Belgium to Italy by Bike - 4

A day in May in Switzerland

We knew there was a cost for entering Switzerland. On a bike it was only €40 euros for a year  the policeman at the border was smiling and happy and generously guided us to the office to pay by card for the vignette.
 
Payment was swift - all easy, until the time to stick it on the bike.

The guy who gave us the vignette has a motorbike and tried to convince us to put it on the underside of Noel's seat.

The uhmming and arhhing and explaining of this took several freezing minutes. The temperature had dropped, we'd been on the bike an hour longer than we'd wanted to (between stops) and I was cold.
 
'Just put it on the windshield!' I said.
Noel took a breath and started to say, 'but...' and then he saw my face, stuck the vignette to the windshield and off we went.

'Where shall we stop?' he said

'Anywhere, soon, the first place you see, I'm cold.'
 
We stopped briefly for a coffee and snack at a motorway stop. It ‘s amazing how just a few minutes stretching and a hot coffee fortifies you for another few hours on the bike.
 
And then everything changed...
 
‘Oh my goodness - how long has this been going on?’

Straight out of a brochure - but even better!

We swept around a corner into Switzerland. The jaws of the green mountains opened up to reveal their splendour, the world changed.
 
We squinted... and Noel held out his hand as if to say 'would you look at that!’
 
We'd had no desire to go to Switzerland, only because we couldn't get there on our canal boat. We knew about the Alps, of course, but we were not ready for the real thing.
 
It's so much better than the brochures - that's only ever happened to us once before, at Machu Pichu.
 
The peaks stretched out toward the sky, tearing at the odd wispy cloud - our eyes widened, I smiled and rubbernecked my way through the streets.
 
And then the traffic stopped.

Traffic backed up for miles - the evening and the following morning.

The 38 mile Gotthard Base Tunnel loomed up in front. We had quickly learned that Switzerland has numerous tunnels. Traversing umpteen tunnels already we saw no point in spending an hour sucking in exhaust fumes starting at a concrete wall and brake lights.
 
Como was our loose destination today, we weren't going to make it.
 
I tapped Noel on the shoulder as he battled with the throttle, stop start, stop start. Ahead was a turning into Wassen, a small village up high on our left.
 
He eased the bike from the line of metal and we scooted along the hard shoulder. My shoulders became tense, they'd shoot you in Australia for riding the hard shoulder – no questions asked!
 
We turned off the highway and circled around into the main street, which was two hundred metres long, sporting many hotels, a garage (closed), a small shop (closed) and an old school house and church.

​​

School - Wassen

We investigated three hotels - all similarly priced, but the nicest was the most competitive with our own bathroom and breakfast included.

Our plan of exploring without plans, had paid off. We had no fixed place to be, allowing us to indulge in this unexpected slice of heaven.

View from the Church, over the valley - Wassen.

Our day in May in Switzerland would become one of the most memorable - one of those special, unplanned days. The next blog will share all those wondrous details, movies and pics! Here's a movie from the back of the bike, up the pass behind Wassen, in the meantime.
 
Join us on the ride along mountain passes.
 
Next: Stupidly Blue!