Tough day for Dora

We awake to a miserable day.

Come late September, Dora is up for sale.    If you or anyone you know is looking for a reasonably priced motorhome then please check out the following link; https://www.2wanderers.com/dora-for-sale/ or if you have any questions email us at; info@2wanderers.com Thanks

 

It isn’t actually raining, but there is so much moisture in the air. We venture outside and everywhere is covered by a thick layer of cloud. Still we have our stuff packed, we have a coffee and proceed back to the gondola station ready for the first ride up the mountain, but there are doubts creeping into the backs of our minds. We check out the weather forecast. It hasn’t changed since yesterday, rainy showers possible all day, with the possibility of storms. Thunder and lightening is not what you want when doing via ferrata. The metal cables act like lightening conductors, and well, if you are connected to them…Is it a difficult decision? Not really, we don’t risk it. Brenta will still be there for another year, so we push onwards.

We are certainly disappointed not going up there, but this is the nature of the mountains, and a cautious approach is the correct one. So we head down the valley, passing the turn off to the ski resort we once stayed in, Folgarida, it is so different without the snow that we don’t recognise anything.

Down, down, down the valley, through the mist and mizzle, our decision making more sense in the warmth, dryness and safety of Dora.

Eventually the valley opens up a little, and at the bottom, a proper road, connecting up all the valleys. Less windy and a little quicker.

Now that we have made our decision, we want to leave the miserable weather of Italy, we want a new country. We want to be in Switzerland.

It takes us a while to extricate ourselves from Italy. Dora drags herself up a small Passo dell Aprica, down the other side take a right and we are in the border town of Madonna di Tiranu.

Everything still seems Italian. All the cars are Italian, we were hoping for some sensible, mature driving, some Swiss driving. What is unusual is the rail track that snakes its way through the town. At first we thought it was a tram, but the town is too small for trams, then we heard it, a proper train. A bright red Swiss train, a train running on a rack, a train that looks like it could climb a vertical incline.

We follow the track out of town, it is running parallel to the road. We will end up following this winding steel path the rest of the day.

The sky remains moody, no dramatic change now we are in Switzerland. It doesn’t matter, the landscape is enthralling and the scurrying clouds just make it all the more dramatic.

Maybe this post should have been called ‘Roads, rivers, lakes, tracks and passes’.

There are certain places in the Alps we have all heard of, but I, for one, have little idea where they actually are. Their names are synonymous with great feats of engineering; Simplon, Gotthard, Mont Blanc, they are what makes Switzerland great. We had before us the Bernina pass, how would Dora cope.

We take our time, pulling over frequently, to allow the still too numerous suicidal Italians to pass. The fact that it is wet and misty doesn’t seem to temper their speed.

North Italy is a different country from South, and particularly further north, being neighbours of sensible Swiss, we thought they would mimic their driving style. Well, it is not the case. It must be in the genes. SM.

Higher and higher Dora climbs, coping well with the conditions, but still, unlike us, she is a reluctant climber.

Soon, some of the clouds sit beneath us,

but I don’t think we will be getting above them completely.

The terrain begins to change, getting a bit more barren, less cultivated, and the air gets thinner.

Until eventually we pull up and over the top, at 2,330m not bad for a 14 year old motorhome.

And before us, our first proper glaciers hanging off of Piz Bernina at 4,049 m.

In such a wonderful setting, we decide to stop for lunch, hoping that the cloud might clear a bit to give us a better view.

It does.

It is sad to think that this incredible natural wonders are disappearing and generations to come will not be able to ascend this pass to marvel at them, instead they will look at just barren rock.

We are not the only ones to make the effort, the glacial express passes us heading for Italy.

Amazing trains that can climb up to here

There are times on this trip when we have had to spend the day in Dora, sometimes a bit reluctantly, not today. OK, it is a bit miserable outside, so not a great day to be walking anyway, but all the same. It could be a nicer day, then we would be on Brenta. This has to be the perfect day to be driving across one of the best passes, along one of the best roads.

But we still have a long way to travel. Today we want to get to Liechtenstein, and it is a long climb down the valley. As we say in the mountains, when you get to the top you are only half way there.

So we leave the mountain tops behind us, hoping to see many more glaciers in the coming days.

Gradually losing height, getting back into the valley.

Perhaps the weather is breaking, perhaps we have finally left Italy behind.

A white glacial river has followed us all the way down the mountain, joining a larger river at the bottom of the valley.

This river flows from a large blue lake on the shores of which is St. Moritz. These sorts of towns seem to prevail in such areas, they have no interest to us, we circumnavigate it and move on.

The day is not over yet for Dora, we soon start climbing above the lakes. Dora has yet another pass to summit.

This road seems less travelled than the Bernina pass.

And as a consequence is more desolate.

The weather has turned and is just as bleak.

There are a few bikers to keep us company. It cannot be much fun riding in this weather.

The road winds around some really barren vistas.

 

 

We have really found some quite spectacular roads on this trip.

Yet again we lose altitude, and head into the valley, we drive north towards Chur, looking for a shopping centre where we might pick up a mobile data card.

Now we knew before we came that Switzerland was going to be expensive, but since they have unpegged their currency from the euro the value of the Swiss franc has soared. Perhaps this has had little effect on the cost of living for Swiss people, but for the tourist it has become unbelievably expensive. The franc is now almost at parity with the euro. Comparing costs a baguette costs €0.35-0.45 in Switzerland €1.20, three times the cost. It seems that a data card for us to access the internet and to upload our posts is going to be equally eye wateringly expensive, we could resort to using McDonalds free Wi-Fi, but when a cup of tea and a bottle of water costs you €6.00, even this is extortionate.

This is really sad, part of this I know is out of the control of the inhabitants of the country, but not all of it. This is a stunningly beautiful country and they know it, and they will bleed every last painful euro out of you before you leave. This is a shame, when it comes down to plain greed.

.

Further north from Chur and we arrive on the Rhine and the small town of Vaduz.

We are in the capital of Liechtenstein, which tomorrow we will explore.

GDR