clairedavieswriter

Day 5: Andermatt to Innertkirchen, 64k, 1,415m climbing

25/7/2025

Today was the big one; the ride that had been worrying me ever since I worked out my end-to-end route: the Furka Pass, between Realp and Gletsch. I was putting on a brave face as I said goodbye to Team Midge early this morning, dressed warmly against the 10 degree chill.

According to Cycloworld.cc, I’d picked the harder side to climb: 12.4k from Realp, with gradients of around 8-9%. Or in the words of the young local cyclist I exchanged greetings with this morning: “It is much up”.

He wasn’t wrong, and the gloomy weather added to my sense of trepidation. Although the reason I actually took this photo is that I could clearly see the first half-dozen hairpins crawling up the mountainside beyond the town. You’ll just have to imagine

The view back down to Realp was clearer from this memorial to 007: the famous car chase in Goldfinger was filmed on the Furka’s hairpins below this spot.

At various points along the way, my ever-supportive domestique appeared, to offer encouragement, take ‘action’ photos…

And record my triumphant arrival, just over two hours after I started the ascent:

He also provided (as he has done throughout the trip) hot coffee and a ready supply of chocolate croissants. Excellent service, would recommend.

All downhill from there then? Not quite, but initially at least. Having learned my lesson from the Oberalppass, I wrapped up for the descent to Gletsch, which conveniently offered a glimpse (that zigzag line above Bernard’s handlebars) of my next challenge

The descent also took us past this iconic hotel-in-a-hairpin, of James Bond fame

And offered magnificent views of the source of the Rhone – the once mighty, now sadly reduced, Rhone Glacier

We learned today that this valley (or rather the ridge above it to the left in the photo below) marks an important watershed. All the rivers to its south, like the nascent Rhone (the silver ribbon to the left of the road) flow into the Mediterranean. Any to the north of the ridge flow into the North Sea. Ain’t geography fascinating ?

But you asked if it was all downhill from here. And the answer is no. Clearly because, in the words of a Bond movie title that never reached our screens, ‘One Pass is Never Enough’. In my case, the second pass was the Grimsel. It’s half the length of the Furka but, with an average of 6.9%, it’s almost as steep.

Luckily, my efficient domestique had positioned Midge before the start, and rustled up fried eggs and baked beans to fuel me over the next climb. Sunshine helps too:

And as always, the views were my reward:

An hour later, in dramatically different weather, Team Bernard bagged our fourth and final alpine col of the trip:

Aside from the spectacular views, highlights today included passing through Switzerland’s smallest village:

And marvelling once again at the country’s extraordinary public transport network, like this bus route through the Furkapass, which enables people to access even the remotest areas – like the man and his grandson I saw setting off happily hand in hand on a hike

But the non-cycling highlight of the last 24 hours was without doubt the 5 minutes Jon and I spent in Andermatt last night, standing in the rain, listening to the sound of an Alpenhorn being played on a platform high above the town. The musician was too far away for us to see him in the darkness, but we could see the horn, and the haunting sound carried clearly across the evening air. Magical.