Once across the lps from east to west <—-
As expected, it is going up and down a lot.
We cross the Ofen Pass to reach the beautiful Engadin region. The legendary village of Saint Moritz and other beautiful sights can be found here.
The Gravatscha campsite, with its rustic tent pitches in the middle of a sparse coniferous forest, is located directly next to the airfield. Behind it runs the railway, two roads with a few cars, motorcycles, bicycles and sometimes even a horse-drawn carriage. In between are the towns of Samedan and Bever. Samedan, with 3,700 inhabitants, is the largest town in Graubünden, our favourite canton (out of seventeen in Switzerland). Behind it lie the mountains. That is our view. It is like a miniature wonderland, or is it a giant photo wallpaper?
Over the Albula Pass into the Rhine Gorge.
Once we arrive in the Rhine Valley, we follow the EV15. We encounter several touring cyclists. We meet Heike and Herbert from Stuttgart at the cosy, terraced, grassy Camping Carrera in the Rhine Gorge. They are also travelling by bike and tent. We chat about this and that, find we are on the same wavelength and have breakfast together the next morning before heading towards the Oberalp Pass.
On the way, we have a picnic by the Rhine and a nice chat with locals in front of the supermarket in Disentis. We slowly make our way up the pass. The weather closes in and then, 150 metres below the pass, the sky opens up. At the top, at the source of the Rhine, we meet two hikers from Dresden. They have stayed dry… and, miraculously, everything is dry on the other side of the pass too.
We roll down to Andermatt, where there are lots of campers, cyclists and motorcyclists. The tent is still drying. After a refreshing shower, it starts raining outside. The covered picnic area provides a quick opportunity to meet three bikers from Memmingen, two ambitious cyclists and a young woman from Zurich who wants to cycle down the Rhine to Rotterdam. We enjoy a peaceful and restful night before tackling the Furka Pass the next morning.
We still have enough energy for the second pass of the day. The Grimsel Pass, surrounded by a magnificent mountain panorama and also the watershed between the Adriatic Sea and the North Sea, invites us to stay. We camp here instead of simply rolling back down the many metres of altitude. That can wait until tomorrow.
It is completely quiet and lonely up here. Only a few people stay overnight in one of the three hotels or in their campers. Pleasantly cool. Finally, the cosy thumb sleeping bags show for what they made for.
Looking out of the tent the next morning, the sky looks quite friendly again. The Haslital in the Bernese Oberland welcomes us as we set off on the 1,500-metre descent to Meiringen. We put on our rain jackets and vests, because as soon as we reach the top, wet clouds hang low. It is a steep descent on a rain-soaked road. There are several tunnels along the route. Apart from a few motorcyclists and short-sleeved cyclists going uphill (hats off to them!), the road is pretty empty. In Innertkirchen, we enjoy a hearty breakfast in the village square. The remaining forty kilometres to Interlaken are a piece of cake.
Two days at the River Lounge campsite, overlooking the Aare river and the excursion boats, the tourist shore opposite and the Jungfrau behind it. Awesome! Great atmosphere here. Asians are clearly in the majority. It is swimming weather and finally we are heading into the lively Aare river. We just need to follow the example of the other water lovers.
