Weds 25th June
Big pass day! Our aim was to head east along the valley towards
Chur. So after our morning walk we had lunch then headed down the road to the
valley floor. We only met one bus so no major problems. Nice and steady does
it.
Once through Brig the road headed up again until we were in the most
spectacular hung valley floor. Very wide with towering mountains either side.
We arrived at Oberwald to join the end of a traffic jam. When it moved we saw
the remains of a traffic accident. Not nice. The road snaked up to the junction
of the Grimselpass and Furkapass. We headed up the Furka – see the pic of the
road. What a feat of engineering. The road up was steep but wide and well
surfaced, the road down was narrow with minimal barriers and very tight in
places. Tina was mentally exhausted by this time!
Grimsell Pass in the distance
we have just driven up this!
We continued through
Andermatt and up the Oberalppass. Biking heaven. We were parallel to the rack
and pinion train which was snaking its
way up the mountain. Great to see so we slowed down to take a pic. When we
arrived at the top -2048m we saw some camping cars wild camping. We found a
spot and joined them for the night. Lovely spot with panoramic views across a
hydro power lake with the railway beside it disappearing into a tunnel. A
waterfall just along from us provided the background music to soothe us to
sleep. There was also a short lighthouse at the top of the pass road -
what?????
rack & pinion railway
Oberalpppass wildcamping spot
bit wet
Thurs 26th
Very quiet overnight but 2 deg C when we got up. The heating was on
the timer so nice and warm in the van. The sun was up and the views in both directions spectacular. We went for a
stroll and met a 94yr old Swiss gentleman who stayed in his caravan up here for
the summer. What a great character. He spoke perfect English (he had lived in
India for 7 yrs) and used his train pass to pop down to Andermatt to do his
shopping. There conveniently was a station at the tunnel entrance. Only in
Switzerland. He explained that the lighthouse was a gimmick for tourists to
advertise that the source of the Rhine confluence was nearby. The empty
buildings were Army and built in the 20’s. What a waste.
lighthouse - tourist board gimmick
train station at 2048m
disused Army buildings
The drive down was
good on narrow roads into the valley approaching Chur. We looked at and
rejected 2 campsites before we arrived at Churwald , 8km above Chur. Good
decision. There were 2 ski lifts right by the site which explained the abundance
of “caravaneige” (campsites open for winter, usually for skiing) permanent
caravans. Friendly campsite man who spoke about 3 words of English, so an
interesting conversation. The toilet block was 5 * with auto everything.
Wonderful.
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