Day 0, June 14th 2001, Venlo (NL)- Zürich (CH), 675km (420mi)
Final dress rehearsal for EP6: Edelweiss 1. I'm now in Zürich, 675km from where I started this morning, Venlo (NL). Just gassed up twice on my way, and had 1 lunch stop. German Autobahn rules, and my top speed was an indicated 170kmh (105mph). Unfortunately my average speed was well below this, due to traffic jams near Karlsruhe and just a lot of traffic till 20km north of Freiburg. After crossing the border into Switzerland (where you really have to stop till the border-guard tells you "ok" with a very subtile movement), all traffic vanished from the Autobahn. But alas, in Switzerland there is a 120kmh speed limit. The banked Autobahn and the scenery made up for it. My new sunglasses performed well, except in the tunnels. Then it was a bit dark. Maybe I should have bought that Schuberth (with its extra built-in dark visor), instead of my BMW 4 helmet. Another lesson learned.At the moment I'm waiting for Mark to meet me at the railway station. He had the first service for his bike planned for today. Unfortunately its a Feiertag (holiday) in southern Germany today, so his dealer is closed. Maybe they should have told him that when he made the appointment... :( Mark left his bike at the dealer's, so they can start working on it first thing in the morning. So the official part of Edelweiss 1 is starting with a return trip two-up to Konstanz (Germany).
In afterthought, it was really fun to be able to do 160kmh on the slow lane on the Autobahn (in Germany, so legally). That's something else than my usual 140kmh in the fast lane back home (Netherlands, illegally).
(No pictures of this day.)
Day 1, June 15th 2001, Zürich-Gurtnellen dorf, 410km (255mi)
Via Konstanz (D), Radolfzell, Stein am Rhein and through Switzerland back to Konstanz, we arrived at the dealer's (again) at 12:00 to pick up Mark's bike (a beautiful red 2001 Suzuki Bandit). We got up at 6:17, and after returning to Zürich, we did our first pass at just after 2pm.It started really well with an excellent pass in terms of scenery, the Pragelpass. The lake just east of the Pragelpass is called the Klöntaler See (pictures 1 through 4).
Really nice. After a quick stop at the top, we started descending towards Schwyz (top was at 1550m/5085ft). It's a very small road - one of the narrowest we took during the whole Edelweiss 1 tour. On various occasions I had to throw out the anchors due to totally blind corners, in which an oncoming vehicle really wouldn't have been able to pass me (yes, that narrow). Fun nonetheless.
At Ibach we took the road south along the Urnersee. I was already pretty tired (I already went Zürich-Konstanz and vice versa, and did a short site-seeing tour near Konstanz). Just before Andermatt we came to the small village of Gurtnellen. We had read about a small Gasthaus in Gurtnellen where we decided to stay the night. We asked a gas station attendant where we could find the Gasthaus. It turned out that we had to go up a small and steep road to the "real" Gurtnellen-Dorf (the original village). At 929m we found it. That's where we are right now. At each hotel one is asked to fill out a small registry form with - among other things - the details of your travels. So we filled out at 'Destination': Spass. Spontaneously, we adopted this phrase as the trip's motto.
The bikes are resting in the large garage which must have been used as stables not long before. We have a small room with lots of Christian propaganda ;) and a spacious bathroom. For now FOOD is of top priority.
Food was good, the Eichhof beer too. Made a small Verdauungsspaziergang. We stared into the valley below and at the high peaks (3000+m/10000+ft) on the other side for a while. Time to go to sleep, 'cause it's starting to rain outside. We suspect the Swiss didn't expect tall Dutch guests because the sheets on the bed are really short. Cold feet ahead.
Schedule for tomorrow: via the Oberalppass/Disentis/Lukmanierpass towards Biasca in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. In Biasca we'll decide over coffee how to continue. We can either (1) follow the intended route and go north-west to Airolo and then over the Nufenenpass and Grimselpass towards Lauterbrunnen, or (2) we can go to Locarno and across the Centovalli through Italy to Brig.
Day 2 June 16th 2001, Gurtnellen Dorf - Fieschertal, 300km (186mi)
Yuck! Aweful coffee at breakfast. A burned taste really messed up our required coffeine-dose (Dutch: "De verbrande smaak gooide roet inSlowly we descended the road, and headed up towards Andermatt. In no time we were taking the left turn in Andermatt before going up to a cloudy Oberalppass (2046m/6713ft). The road was drying up, and still everything looked positive. At the top we shot the obligatory pictures and I cooked up my heated handgrips. It was 8.5 degrees C (47F) and the scanner messed up some of my photographs...
Down we go, and up again to the Lukmanierpass (1914m/6280ft). The weather is getting worse, and it's raining. At least the roads are better than yesterday. Wider and of better quality. At the Lukmanierpass we quikly changed into our wintergear so we could warm up. The fellow riders we encountered today greet us much friendlier than most riders did yesterday. We conclude that there were more nice-weather-riders yesterday as oppose to today's hard-core motourists :).
The Lukmanierpass is not as high as the Oberalp, but I find it to be much more beautiful. Green trees and plants everywhere and some nice curvy
So we descended further to Locarno. In a long tunnel near Locarno it became increasingly warm. The deeper we got, the warmer it was. That's probably why I missed our next turn, and Mark had to correct me ;).
The road along the valley called "Centovalli" was fun. Lots of sweepers in the only road through the forest. I once saw a documentary about the little railroad that accompanies it and from that moment on I wanted to ride this road. I'm glad we did. Mark had heard some positive things about it as well and didn't object to seeing this beautiful part of Switzerland.
The Centovalli road ends up in Italy, so we had to cross a part of Italy to get back into Switzerland. Immediately some small Italians in tiny cars were behind us. On a short straight stretch they overtook us with speeds in excess of 120kmh (80 allowed). How such a line on a piece of paper can influence people's behavior...
After a small detour in the Italian city of Domodossola (this time it was Mark's fault, caused by the fact that the Italians misspell Simplon as Sempione) we arrived at the Simplonpass (2006m/6581ft). That's back in Switzerland, where it rained again. Well, it was raining already in Italy, but anyway... One picture we took was during a short stop to wait for the rain to stop. It rained too hard for my taste. I couldn't see enough of the road ahead.
At the city of Brig, we looked in our guide (Hotelführer für Motorradfahrer, ISBN 3-932462-15-7) to find a place to stay. Of course, we had to stand below a small overhanging roof to stay dry. We decided to head for Fieschertal. The rain got even worse and we arrived wet to our uhm...well, our riding gear was wet, but the inside was not, except for Marks hands, but I don't count that. We looked like we had drowned though. The lady at the reception told us we could use the pool for free. No, thanks ma'am, we'll pass this time... This hotel at the end of the road had its own garage and we parked our bikes next to a Moto Guzzi. Last night they were accompanied by 17 other bikes in the barn; this time they had to share their experiences with only this single Moto Guzzi. As Murphy would have it, it stopped raining.
At the moment, we are recuperating in our room from dinner. We're probably gonna finish off with a nice Walliser beer (or two).
Highlight of the day: two waving traffic-dummies get "the finger" from Leon.
Day 3, June 17th 2001, Fieschertal - Lauterbrunnen, 314km (195mi)
After a fine breakfast (Mark skipped coffee), it was time for some chain lubrication of Mark's bike. The sun was coming out, and it looked postive again. North this time. The fun started right away as we headed towards Gletsch. Some small groups of riders were suiting up for the day's ride along the way. We, the bozos who got up at 7:17, already had our tires warm and were enjoying the road.Not much later, it was raining and we were accompanied by a large group of riders. At the fork road where the Furka and the Grimsel pass roads separate, we lost each other because we were separated by the group of other riders that was overtaking us. Mark happily cruised along with the rest up the Furka. I was waiting for Mark at the road towards the Grimsel. Luckily, he quickly noticed something was missing (me!) and turned around. More rain. As one of the few, we attacked the Grimselpass (2165m/7103ft). Snow on both sides of the road and heavy fog at the top. Chilly too, an estimated 4 degrees C (39F).
We enjoyed the nice view of rough nature on our way down as soon as we cut under the fog. At some small hotel we stopped for a quick coffee. We just managed to get out of there before the choir started singing (their Sunday repetition?). When we stopped at this little hotel, I saw a traffic sign further down the road (a green light). When we escaped from the hotel-of-sing, the traffic light was red, and a line of other motorists (mostly riders) was forming. We joined the queue and learned that we had to wait for 40 minutes for a detour to re-open. The road towards Innertkirchen was closed due to falling rocks. The single lane detour, which was open for only 10 minutes per hour on either side, took us on a narrow muddy path (1 cage wide) and one rode either in the left trail, or in the right. In the middle was grass and small rocks. BMW R1100RT Off-Road :). Luckily it wasn't raining at that moment. Mark cleaned his dirty tail light at our next stop, but I think a bike should look dirty when your traveling. And so it did.
In Brienz we had a quick lunch (tasty tomato soup and bread) and took the road north of the Brienzersee towards Interlaken and then on along the south road of the Thunersee towards the Jaunpass (1509m/4951ft). This is a very nice one, almost no traffic and a great view.
Shortly after paying a short visit to the French-speaking part of Switzerland, we were heading up the Gurnigelpass (1608m/5276ft). Also unknown to most of the tourists and thus lotsa fun. >From Brienz to the top of the Gurningelpass we had pretty decent weather. Rain on normal roads and drying roads on the passes.
This changed while leaving the Gurnigelpass. Lots of rain. All the way to Lauterbrunnen (Dutch: "Louterregen") where our next hotel was waiting. Well, I have to say the rain didn't bother us too much. We both agreed that this day was the best day of the tour, mainly because of the two unknown passes. Bad weather couldn't spoil that!
Here in Lauterbrunnen we have a great balcony view (the balcony looks great :). Unfortunately the rain stops us from checking it out any further. I think we have to come back here to check more of the scenery. Lots of Americans in the hotel. How many Americans can you count that aren't wearing sneakers?? (none! ;)). The bikes had to sit outside in the rain.
Day 4, June 18th 2001, Lauterbrunnen-Zürich, 270km (168mi)
No sun in the morning. Headed to Brienz in the rain. Did some short shopping in Brienz and went up the Brünigpass (a whopping 1008m/3307ft). Just before the Brünigpass a sign posted that the Grimsel and Sustenpass had fresh snow on them! Luckily, we did the Grimsel yesterday!After the Brünigpass, we did the Glaubenbüelenpass (1611m/5285ft). Like the other unknown passes, this one was also very nice. Wet roads though. Glaubenbergpass (1543m/5062ft) was next. Fun too. Both passes couldn't live up to yesterday's passes.
Via some smaller towns (Sarnen, Kerns) to Sand. That's where the road to the Ächerlipass (1458m/4783ft) starts. Still down in Sand we both saw some kind of traffic sign with something about Sperrung (closed), but neither of us wanted to stop to check it out. After ascending the mountain for a while, the road became a gravel-way. Clearly, they were working on this part of the pass. After gaining some more height, the tarmac vanished completely. Onwards and upwards, we're not gonna stop now... After dodging some cows, we came to a fence across the road. Hmmm, we decided that it was better turn around now on this narrow mud path. So - for the second time now - the cows had a good laugh at us and we're happy to be on normal gravel-free asphalt again. Down in the village of Sand we stopped at the previously mentioned sign and it confirmed the pass was closed. We had fun though :)
We headed towards the ferry that should take us across the Vierwaldstättersee. It had just left and we decided to hop on the Nationalstrasse and get around the lake. Via Flüelen, Morschach (we missed that one on day 1) and Schwyz, we ended up near the Ibergereggpass. Another detour. Somehow we lost the detour and we ended up in Sattel via a nice curvy road. A week after the tour Mark found out that the road to the Ibergereggpass is a carefully hidden entry behind the church in the center of Schwyz. Since the last hour treated us with a heavy downpour again and our gear was getting saturated with water, we decided to push on along the Ägerisee to Baar, Sihlbrugg and back to Zürich via drying roads with more sweepers :).
We parked the bikes at Mark's place and headed to the Rheinfelder Bierhalle for our traditional Jumbo-jumbo-Cordon Bleu dinner. We drank a beer to the success of Edelweiss 1.
Day 5 June 19th 2001, Zürich (CH) - Venlo (NL), 670km (416mi)
Mark had to go back to work, and I headed back to Venlo. In Germany it was nicely warm and dry, and after 2 left turns (A5-A6-A61) I was back in Venlo. Top speed of 180kmh (111mph), a few traffic jams, nothing serious. The bike is now due for its 10,000km service, and I learned some small lessons for my EP6. Both bikes performed perfectly, and we had great fun.Destination of Edelweiss 2: Also somewhere near Spass.