A leisurely breakfast and departure saw the end of our sojourn with Richard, who went off to the station for a scenic train ride to Zurich and a flight home. Thanks for your company Richard, we hope you enjoyed the trip despite the weather.
Meanwhile, Sue and I pottered gently along the Swiss roads for nearly 200 miles, skilfully avoiding motorways as we have no vignette for Switzerland. It's quite pricey as you have to buy a pass for a whole year even if, like us, you only need one for two days.
Three high mountain passes were negotiated before an easy run down to Brig and Visp got us on to the road to Tasch, where car borne visitors to Zermatt are obliged to abandon their steeds and complete the last five miles of their journey by train. We had booked the car park and train in advance. It all worked very smoothly.
En route, we travelled via Davos after crossing the Flüelapass. I have a vivid memory of completing this traverse with Markus in the other direction some years ago on my first TransAlp mountain bike ride. It was pouring with rain but the descent from the pass was brilliant. Today we continued over the Oberalppass, where there's a rather out of place lighthouse, and a railway station, before picking up some lunch from a supermarket in Andermatt and soon afterwards stopping at a pull in place with a bench.
This was the road to the Furkapass, and a sign in the pull in place said 'James Bond Str.' Another sign told us that the dramatic car chase scenes in the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger, (including the famous scene in which 007's Aston Martin shreds the tyres of Tilly Masterson's Ford Mustang) were filmed on the roads which you see below you from this pull in (fourth picture).
We enjoyed some sunshine today, as well as passing through some showers and encountering cloud below some of the passes.
At one point we were descending a pass next to a tourist (there were open carriages) train. Everyone on the train returned Sue's waves, including the driver.
The train journey to Zermatt from Tasch only takes a few minutes, and the walk to our apartment was mercifully short. Just as well, as we were quite heavily laden. We are in an Airbnb property - Apartment Dolomit Zermatt number 23. Josef welcomed us to his house and helped us with 'Project 1949', then we popped to the supermarket and sourced ingredients for a rather simpler meal than last night's.
A wander around town at dusk was pleasantly warm, with views of a nearly out of cloud Matterhorn, and crowds of tourists littering the streets.
Today's pictures:
Morning view from Scuol
Coffee at a pizzeria near Cazis
An old Skoda on Oberalppass
The view from 'James Bond Str.'
Dusk in Zermatt
Coffee at a pizzeria near Cazis
An old Skoda on Oberalppass
The view from 'James Bond Str.'
Dusk in Zermatt
2 comments:
Sounds like a good trip. Disappointed I could not make it. Lyn and I did 45 miles ride today with around 768m of ascent from Emmelshausen to the Rhine then along the Rhine to Boppard. We are heading to Lake Constance then though Switzerland to Annecy. Although unlike your trip I think we will have to buy a vignette.
Well done Robert. It's a shame you couldn't make the Route 444 trip. You'd have loved it. Next time perhaps.
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