Switzerland, Germany to France – 22 July 2010

From Liechtenstein we toured through northern Switzerland, at first following a valley which had an unending series of cute villages, on our way to Appenzell. This is described as being the butt of Swiss jokes, due to their ultra conservative way of life. But as a tourist town, it is irresistible; although small in size, it managed to relieve us of a quantity of “tourist dollars”. We were fascinated by a series of glass windows set into the pavement above a bakery, where we could observe the staff making delicious pies and pastries. Of course we had to buy our lunch there, for a picnic above the Rhine later.


St Gallen is a city, but the heart of the old town is also an irresistible pedestrianised area, full of very handsome buildings, many with oriel windows. In the centre of the town is the Kathedrale, a magnificent church, full of marble and carved wood. Nearby is a more modern church, the man hours that have gone into these buildings is amazing.



From here we headed north to where the Rhine leaves Lake Constance, and followed the river valley to Schaffhausen. This is a lovely drive, through many superb villages, the best of all is Stein am Rhein. This town has to be one of the best we have seen, straight out of my childhood, lavishly illustrated, fairy tale book. The buildings are painted with pictures, obviously telling a story. We lingered as long as our dwindling Euro coin reserves for parking meters let us. It was a challenge to get across Switzerland without buying any Swiss Francs.

The last stop in Switzerland was Schaffhausen and the Rhine Falls. Schaffhausen also has a lovely old town, with the addition of many fountains, and a hilltop fortress. By the time we reached there, we could see the black clouds gathering, and it appeared heavy rain was imminent. So we did a drive through the town and carried on to the falls, the largest in Europe at 23m. They are quite awesome, with the might of the Rhine thundering over this drop at a curve in the river.

Neuf-Brisach was our final destination, and although it was too wet to explore the town, we found one restaurant open, and enjoyed a delicious meal of local specialities.

Liechtenstein – 21 July 2010

Leaving Italy, we drove through two mountain passes in Switzerland to reach Liechtenstein.

During the drive across Switzerland, we saw a sign to a 'World Monument' bridge. This sounded worth a detour, and although the sat-nav said it was 2.9k east, it turned out to be a torturous narrow winding road to a beautiful art-deco bridge from 1930. We were expecting an old historical bridge, and were totally surprised by this beautiful, elegant, modern looking bridge. The roads it serves, does not seem worthy of such a masterpiece. The Salginatobel Bridge is one of the structures awarded 'World Monument' status and shares this honour with such engineering masterpieces as the Eiffel Tower and the Panama Canal.

We carried on through river valleys to reach the most non-border crossing on our trip thus far; two sets of flags, announced we had reached Liechtenstein. We found a very pleasant campsite, then set out to explore the capital – Vaduz.

The look of Vaduz is modern and prosperous. New and old buildings are side by side, with attractive gardens and a general well kept appearance. Obviously being small can be beautiful.

Our meal at the camp that evening was delicious, although expensive compared to France and Italy.




Just as we got back to our tent, the blue sky changed very rapidly to black, and a violent electrical storm moved in. It was so violent, that the tent threatened to leave it's moorings, and the guys ropes we usually ignore were rapidly brought into service. We decided to retire to bed, and when we woke up in the morning, we were greeted with another beautiful day, perhaps this is normal in the Alps.

Stelvio Tour, Day 7 - 31 July 2009

Today the route took us out of Switzerland and briefly into Germany, to have a small taste of the Black Forest, before entering France.

We choose to take a diversion to Strasburg, before arriving at our hotel in Colmar.

Strasburg has a beautiful old centre, with a large cathedral, and two squares. But best of all is Petit France, which is an area of waterways, and picturesque old half timbered buildings.

Colmar is like a miniature size Strasburg, and its picturesque area is called Petit Venice.

Stelvio Tour, Day 6 - 30 July 2009

After two days of solid mountains passes, Thursday was scheduled as a rest day. We took advantage of this to leave the MG at the hotel, and joined others in the party on a circular tour, taking in the best of the area. The first leg of out tour was a boat service to Lucerne. It made many scheduled stops at tiny villages around the lake, and almost two hours later, arrived in Lucerne.

The main feature of Lucerne is their two old bridges, the most attractive being the 14th century Chapel Bridge. After admiring these, and having a delicious lunch, we climbed the wall fortifications and two towers in the walls.

Time for stage two of the tour, the local bus to the cable car terminus. From here, there are three stages of cable car. After stage two, most of the group choose to take a diversion, and go tobogganing down the mountain side. The toboggans run in a chute, and at the bottom, the driver, plus toboggan, are towed backwards to the top.

The final cable car ride, took us to the top of the mountain, but unlike the previous two days, we were in the cloud, and unable to see the apparantly marvellous views. But the best was yet to come, from the top we decended in the steepest cog railway in the world. It is an amazing 35 minute ride, with gradients that get to 48%, and a brilliant way to end the fun day.

Stelvio Tour, Day 5 - 29 July 2009

Could we have two perfect sunny days in a row, driving alpine passes? Yes, it appears we could: today was another wonderful mainly cloudless, hot, sunny day. Leaving St Moritz we popped over a barely noticable pass, the Majola (Pass 7: 5955ft,1815m) before crossing into Italy and heading over the Spluga Pass (Pass 8: 6932ft, 2113m) where we crossed back in to Switzerland. Avoiding the main road we also avoided the San Bernardino Tunnel, instead taking the San Bernardino Pass (Pass 9: 6775ft, 2965m)

The height loss on the far side of the pass seemed much greater than the gain on the ascent as we wound down to the valley floor. Passing through a number of villages we finally turned north to tackle the Sankt Gottard Pass. This was a challenge in that there are three ways to get over the pass: a motorway; a new highway and the the old original road. It was not clear which of the last two we were meant to take, or indeed which one we were on until the road became cobbles. Surprisingly they are in the process of cobbling the entire ascent – who knows why, the cyclists must hate them for it. Eventually we rattled our way to the top and ticked off Pass 10: 6860ft, 2091m.

Down the other side we found the pretty village of Andermatt were we stopped for refreshments before setting off to climb the Furka Pass (Pass 11: 7992ft, 2436m). From the top the you can see the road snaking down, then along the valley floor and a road climbing out the far end of the valley. Was this to be our route?

Indeed it was; after driving along the valley floor we ascended the Grimsell Pass (Pass 12: 7103ft, 2165m) leaving us one last pass for the day; Pass 13, the Brunig Pass, 3307ft, 1008m, from where we headed for Alpnachstad and our hotel for the next two days.

13 apline passes in two days: not knowing the altitude of the valleys we cannot say how many metres we gained and lost over the two days and we certainly did not count the hairpin bends; but the weather was wonderful, the views were stunning and the driving experience fantastic.

Stelvio Tour, Day 4 - 28 July 2009

Today, the fun began: Matrei am Brenner is at the foot of the Brenner Pass thus our alpine passes day began immediately. We took the B182 to enjoy the drive, while alongside or above was the motorway with all the heavy trucks grinding slowly up the incline. Pass 1 was completed at 4495ft 1370m and we crossed into Italy, dropping down to Vipiteno and then on the S44 over the Passo do Monte Giovo (Pass 2: 6870ft, 2094m) and down to Merano.

From Merano we headed for Sponding where the Stelvio Pass begins. Fortunately Laurence in his TR5 and I had a fairly clear run without slow traffic in front and so enjoyed a wonderful romp up the hairpin switchbacks, a truly fantastic drive. (Pass 3: 9045ft, 2757m)

The Stelvio Pass is the second highest paved road in the European Alps and as you go over the top you skirt a corner Switzerland. The 60 hairpin bends on this pass make it one of the most challenging roads in the world.

Down the other side to Livigno before heading off over Passo di Foscagno (Pass 4: 7516ft, 2291m), Forcola di Livigno (Pass 5: 7595ft, 2315m) which took us into Switzerland; and finally over Passo del Bernina (Pass 6: 7801ft, 2378m) where we saw the Bernina Express coming down the mountain, the train we had ridden nearly 8 years ago.

And so we arrived at St Moritz, at the end of a fabulous day's driving and enjoyed a walk around the lake that we last walked on, in the middle of winter.

Yesterday the weather was wonderful but as we relived the day over dinner the thunder pealed and the heavens opened making us wonder what our alpine pass day was going to deliver. Being woken during the night with more thunder and heavy rain, we were quite apprehensive about our chances of seeing the Alps. However the scattered low clouds present when we awoke cleared quickly and we were privileged to see the Alps and drive the passes in glorious sunshine all day.