13 July 2025 (cloudy and mild, becoming warm) 60km

Woke at 5.06am and began our pack up. Amazing how quiet we are in comparison to the noisy bastards who frequent camping grounds. We have such a routine going as we pack up. A mere nod is all that is needed if any communication is needed at all. However right in the middle of it a call came through from Brody, despite my phone being on Do Not Disturb. Ah well, payback for the neighbours chatting until 12.30am and throwing their glass bottles into the recycling at the same time, where they duly smashed and made a helluva racket….which Ju slept through.

So, this was it, d-day. What we had been building up to since leaving Paris…..the start of the Swiss Alps. We knew we were going to face some big climbs and we knew we would have to share the road with traffic. But we didn't really know how steep these climbs would be, what the road surface would be and how much traffic we'd have to share the road with.

We felt that with camping at Brunnen we had put ourselves in a good position to tackle the 32km and 760 metres of climbing to get us to Silenen. From there we thought we could tackle Andermatt tomorrow, which would be a further 30km and 1000 metres of climbing.

But of course another consideration is the weather. With rain forecast today, when we woke at 5am and it hadn't started yet, we decided to get up so we could pack up a dry tent and get views of this next part which was supposed to be particularly scenic.

We had a dilemma though. When looking at a way to get us to Silenen, Mapy directed us up and over on a walking track, but there was a road on the lakeside which was flat. However, it was the E14 which generally denotes a motorway.

So we were unsure if we were allowed on this road or whether we would even want to be on it.

We set off at 6am, but even at that time on Sunday morning, the road was busy. So up and over we went and it was a relief to get away from the noise of the traffic.

The climb up, was straight up. But at least it was on a good surface. The views were spectacular, so even with the huffing and puffing, all was good with the world. It started to become a little dubious as we reached the skiing village and the track became a walking track.

Surface still good though, although we were getting dirty looks from walkers, who believe that no human or animal shall use that track but them. (Even though the occasional car was using it). At the top of the climb, aside from relief, we were looking forward to the downhill.

Saw a couple of male walkers who had camped up there the night, in hammocks.

Just after we saw them, as we started our descent, the road turned into a rocky farm track with a strip of grass down the middle for a good portion of it. It turned out the grassy part was the best part to ride, as long as the hill wasn't too steep, which it was at times.

To our right there was a dark cloud moving closer and closer and we could hear the thunder rumbling.

Just as we reached the treeline, the rain began, so we sheltered for ten minutes and got our wet weather gear on.

Sisikon

As the rain eased off we recommenced our descent, hauling on the brakes as we walked our heavy bikes down the steepest parts. We were a bit aggrieved that after all that hard slog to the top, we couldn't even enjoy the downhill. We were even more pissed off when we saw that we could have cycled along the E14 after all with the bicycle sign pointing back to Brunnen along that road. Where was the sign at the other end? So basically we had climbed 500 metres for nothing.

Being calmness personified, I just smiled, whistled a happy tune and finished with some cartwheels.

We consoled ourselves with the thought that with all that traffic, it wouldn't have been very pleasant and we did get some cracking views at the top.

So now we had tarmac again and a stunning ride from Sisikon to the town of Fluelen at the end of the lake. This was fantastic as a lot of the time we had a cycling track to ourselves with cars being directed through a tunnel. So we had the views, the flat and no traffic. Perfect!

And these photos right here sum up why we cycle tour. We get to see some truly spectacular places that are just too inaccessible by vehicle.

In the town of Altdorf we bought some food at a Co-op that was open (big surprise there as most shops are shut on Sunday), and ate breakfast at a bench across the road, partly undercover from the rain which eventually passed overhead.

As we ate we watched the very dark clouds, with occasional thunder, disappear and the sun once again reappeared. 

Heading on toward the campground at Silenen, 10kms away, we were now riding on a slight incline, but it was very enjoyable through quiet back roads and farmland. The scenery was changing every two minutes.

Made headway to Silenen, reaching there by 11.30am. Mapy informed us we had a 100 metre climb to the camp.

It seemed ridiculous to go into camp at 12pm and sit around for the day when Andermatt was only 26kms away. However, it was also another 1000 metres of climbing to do. But the sun was out and the views spectacular, so that convinced us to carry on, as the weather forecast tomorrow was dodgy.

We both agreed that we would take our time and if we needed to, we would freecamp. So, off we set.

It took us another five and a half hours, including forty five minutes for lunch to rattle off this climb.

On the way, we grunted and puffed our way up this road.

A main road which was seriously busy, because an accident on the motorway was sending every car in Switzerland onto our road. We have cycled many busy main roads, but this was packed. 

Being a Sunday, you had your usual motorbike riders enjoying the sweeping turns and scenery. There were also numerous Porsches, Corvettes, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and even a Rolls Royce all out enjoying the road….. except when they had to come to a virtual standstill because of two cycle tourers plodding up the hill.

Whenever there was a footpath, we got on it and pulled into gaps and driveways to let traffic pass when we could. We could see all the cars on the motorway at a standstill and as our road came up to the motorway exit, the traffic began to crawl. So slowly that we began undertaking the cars that had passed us on the way up. And we were still pedalling uphill here so the traffic was probably down to 5kph. It was like this for two to three kilometres. 

And to add to this was the smell. Not sure if there had been an accident in the motorway tunnel which involved a fire, or if it was the accumulation of several overheated engines from the climb. Probably not the Ferraris or Lamborghinis, but maybe the Corvettes? Or it might have been the heat from brake pads having to be used so much by the cars and trains going downhill. But there was a terrible, pervasive smell as we cycled this busy bit.

Prior to that, we had eaten lunch in the picturesque village of Gurtnellen, sitting on the front steps of the church.

So as I see it, we dined at the "House of God".

We brought our own food, so he had nothing to do.

We even washed our own dishes, leaving his table as spotless as we found it, to continue on to the most rugged part of the climb. 

Fortunately the incredible views were a great distraction. We also got far more separation from the traffic which was greatly appreciated.

We lost track of the amount of switchbacks we did in the final 6kms, but it was hard work.

At one point, two middle aged people flew past us, but on e-bikes.

Now come on people, how dare you enjoy yourselves on a climb like this? Where's the sweat, the toil, the hard graft? You can't possibly enjoy this ride without putting in the hard work....can you? We didn't want to think about that too much. Or the fact that we could simply have taken one of the many trains or buses to the top. But the big difference is, they couldn't stop where they liked and taken the photos that we got.

We had been a little concerned that 1600 metres in one day would be too much, but I am proud of both of us.

We stuck our heads down (well, not really, because we were taking photos all day, but you get the idea), and paused when we needed to and dug in when required and suddenly we found ourselves in Andermatt. 

We were going to celebrate with an ice cream from a bar by the station.

I think not, said Julia, when she found out they were charging NZ$ 10 each.

Along the road, just out of town was the campsite. Fortunately they sold ice-creams for the far more reasonable $7NZ each, so we celebrated there, sitting in the sunshine. However it was quite windy so when we pitched the tent on the other side of the road, we pitched next to a van to take a bit of shelter.

Had great showers, a wine for Julia, a beer for me while we blogged by reception. The rain was intermittent but we were sheltered anyway. Then we went back to our tent

 to eat about 7.30pm and snuggled up after a great effort.