Ok - Well the Alps were found. In fact once you bumped into them they are pretty damn hard to ignore.
For three days we watched as Germans on motorbikes buzzed by, Italians in Ferraris shot past, the Swiss in their Porshes left us for dead and even the bloody French in their Motorhomes overtook the two very slow and sweaty, overloaded Englishmen on bicycles trying to cross the Alps. The fools…
I suspect we made one of the slowest crossings of the Alps for quite some time.
Whilst the Alps were absolutely stunning climbing for three days passing through Grimsel, Furka and St Gothard passes (Google them) whilst carrying full panniers was very hard work. To make matters worst as we approached the top of Furka (2436m \ 7990ft – nearly twice the height of Ben Nevis) even with our remarkably steady ascent (wanted to be on the safe side…) either a dickie croque monsieur or exercising at altitude was starting to take its effect and I began to feel pretty light headed. So close to the summit after two days hard graft turning round and descending just was not that tempting.
We were hampered in part by the weather. Heavy fog rolled in on our first day so we had to pitch the tent and camp at half four - the party animals that we are meant bed by 6.30 and not hitting the road until gone 10 the next morning. It was also pretty chilly having risen above the tree line to the height of the few remaining glaciers. So everytime we stopped for a break our bodies would start to seize up. The wind at times was pretty nasty,
Whilst I joke about our slow progress – less than 50km a day crossing the Alps was a remarkable achievement rewarded by some fantastic views, cheers when we reached the summits by the drivers who had overtaken us and a wonderful descent into Northern Italy.
We’ve now hit Brescia and heading east for Croatia. So ggodbye to the wonderful Swiss cycle routes and hello to Italian driving. Rob flies home in a couple of days so back to hitting the road on my lonesome.
A shall try and upload some of the photos once I find an internet café with the right attachments.
All the best and thanks for all the messages of support.
gfwm
For three days we watched as Germans on motorbikes buzzed by, Italians in Ferraris shot past, the Swiss in their Porshes left us for dead and even the bloody French in their Motorhomes overtook the two very slow and sweaty, overloaded Englishmen on bicycles trying to cross the Alps. The fools…
I suspect we made one of the slowest crossings of the Alps for quite some time.
Whilst the Alps were absolutely stunning climbing for three days passing through Grimsel, Furka and St Gothard passes (Google them) whilst carrying full panniers was very hard work. To make matters worst as we approached the top of Furka (2436m \ 7990ft – nearly twice the height of Ben Nevis) even with our remarkably steady ascent (wanted to be on the safe side…) either a dickie croque monsieur or exercising at altitude was starting to take its effect and I began to feel pretty light headed. So close to the summit after two days hard graft turning round and descending just was not that tempting.
We were hampered in part by the weather. Heavy fog rolled in on our first day so we had to pitch the tent and camp at half four - the party animals that we are meant bed by 6.30 and not hitting the road until gone 10 the next morning. It was also pretty chilly having risen above the tree line to the height of the few remaining glaciers. So everytime we stopped for a break our bodies would start to seize up. The wind at times was pretty nasty,
Whilst I joke about our slow progress – less than 50km a day crossing the Alps was a remarkable achievement rewarded by some fantastic views, cheers when we reached the summits by the drivers who had overtaken us and a wonderful descent into Northern Italy.
We’ve now hit Brescia and heading east for Croatia. So ggodbye to the wonderful Swiss cycle routes and hello to Italian driving. Rob flies home in a couple of days so back to hitting the road on my lonesome.
A shall try and upload some of the photos once I find an internet café with the right attachments.
All the best and thanks for all the messages of support.
gfwm