Let me refer you back to my previous post that addressed my aversion to tunnels. Well, I said then that I was exaggerating about the tunnels being miles long. On todays ride to Vogorno, they actually were!
Tunnel after tunnel after tunnel. Not just your quick one that you can see the way out of. Oh no. Super duper loooooong ones. The type that you think you are about to die of carbon monoxide poisoning before you ever see the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel! They were in fact, literally, miles long – the longest was SIX miles. Seriously guys, six miles of being stuck in a bloody tunnel…I have nothing more to say on that!
Today we bade a fond farewell to Lauterbrunnen and headed off for a quick one night stop at a small place called Vogorno, further south and close to the Italian border.

We took a route which took us up and over the Gotthard Pass. The sad thing was that, today of all days when finally we were getting to actually ride a pass that was open, the weather was totally against us. As we began the ascent, the clouds that had been threatening all morning, began to drop. As did the temperature! We pulled off and added in our KLIM under jackets to keep us toasty and hopped back on again to swoop and twist as well as we could given the conditions.

Gotthard Pass
Gotthard Pass
Coming down the other side, things all got a bit perplexing. While in and around Lauterbrunnen, everything had a Swiss, with a side of German, air to it. Once through the pass, everything turned somewhat Italian. I was very discombobulated. We stopped for gas and some lunch and were greeted in Italian in a place that sold Swiss souvenirs! Where even were we?!?! We didn’t think we’d crossed the border.
Side note; talk about fancy toilets! They charged one Franc per person and had a system much like the underground with a turnstile that you pass through after inserting your ticket. The facilities didn’t look that fancy…until you pulled the chain. Well, the toilet seat starts rotating round and a little scrubbing attachment starts to clean the whole thing! La-di-dah!
After some googling, it turns out that Switzerland has FOUR national languages that are traditionally spoken in different regions of the country; German, French, Italian and Rumantsch
There are clearly defined regions for all four official languages. German in northern, central and eastern Switzerland, French in western Switzerland, Italian in southern Switzerland and Rumantsch in southeastern Switzerland. As I said, all very confusing!
Hotel Al Lago, Vogorno
That aside, we arrived in Vogorno and at our new billet, Hotel Al Lago. We settled into our new room (with another fantastic view) and struggled through the language barrier (neither of us speak even a pinch of Italian – which doesn’t bode well for the next couple of weeks – and managed to enjoy a good evening with fine food and some good beer!
Hotel Al Lago, Vogorno
Hotel Al Lago, Vorgono
It was only a one night stop here and so, after a strange but nice breakfast, we were all packed up and ready to move on to our next stop which would take us into Italy. First stop was just 4 miles up the road where there is a medieval, double arched stone bridge, the Ponte Dei Salti which crosses the crystal clear, turquoise colored waters of the Verzasca. After a quick photo session, we loaded ourselves back on and set off for a good days riding that was going to take us up and over three Alpine passes.
Ponte dei Salti
Ponte dei Salti
Ponte dei Salti
Ponte dei Salti
Ponte dei Salti

As we rode along towards San Bernadino, the first of the passes, the clouds hung low in the valley and on each side were many huge waterfalls just cascading down the side of the hills – Iain had trouble keeping a straight line as I bounced around trying to take pics of them all!!

The higher we got, the lower the temperature got and we had to stop to layer up again. It was a good opportunity to take some pics and video of Iain at the beginning of the twist and turns that make up the San Bernadino Pass. At the 2,066m summit we took a break to stop for a coffee at the Hospiz St Bernhardin and bumped into a couple of Brits. You just can’t get away from them!

San Bernardino
San Bernardino
San Bernardino pass
San Bernardino pass
San Bernardino pass
San Bernardino pass

After this we wound our way down on to the next one. Skirting around the Italian border we travelled north towards Splügen Pass. At the 2115m summit, you arrive at the border between Switzerland and Italy. Sadly, another unmanned, abandoned, and shuttered up post. We did tip toe into Italy at this point but had to turn round as the we knew the road was closed further on.

Splügen Pass
Splügen Pass
Splügen Pass
Back at the bottom of Slügen, a wrong turn turned out well as it took us along a cool, winding road alongside a beautiful lake and then to a lovely little lunch and coffee stop.
Back on the right road again, we continued on to Switzerlands oldest town, Chur, where we picked up the route for the Julier pass. This was my favourite pass of the day as it wasn’t so much the tight switch backs as more long, sweeping bends from the deep alpine valleys outside Chur, over a summit of 2,284m and back down to St Moritz.
Slügen pass
Julier Pass
From there we began heading towards Livigno, our next stop over. This route took us through the beautiful Parc Naziunal Svizzer, with more great riding roads and a few similar to the French ‘balcony’ roads I told you about earlier.
Finishing the day with one final, 3km long, (scary), single lane and very cold tunnel, (it got down to 46 degrees in there!), we popped out into bright sunlight and another innocuous border where we slipped into Italy without fanfare! We arrived at the tunnel at the best time. I read afterwards that the traffic is controlled one way, for half hour periods at a time! Good Lord…can you imagine Iains choice words if we’d arrived just as it changed and we’d been sat at a red light for 30 minutes. Especially not knowing about the traffic control at that point. We may have been tempted to say “sod it” and ride on through! That could have been messy and we already had one ‘head on’ fiasco today, but I’m not telling you about that, my mum reads this…shhhh!

After following the beautifully rolling road around the stunning Lago di Livigno, we reached another wonderful AirBnB choice we were happy to find that our hostess spoke a good degree of English. We are quickly realizing that a bit of language prep in advance would have helped us a lot. However, I’m picking up some handy phrases as we go!
My only negative observation so far is the pillows! The last three places we have stayed have had the most dreadful pillows! Like, so flat that they just as well not be there at all and the ones here are HARD…like a plank of wood hard. I needed to take the cushion from the couch to sleep on! Also, it seems that couples have separate duvets over here. Again the last three places we’ve stayed have been all set up lovely with two, neatly folded duvets on the bed! I actually think this is a good idea to avoid cover hogging!

Lago di Livigno
The next day we planned a little loop that took us up through the Forcoloa di Livigno at an elevation of 2315m. It had only just opened again after the winter and there were a lot of Saturday drivers out enjoying the road. That said, it was still a really enjoyable ride of sweeping turns and stunning scenery that led us through the border back into Switzerland at the summit. The scenery had me thinking back to my schoolgirl reading and the “Heidi” novels. I kept remembering “Grandfather” and “Peter the goat herder”. The landscape we were traveling was everything I had conjured up in my mind way back then!
Forcolo di Livigno
Forcola di Livigno
After enjoying the ride back down, we came into the small town of Poschiavo, with it’s gorgeous lake and the train tracks which run tight to the road and criss cross it a couple of times. It bought a whole new meaning to sharing the road!
We sat at a really cute restaurant/café set right on the lake, the Miralago, for a cup of coffee. What a stunning setting. Very “olde worlde” with many original features kept within the building. It would be fun to stay a couple of nights there.
Poshiavo
Poshiavo
I went into photo taking overdrive and even persuaded Iain to take the bike down through a “No Entry” area so I could get a good shot of her with the lake in the back ground!
While he was in getting the coffee, an old Italian fellow was admiring the bike. We had a great conversation. I spoke to him in English and he spoke to me in Italian. It seemed to work. We both smiled…no freaking idea what he said but we were both happy so that’s all that matters
Lake Poschiavo
Lake Poschiavo
Lago di Poschiavo
Lago di Poschiavo
After coffee, we mounted up again and set off back towards Livigno. The route took us up through the Passo Foscagno, with an elevation of 2291m. After this it seemed like we were underground the entire trip home. Again with the damn tunnels. One of which was 8km long….but I’m not going to go off on that rant again!
Passo Foscagno
Passo Foscagno
Back in town, we spent a relaxing lunch watching a wedding party celebrate. They were really having fun. There was a convoy of an old style, tiny Fiat, followed by a converted VW bus with a whole bunch of people (I’m guessing which included the groom) in the back, shouting out to the passers by. They were followed by about ten cars decorated with ribbons and bows.
Livigno Wedding
As they drove through the town and round and round the round-a-bouts they were all honking their horns and shouting out the windows. All the pedestrians and the people in the cafes/bars were shouting back. It was a real fun way to travel to a wedding! Then the church bells began to ring and it all made for a very joyous occasion 🙂
All too soon, our Livigno stay was over and it was time to pack up and move on again. Next stop; Alleghe, Italy.

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Europe 2018

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Follow our posts as we prepare for our 13 week tour of Europe that starts in May 2018!

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