Sunday 12 th June, a beautiful sunny day. Perfect for riding up the Oberalppass, which Pat did in fine style, while Tracey took the Gottard train. ( Pat left a couple of 25yo German lads feeling weak as water when they tried and failed to catch him on the Oberalppass- onya pat.) What a gorgeous train ride through the alps still dusted in snow, with a to die for view back down the mountain to Andermatt.
Tracey found a cafe at the top of the Oberalppass to wait for Pat. When he arrived we had a hot chocolate, got a photo at the lighthouse and started the descent.
Not for the faint- hearted, this descent was steep and winding for 13km - very tight switchbacks and lots of traffic. Then came a fast 50, only broken by a short single track off road adventure of about 6.5 km. After disentis we had discovered that the route left the road and follows mainly only gravel tracks at best. fortunately, we missed the turn off and stayed on the road which was very nice riding. At Trun we saw a sign and re-joined the official route. This section started with a short 18% climb followed by gravel tracks, rocky descents and virtually no track at all in places. The map showed that this was likely to continue for quite somer distance so we agreed to follow the road instead. We had a picnic lunch Llanz. After chatting to some friendly German walkers, we rejoined the Radweg and headed towards Bonaduz. This entailed a solid climb of about 12km with gradients up to 12%. This climb and the following descent were incredibly spectacular. For part of this section we were forced by the traffic to ride on the extreme right hand side of the road right next to a barrier, designed to stop you plummeting hundreds of metres into the canyon. At the top after Versam the road was a single lane wide, cut into a cliff and at times cut through rock arches. All the traffic was ultra cautious because the drop-off right on the edge of the road was precipitous. This gorge has been nicknamed the Swiss Grand Canyon. The descent from this climb was the most hair- raising yet.
We started to look for accommodation at this point but could not find any until Chur, where we stayed at Hotel Franziskanner, a lovely old building in the old town centre.
PFE 1150m 102km max grad 18%
TTE 550m 91km max grad 18%
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