You are reading a single comment by @GideonPARANOID and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@GideonPARANOID
Eventually finished processing enough photos to continue the writeup.
The next day was a short day - about twenty seven miles from Chiggiogna to Andermatt, up over Passo San Gottardo via Tremola road. It being pretty high (2,106m, climbing from 700m) & fairly early in the holiday we figured it a good idea to play it safe with how it'd go.
We rolled along the valley, climbing slowly in the early morning, snaking beside railways & the motorway up to Airolo, where we started the climb after a quick pit-stop. I was expecting the cobbles to start right from the get-go out of Airolo, but it wasn't until a few kilometres up the climb they started in sections. Some of the first sections felt a bit sketchy - rolling slowly over the tiles with touring kit always feels a bit risky, like something it going to shake loose - but they got better as we went. Eventually, nearer the top, the road became a lot quieter & windier, with no sections of tarmac for relief & a huge number of switchbacks stacked up the mountainside. The road is a beautiful road, & would highly recommend it!
We sat for a snack at the top overlooking the really very clear lake & pressed on down to Andermatt. We weren't expecting more cobbles on the descent, & thankfully it was only about two kilometres of them. Shot down very quickly into town, which gave us lots of time to wash/dry our clothes & have a few drinks in the afternoon sun. Gottard Camping Andermatt was very basic - would not recommend it (but there's no other option really) - but the town was lovely. It's a fancy ski resort though, so it was a bit dear. Saw many Ferraris squeeze down its narrow streets.
The next day we had a long one - seventy miles down to Landquart. Thankfully, it was all in one valley after climbing Oberalp pass (literally, over alp pass) which we could see from our pitch. Our tent was on the dark side of the valley, so it was tough work getting up & layers were peeled off very quickly after starting the climb once we got the light. We shared the climb with a mountain railway - the Glacier Express - which ran alongside the road for a while, & even a tunnel at the top. Pretty climb, but not particularly memorable. Beautifully quiet at the in the upper stages of the Oberalpreuss though.
At the top in a little town there was weirdly a lighthouse, as you might expect to find by the sea. It was quite busy so we had to wait around for a while for a gap in the traffic before descending (easily catching up cars & coaches on these windy descents). The top section was great fun - really windy & open, becoming straight & very fast lower down. We had about 1,400m to descend in about 80km from the top of the pass, so most of the rest of the day absolutely flew by.
At Ilanz, we popped into a Coop for a can of Coke & some refuge from the scorching sun. Here my route had a detour into a national parky thing around the river Vorderrhein - seemed better than following the mainroad through Flims. This turned out to be one of the most spectacular roads of the entire tour. Hugging the wall of a mountain, the balcony road offered a fantastic panorama of the white walls of the valley, deep green forests, glacial blue river & peaks in the background. Kept having to stop to take photos & take it all in. Absolutely fantastic.
After that, the rest was a bit mainroady really. Getting through Chur was a chore - forgot what riding through urban streets was like after only a few days of touring. Eventually we found our campsite - Waldcamping Landquart. Very close to some shops, great facilities (including a communal room to sit inside where we didn't get bitten to death by bugs!) & a cheery host. Lovely.
Photos:
5 Attachments