Distance 54.77 miles ride time 4hr56mins, av speed 11.07mph, max speed 27.47mph. Altitude up 4431 feet.
We got up early to clear blue skies. The mood was of quiet excitement as we were mentally preparing ourselves for some big hills, I had a breakfast of 2 poached eggs, I made a bit of a hash of them on the camping stove but they were ok.
The morning riding round the lakes was brilliant! We caught a ferry from Buochs to Gersau, this just put us on the correct side of the lake, the roads started to go up and down a big then and the scenery was breathtaking.
We made our way to Altdorf on roads that must have taking quite some building, the Swiss have engineered them over, through and round the sides of cliffs that surround the lake.
At Altdorf we had lunch, we tucked into 2 very promising pieces of pie that actually turned out to be a bit naff! I had a look up the old tower in the square and we had a good chat to a couple of Swiss dads who were taking the kids mountain hiking up to The pass.
After Altdorf the hills got real big on us! I think they are called the Alps, the road just keeps climbing up the valley and it weaves in and out with the train line and motorway.
Incredible engineering! It was steep going but never quite as steep as the big hill when we get hot Switzerland so we managed ok. It was however a lot bigger than those hills from 2 days ago; over about 7 miles it just kept climbing and then a big hairpin section before topping out at Andermatt.
I'm now lying in our tent in Andermatt looking at incredible views out of the tent doorway. We have just been for a nice cream and a drink in town, and its cold! First time since England! Lots of layers tonight !
More climbing to the Gotthard pass tomorrow and the forecast is rain.
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