Easy rolling

I thought that I would be spending time in Switzerland by slowly gaining elevation until I reached Italy. I planned a route from the border with Germany, where I slept on my first day, towards Lugano, in the south of Switzerland, using Komoot. It gives you some statistics regarding changes in elevation, which I tend to interpret as being equally distributed over the distance I'm supposed to travel.

That certainly wasn't the case on the first day: if you're staying in the valleys in Switzerland chances are you're rolling horizontally.

I found myself cycling next to some busy roads in quite a wide valley, surrounded by low hills on the sides. After cycling close to a highway for a while and entering Wohlen, I've had enough of the preplanned route and associated cars. I looked around and found a flat unpaved road next to the river Reuss, and followed that all the way to Rotkreuz, where I slept on the second night.

Construction

It seems everywhere I went there was some form of construction underway. I saw huge industrial buildings constructed next to a cornfield, sleek and modern houses next to very old traditional wooden houses, and officebuildings next to guesthouses that, I imagine, once stood alone watching over the hills.

It was weird to see. I knew Switzerland from an earlier traversal from Austria to France; east to west. I was traveling through mountains, valleys and villages coming straight out of a fairy tale. The road I was traveling now still offered stunning sights, but it seemed like some of that beauty was being lost to modernity. And who am I to judge? For example: I'm the happy owner and user of a victorinox multitool on this trip, and I happened to cycle past one of their factories. Where else can the Swiss build their industry except for in the valleys? Their towering mountains do not allow them to build anywhere else. Still those collosal trusses and concrete blocks seem like an insult to the surrounding shapes of nature, or does that only appear to be so to the tourist?

Perhaps a foreigner coming to my home country of The Netherlands will say the same thing: you'll see some beautiful old buildings next to the canals in Delft or Amsterdam, only to then cycle through a vinexwijk, and be left with the feeling that modernity is leaving a weird stamp on our history.

Ah well, I was certainly enjoying all of the natural beauty that Switzerland had to offer, but the above was a thought that got stuck in my mind during the day.

You shall not Gotthartpass

I ended my day at Rotkreuz. Where the next day I continued my journey. I learned my lesson from using Komoot, and now used its suggested route as initial guess, and planned my own route around it.

I cycled past the Lauerzersee and the Vierwaldstattersee. The latter traversed on a cyclepath next to a highway. It took me some time to get used to the traffic again, and once I did I could fully appreciate the lake and its surrounding cliffs. Once past the lake I found myself traveling on the Eurovelo 5 leading to Rome. It happened to go over the Gotthartpass as well, so I continued the journey alternating between my planned route and the Eurovelo. About 40km into the day I could feel my mood becoming a bit worse, so I had a little break and something to eat, which will aleviate those feelings most of the time.

I couldn't have picked a better place to eat, as a couple of kilometers later I saw a sign saying "warning cyclists: 1500 meters of elevation over 34 km". Now a normal person would not have started that climb at 16:45, but I was a man with a plan: I wanted to see the stars that night on top of the Gotthartpass! And so I started the climb.

The way up was pretty nice. In fact, my mood regarding the construction mentioned earlier changed somewhat, it was really impressive what the Swiss have managed to build on the way up! Two main roads and a railway all weaving over and under eachother, passing through the mountains via tunnels, and all having drainage systems for the water coming down the sides of the mountains. There was very little traffic as well. I suppose partly because the working day was over, but also because I was on the old road over the pass. The new road, if one wishes to go "over" the pass, takes one through the Gottharttunnel, which most motorised vehicles tend to do.

I managed to keep my sprits up until about 8km before Andermatt, where it became tough. So I started saying rediculous things to myself in order to keep myself going, as I generally do under these circumstances. Phrases like: "You're a man with a plan" (quite embarassing, but yes I did say that to myself), "c'mon 'lil leggies", "c'mon, whats 6 km, thats nothing, that's an hour of walking", and "300m of climbing? Thats just a couple times 50", and my favourite, which is actually motivating: "you're never at the top, you're not there yet" (which quite succesfully prevents me from getting my hopes up that I reached a significant milestone). Equally important, since my mobile phone is all too eager to tell me all kinds of statistics, is to never turn on the screen! I don't want to see any numbers until I am where I want to be.

I reached Andermatt at around 19:00. Quite unromantically I flopped over on the first bench I saw, which happened to be at the trainstation. I ate a little bread, chocolate, fruit and some nuts, and continued towards the Gotthartpass at around 19:30.

The remaining section was about 10 km with 600m of climbing, but I've said enough about the hardships already (okay: one more thing, at this point it was imperative for me that I did not start calculating how much 600 meters was in comparison to the earlier climb).

What is more interesting is that when you continue upwards you'll find, at some point, a russian monument carved into the face of the mountain, which was a tribute to an earlier war fought in roughly 1800. Then a bit later the asphalt road turns into cobblestones! I imagine it coming from roman times (and I haven't looked it up), but can you believe that people have built a road over a mountain with cobblestones without power tools?

To finish the ascent, you'll have to go through vanlife- and camper-valhalla, right before you reach the top. Some german couple made my day by running out of their van and handing me a kinder bueno! That was very nice of them, the way it was so spontaneously handed to me made me laugh, a nice way to end a long climb. A couple of minutes later I reached the unofficial top: I didn't exactly go to the Gotthartpass, but went to the Lago di Lucendro, because I wanted to see the stars, and mainly: the glow of the milky way!

I arrived quite late, at 21:30. I quickly made camp and dinner, and then at some point turned off all devices that make light, and started looking at the heavens. After my eyes adjusted the clear skies offered me an amazing view of so many stars! Somehow I had a particular sense, I suppose an intuition, that I was on the verge of seeing so much more, if only the last remaining glow behind the mountains (preventing me from having better night vision) would darken! I thought that a bit later in the night the view would be better.

Because I was also quite tired I decided to set an alarm at 01:30, get some sleep, and then I would finally, for the first time in my life, see the milky way! And so my alarm awoke me at its set time, and I saw... The full moon! Causing me to see less than I did before I went to bed! I had a good laugh about it, wrapped myself up, and went to sleep again. I'll make another attempt later in my trip, with clear skies, and with a new moon.

Pass the pass

And so I woke up, had a really relaxed morning and an extended breakfast. It was interesting to see how much life there was at an altitude of 2200 meters. Sure, the weren't any trees, and a whole lot less flowers, but there were still flowers, several kinds of butterflies, grasshoppers, birds, etc. I enjoyed all of this until I left at about 12:00. I quickly had the obligatory picture taken by some bikers at the highest point. And then continued on.

The descent was a lot of fun! The first 1000 meters dropped quickly mostly over serpentines made of cobblestones. The remainder of the distance was spread out over a large section of the valley. It was still just as beautiful as the Switzerland on the other side of the pass.

The rest of the day was a bit uneventful, but I made sure to appreciate the last bits of mountain I would see for quite a while! They day ended about 80km from Lugano, where I tried to make a decision about how to continue towards Italy...