Swiss Peaks Adventure 2024
Cycling in Switzerland is a veritable feast for your senses. The mountain air is invigorating. The sweet tinkling of cowbells adorning the necks of contented bovines in their lush highland pastures and the fragrance of freshly harvested hay emanating from tidy farmsteads along the route draw your attention. Around each bend in the trail, sights unfold that are so magnificent that your bicycle simply rolls to a stop. Soaring heights of rocky cliffs and lofty peaks, dark and mysterious forests of evergreens, stunningly deep and shadowy valleys, pristine meadows blooming with alpine flowers, thriving vineyards atop precipitous hills overlooking beautiful Lake Geneva and enchanting villages just waiting to be explored turn your mind away from the constant and sometimes challenging whirling of your legs. Switzerland will test your mettle but the rewards are truly remarkable.
There is no getting around it. Switzerland is a mountainous land with the Alps in the south and the sub-Alpine Jura Mountains in the northwest. Our route traverses both these regions and you can count on numerous climbs and descents along this mountainous trail. Fortunately, alpine mountain passes use multiple switchbacks to create manageable slope grades of between 7% and 12%. When we reach the Juras, which can have steeper grades for short distances, our muscles and minds will have been prepped by the Alps to tackle their challenges, leaving us relatively free to marvel at the incredible vistas around us and to relish the thrilling descents. Even so, a higher-than-average level of fitness will be needed to enjoy this trip. Route surfaces encompass 80% quiet paved roads, many of which are so seldomly used by vehicles that they feel like a dedicated bike road, 10% busier paved roads and 10% mixed surface bicycle trails.
All that being said, pedalling assistance can be had through the rental of an e-bike. E-bikes smooth out the slopes and conserve energy that you can enjoy expending later in the day during a town exploration walk or an evening hike to an interesting spot. No worries though. We will provide you with tips for preparing yourself physically for this expedition in our welcome letter. If you want more input on this topic, feel free to discuss with us your proposed training schedule.
Besides the breathtaking scenery and the spectacular rides, our itinerary will treat us to a variety of unusual experiences. Included in your trip package is a night spent in jail; the rare experience of being inside a glacier during a tour of the Rhone Glacier along the Furka Pass; a boat cruise amidst the fairy tale landscape surrounding Lake Lucerne; and entrance to the mysterious cavern near St. Leonard with the largest underground lake in Europe. We will also have the opportunity to visit other intriguing sights such as Aigle Chateau enroute to Montreux; Chillon Castle on Lake Geneva near Montreux; a trip on the Miners’ Train into the Bex Salt Mine, a subterranean world still being mined today; and Fort Scex in St. Maurice, one of the three main fortification complexes comprising the Swiss National Redoubt.
Travel in Switzerland is undoubtedly an expensive endeavour but there are ways to avoid undue extra costs while on this trip, mostly through how and what you eat. All of your breakfasts and three suppers are included in the trip package but you’ll have to find your own way at other mealtimes. To this end, here are a few tips. Plan to create at least some of your lunches from hotel buffet breakfasts and/or foods available at grocery stores. Be sure to bring along a plate and bowl, utensils and a sharp knife (pack this one in your checked luggage!) to make eating picnic style a breeze. Drink tap water with your lunch and other meals as well. Watch for fountains or hand pumps with free-flowing drinking water in the villages and along our trail. Switzerland is famous for having potable water in all of its fountains and pumps unless there is sign specifically saying “Kein Trinkwasser” (Not drinking water). In restaurants you can request tap water by ordering “Leitungswasser”. Note that, when dining out in Switzerland, there is no need to leave a tip since service fees are included in the food costs. The Swiss custom is to round up the bill, giving the server a couple of extra francs. Consider ordering vegetarian options that are available in most Swiss restaurants and are usually much more affordable than options containing meat. Watch out for salad buffets where you pay by food weight. It counts up faster than you might think.
Switzerland is rated as a very safe country in which to travel, with Canada’s travel advisory recommending similar precautions to those you would take in Canada. September is the start of Switzerland’s low tourism season so visitors are sparse compared to the summer months. In addition, September is regarded as one of the best months to visit Switzerland, thanks to mostly sunny days and still warm, but usually not hot, temperatures. September temperatures in Geneva average around 19° C in the daytime and 10° C at night; at higher altitudes, daytime highs average 7° C. Note that near freezing temperatures can be experienced at high elevations in September so you’ll need to include warmer clothing layers and long-fingered gloves in your gear.
We certainly hope that you will consider joining us for what promises to be a breathtaking, exhilarating and unforgettable Coasters Cycling Club tour.
Day 8 Göschenen to Gluringen 56 km
Total Ascent: 1472 m Total Descent: 1224 m
Maps needed: Swiss Mobility Map Day 8 – Göschenen to Gluringen (Garmin map)
Today we tackle a couple of challenging climbs. The first is found as we continue along Swiss Mobility National Route 3 over the Teufelsbrücke and up to Andermatt (at 14 km). If you haven’t had a chance yet to explore the Teufelsbrücke area we’ll take a quick break here for a wander around this remarkable and historic place. Ride on through Andermatt and then we’ll catch the Swiss Mobility National Route 1 heading towards the Furka Pass.
This part of our ride begins by the banks of our previous watery companion, the Reuss River, as it meanders along its valley route between mountain slopes. We’ll pass through the mountain towns of Hospental (at 8 km) and Realp (at 14 km) and then begin our rise over the fabled Furka Pass.
Switchbacks tame the mountainside to an achievable slope of around 7.4% for most of its 11-kilometer length (1. 5 km at 0 to 5% grade and 10 km at 5 to 10% grade) and the views will take your breath away, literally and figuratively. Used as an east-west trade route since the 1200s, a road was built on the Furka Pass in 1864. There is a train tunnel through the mountain but we’ll be riding up the multiple hairpin switchbacks to reach the summit. The Furka Pass summit reaches an altitude of 2429 meters making it one of the highest rideable passes in Europe.
The road is now known as James Bond Strasse. A plaque and small parking lot are located partway up the eastern face commemorating the film “Goldfinger”. It was here that James Bond raced his Aston DB5 over the Furka Pass. Along our way, we will pass a number of closed hotels dating from the “Belle Époque era”, that time in the late 1800s and early 1900s when lavish tourism flourished throughout this area. Plagued by a short season, climate change, and modern quick transit over the mountains, these hotels, the Belvedere being the most famous, are no longer in operation.
We’ll ride past the closed Galenstock Hotel (around 24 km) and then the equally closed Furkablick Hotel (at 25.5 km) and the summit of the pass (at 26.3 km). Not too far past the summit is the Rhône Glacier (Rhônegletscher) and the closed Hotel Belvedere (at 29 km). The Hotel Belvedere, built into a hairpin turn that was at that time practically on top of the Rhône Glacier, opened in 1882 and was a very popular stopover for travellers. The Rhône Glacier is the source of the mighty Rhône River which makes its way from Switzerland through France to the Mediterranean Sea.
We will take time to visit the ice tunnel which has been carved into the Rhône Glacier. Originally the tunnel was created as a tourist attraction but is now also used to study the impact of climate change and the retreat of the glacier. Visitors can pay a fee to walk through it. (This is covered in your trip cost.) The tunnel is a controversial exhibit and is opposed by environmentalists. It may soon be closed. One hundred years ago, the Rhône Glacier stretched all the way down the mountain to Gletsch but the glacier has been receding at a rate of 10 meters per year over the past 120 years leaving behind a track of naked stone. Presently it extends over 8 kilometers and reaches a width of a little over 1000 meters. Over 500 such glaciers in Switzerland have completely disappeared in the last century.
After we leave the glacier we’ll begin a long downward journey of 21 kilometers along the western face of the Furka Pass. We’ll ride through the town of Gletsch (at 36.5 km) (short for Gletscher, the German word for glacier), which lies at the crossroads of the Furka Pass and the Grimsel Pass. If you’re still full of energy you can take a detour up the first part of the Grimsel Pass for a different view of this alpine world.
After Gletsch comes the town of Oberwald (at 42 km) where we’ll rejoin another riverside. This is the water from the Rhône Glacier and the beginnings of the Rhône River (called the Rotten River in this part of Switzerland). We’ll follow this river all the way to Lake Geneva.
We’re now past the switchbacks but our downhill run continues. Soon we’ll see the town of Reckingen (at 53.7 km) and then we will cross the river, turn onto Sandstrasse and enter the town of Gluringen (at 56 km), our home base for the evening.
DAY 8 – Friday, September 13 EXPLORE GLURINGEN
It’s been a big day for all of us but we suggest a pleasant after-supper walk around the town of Gluringen. Here you will find some unusual buildings called vernacular buildings. They were built in the 1500s & 1600s and many are still standing today in this area. Some of the buildings show their build date on their exterior.
When the Germanic Walser people first moved further up the long Valais valley with its higher altitudes, they brought with them skills for building with wood and specifically with squared beams rather than half or fully framed timber building styles. Apart from this they didn’t build a specific style or form of building. Rather they were influenced by external circumstances such as the availability of materials, the climate and the geography of their land. And they built to protect themselves and their livestock from roving bandits, wild animals and wind storms. Note the clever way they sought to keep rodents out of their houses. By the mid-16th century Walser houses could be identified by features such as ceiling joists at right angles to the ridge-pole, beam ends protruding from morticed block construction and decorative carved friezes under their rooflines.