Who says a scooter can't go over Grimselpass
We rose early and packed the bike and headed straight back to the Valley Hostel to make coffee. We were sad to be leaving Lauterbrunnen but very keen to be exploring more of the mountains and passes. I dropped the BOSS in Interlaken and headed back to Thun to drop off our excess bag (including our sleeping bags). I met up with the BOSS later for lunch and then we planned our next direction.
Ever since the first day of planning this trip, I have wanted to do the twisty, windy, switchback roads of the Swiss mountain passes. The best of these are the Susten, Grimsel and Furka passes. I refused to listen to the pessimists who said it couldn't be done on a scooter. I did concede that the only way I could get two people up a pass on a 200cc scooter would be to dump all the luggage at a hotel beforehand.
We had chosen Interkirchen as our dumping point as it would allow me to do the three passes in one big loop and this could easily be achieved in one day. However, when we got to Interkirchen we discovered that Sustenpass was still closed with snow and avalanches but was expected to open in a day or two. As it was still very early in the afternoon we decided to travel a little way up Grimselpass just to see what it was like and see if we could find another dumping point for the luggage. Almost instantly after leaving Interkirchen, the road becomes "the pass" and I was very surprised with how well the Sportcity was handling it with 2 people, 2 panniers and a topbox. She was very back heavy but handled the ride beautifully and didn't balk at the corners. We were mesmerized with the pass and just couldn't stop and before we knew it we were near the top... or what we thought was the top.
We stopped at an amazing hotel which had fabulous views back down the valley and enjoyed a lovely (albeit expensive) Goulashsuppe. We enquired the price of staying in the hotel and were quoted 110 Swiss Francs. This is double what we paid for the hostel but equal to what we paid in Rome, Florence and Venice. It was only 4 in the afternoon and we decided to move on rather than stop this early. I think I was rather full of adrenalin and just wanted to keep riding off into the sunset.
To my surprise, the road did go higher - much higher. And the little scooter just gobbled it up without a problem. There were tons of other bikes on the road and the car traffic showed great respect, not "hassling" us at all. It made it a very pleasant journey and not at all scary like Italy.
Everything that is ever said about Switzerland is true - and every photo you have seen of the wonderful mountain scenery does not do it justice. It is so amazing it cannot be described in words - and just when you think you have seen the best sight on earth, you round another bend and the next view is even better than the last.
Furkapass is now ranked in my Top Five Best Things Ever!!!!
If the hotel at the top had been open I would have stayed to soak up the finest view (even better than the previous day from the top of Jungfrau).
Unfortunately it wasn't so we continued on to Andermatt and found another fabulous place the Bergidyll hotel (with free internet). We explored the town a little before enjoying a fine meal of "pancake soup" and chicken salad - topped off with the gratis swig of limoncello - a highly alcoholic liqueur made from lemons.
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