairpins which take you up the valley floor.
Views of Splugen from about halfway up the first section of the pass road
You then have a straight run of about a mile and a half before the hairpins start. At the end of this straight section you enter a series of very tight steep hairpins. This was awkward as the K1200S isn’t the quickest steering bike around.
The start of the straight valley section looking up towards the summit (L) and on the way back down showing the hairpins I'd just ridden up (R)
I reached the summit and looked for the pass marker but unusually there wasn’t one so I photographed my GPS instead. It isn’t the clearest photo but the GPS is showing 6,963 feet ASL. The official height is 2,113 metres.
Top of the Splugen
A view from the summit looking back to Splugen (L) and a view looking south towards Chiavenna (R)
I didn’t have time to go down the south side of the pass so I rode back to Splugen where the old and new pass roads become one for a couple of miles before you exit the new road and follow signs to Passo del San Bernardino.
The tunnel for the new road is immediately below the start of the old pass and you can see the pass zigzagging its way up the hill above the tunnel entrance.
A view of the San Bernardino zigzagging its way up the hill above the tunnel entrance
The hairpins are fairly twisty but not too tight and soon I found myself on a nice stretch of open road, which twisted and turned among the rock formations.
On the way up the San Bernardino
Top of the San Bernardino
The scenery was similar on the way down and the photo below was taken just a little way below the summit and I believe that the odd structure to the left of the photo is probably a ventilation duct for the tunnel.
On the way down the other side of the San Bernardino
Not much further on you enter the town of San Bernardino and you then have the option of staying on the pass road or joining the new road. I chose the latter option as I wanted to save some time. The new road is itself very enjoyable on this side as its twisty but broad and well surfaced. The only drawback is the level of traffic. In any event there would not be any point in staying on the old road beyond Mesocco about 10 miles further down the valley. If you were approaching from Bellinzona to the south you should stay on the new road until Mesocco.
I then ran down the valley to Bellinzona where I joined the motorway heading north towards the San Gotthard tunnel and pass. The photo below was taken on the exit road just before the start of the road tunnel and you can see the new San Gotthard pass road cutting across the mountain above the bike.
Heading north towards the San Gotthard
My aim however was to ride the Nufenen Pass as this was the highest Swiss pass which remained unclimbed by the BBOT team. Just off the slip road the pass is clearly signposted.
The road up the valley heading west is open and fast. I thought the layout was untypical for a pass road but I later found out that although the pass has been there for centuries it was only tarmacked and opened to road traffic in 1969, which explains why it looks like a modern engineered road and not an old road converted to vehicular use – like the Splugen for example.
A view a little over halfway up the Nufenen (L) and another looking back down the valley from the same point (R)
About two thirds of the way up the road starts to kick up just and it was there I bumped into some of the local inhabitants who took fright when they learnt I was Welsh.
Some local inhabitants near the summit (L) and the top of the Nufenen (R)
I then began my descent to Ulrichen. From the top I could see right across the valley to the Furka and the Rhone glacier about 6 miles away but by this time the weather was starting to close in quickly to the north.
The descent was steeper than the ascent but the road was so well engineered it would have been a pleasure to ride it in either direction. In the photo below you can see a series of hairpin bends on the descent – the road continues down in the gap on the right:
Looking down the Nufenen
After these hairpins the road opens up and runs down the right hand side of the valley before crossing a bridge and running down the left hand side to Ulrichen. In the photo below you can see the pass road cutting up the valley on the left and then further up on the right you can just about see the hairpins.
View from the bridge at the bottom of the Nufenen looking back up the valley
You can see the pass road cutting up the valley on the left and then further up on the right you can just about see the hairpins in the previous photo.
After refuelling in Ulrichen I turned right towards Gletsch which sits at the base of the both the Grimsel Pass and the Furka.
Views showing Gletsch with the Rhone glacier dead ahead and the Furka to your right (L) and a view from the first stretch of the Grimsel towards the Furka (R)
Views from halfway up the Grimsel of Gletsch and the first hairpin on the Furka (L) and of the Furka (R)
The Grimsel is another well-engineered road with open hairpins and progressively longer and faster stretches towards the summit. I easily got the K1200S over the ton towards the top where I parked by the lake and took a couple of photos.
Top of the Grimsel
Just below the summit were a number of sculptures made out of scrap metal.
I thought that this one could be Taj’s next restoration project once he’s got his MZ running
Further around the lake is a single-track road, which leads up to the Grimselsee and the Oberaarsee. The road is single track and controlled by lights at either end with the lights being green at each end for 10 minutes in every 30.
The Grimselsee with the sun breaking through the cloud (L) and a view of the glacier at the end of the lake (R)
A bit further on and you look over the Oberaarsee.
Slightly better views of the glacier above the lake
On the return trip you get good views of the northbound ramps of the Grimsel from above the Grimselsee. The northbound ramps take you to Innertkirchen where the Susten pass starts.
Views of the northbound ramps of the Grimsel from above the Grimselsee
I then descended the Grimsel in the rain – the waitress’ prognostication had finally come to pass and started my ascent of the Furka Pass.
The Furka is another fast pass road heading towards Andermatt only tightening up a bit where the road meets the Rhone glacier just below the top. It was much as I remembered it from the 2006 tour.
Top of the Furka
From there it was a fastish run down to below Tiefenbach where the road tightens up. However, the road has been much improved since 2006 when I didn’t like the descent at this point. Many of the hairpins have been rebuilt and widened and despite the fact that it was now raining steadily I really enjoyed the ride down this section. I then reached Realp where the road straightens out on the last stretch to Hospental and then Andermatt.
In Andermatt I looked at a few hotels before deciding on Hotel Sonne where I got a comfortable room and a good meal for a reasonable price. Only when I checked the BBOT website did I find out that this was where Mark and Gaz had stayed en route to the Dolomites the previous year.
Thur 22nd July
After a good breakfast I set off at about 9.00am northbound for Basle and the Vosges mountains where the Route des Cretes (the route of the crests). A straightforward run along the autobahn past Lucern put me on the French autoroute in just under 2 hours.
At this point the clouds started to build up and 5 minutes down the autoroute past Mulhouse on the way to Cernay where the Route des Cretes starts, I was under a motorway bridge putiing in the waterproof liners to my Rallye 2 suit whilst torrential rain fell.
There was no point in continuing with that plan so I turned back and rode up the A35 towards Strasbourg as it continued to lash down. Leaving the autoroute at Molsheim I continued on the D422/D1004 to Saverne where I joined the A4 peage (toll motorway) to Reims where I turned onto the A26 towards Calais, finally finishing my day’s journey at St Omer about 25 minutes from Calais.
Fri 23rd July
Leaving my hotel at about 9.00am saw me catch my scheduled tunnel crossing and hit the M20/M25 just after the rush hour as planned. After a 10 minute delay filtering through traffic on the M20 which had stopped for a bad accident at the junction with the M25, I still got home only just over 3 hours after arriving back in the UK.
It had been a good trip with the photo objectives achieved, 4 new passes ticked off the list and only the Route des Cretes remaining on the to do list.
