Walenstadt – Zuerich
95.1km, 7hrs 16mins, 1505m total climb
We had a lovely big breakfast at the
Hotel Bergheim. As we were the only hotel guests, breakfast was
exclusively prepared for us, with a mini buffet on the table and only
one able set. We ate all of the cheese, ham, yoghurt, bread and eggs
that they anticipated one could need - to fuel for the day. The
weather had cleared over night and the sun was shining brightly into
the restaurant area. We had the most perfect view over the mountains
– finally the clouds have lifted!
We ended up having a little chat with
the owner of Hotel Bergheim and found out that one stage of the Tour
the Swiss goes up the hill past the hotel. Those guys only take
18mins from the town at the bottom to the top! We calculated that was
more than 30kph average for that so wasn’t sure about his
statistics, but still very impressive since it took us an hour
moving, just to get to the hotel, the stage ends up 450m higher!
After breakfast we wrapped up and
zoomed back down the hill towards Walenstadt. Bought some more drinks
for the journey and headed towards Zurich.
All went well but then after 20KM we
hit a diversion (roadworks on the cycling path). We decided to chance
it and kept going for about 1km, but we met two other cyclists coming
towards us who told us that there was no way of passing the roadworks
as the cycle tunnel was closed and there were rock debris all over
the path. Glad we met them as it would have been another climb to
return from the blocked path.
The only alternative was to turn around
(approx. 3km back from where we came) and go up and over the
mountain. 350m climb and back down the other side.
The cycle route planned was around 67km
but thanks to the diversion it ended up being nearly another 100km.
It was worth it for the views, you could really see straight into
Zurich and to where we were heading.
After the climb, the route was quite
boring for about 20km on a gravel cycle path along the river, but
there was a lot of up and down through Zurich farmland en route to
the Campsite, which was just on the outskirts, on a lake. We stopped
to buy 1.5L of Apfel Mosst on the way in at a farm also.
Nice site, shower’s cost 50Fr
(0.4EUR) for 3 Min which was a disappointment but it was clean, and
the pitch was good. 21EUR for the night.
Once we set up we decided to eat –
two rounds of a Roast Beef sandwich (without the roast beef and a
random mixed meat slice instead) with Horseradish and Rocket and ate
it at a bench on the water edge with a bottle of red while the sun
went down. Satisfying.
 |
| Tour de Swiss - last stage |
 |
| View back to our campsite in Walenstadt |
 |
| Just before we had to turn around to follow the diversion |
No comments:
Post a Comment