Start Point: La Coquerelle 2750'
Highest Point during the day (and on the entire bike ride): 3440'
End Point: Lyss 1490'
Total climbing today 1605'
Today's climbing difficulty factor: 70
Distance travelled today: 44 miles
Cumulative distance since Alsager: 730 miles
A lot of people think Switzerland is expensive, and it can be, but here is last night's splendid hotel in the Jura Mountains opposite a golf course. One night's bed and breakfast? £39.50
My bedroom was the one above the letters DE, and the sunshade over the tables is where I had two very cold beers at the end of my day's cycling! It was very sunny when I arrived. This photo was taken later in the day as the sun was setting.
By 9am, I was off again (too tired to repeat the 7.30 start on Thursday). I knew the highest part of the route was about 20 miles away, and after that, quite a lot of downhill. I had achieved 35-40 miles before lunch on some days, but I knew it would be an achievement today, if I reached the top and covered 20 miles before lunch. Within an hour, I had hit the steep bit, and stopped to take a breath at this sign warning about falling rocks!
Just after midday, I reached the top and took a photo of my sat nav. If you look carefully, you will see 703 miles done, and a current elevation of 1059m above sea level, approximately 3440 feet. I think this was the point when I knew I had done the Alsager to Wengen challenge. There wasn't much in front of me now that could go wrong. The bike had held out well and the final 80 or 90 miles were not going to stress it too much. And mentally and physically, I was also in good shape, so let's do it..
A few miles later, as I was descending at speed towards Les Reussilles, I heard this throaty engine behind me, just holding off ready for the overtake once the on coming traffic had passed. It was a Porsche, but not a modern one, more of a 'classic', followed by another, then another, then another. This was obviously an organised classic Porsche tour. I fumbled for my phone/camera but feared I was too late. Then I saw them all get held up at the T-junction a few hundred yards ahead. I got there just in time to snap this:
My friend Alan would have been 60 last month and he loved these cars.
In the afternoon, I started to think about overnight accommodation. I had been lucky on several occasions leaving it until the last minute, but I was starting to feel a little nervous. I had a look at the map and the route I was planned on, and realised I could get to Bern. However, all the hotels in this area were really expensive (it is the capital city) but I found one in Lyss, about an hour nearer that looked good quality and vfm with wifi. I was pretty tired at 3pm, so I decided to book it, and arrived about half past four. It was a good decision, as it's a nice hotel for half the price of Bern. With an underground secured car park where my bike is now situated. Before I left the UK, I put reflective tape on parts of the frame, and reflective spoke tubes. As it's turned out, I have done no cycling at night, but this photo shows I would definitely be seen in a car's headlights! The reflection here is from the camera flash.
After checking in, the first job was to buy some juice from the supermarket, and walking across to the small shopping centre, I snapped this for nostalgia (If you're over 40)
Still going strong in parts of Europe, but not in the UK.
So, finally, as usual, the map, and a big question..... Shall I go for the big finish tomorrow?
From here to Lauterbrunnen is about 60 miles, which is quite do-able. However, I had wondered when planning this challenge whether I could literally do door-to-door, and that would mean the last few miles would be walking from Lauterbrunnen to Wengen. It is so steep that it would be impossible to cycle up, but would probably take about 3 hours pushing the bike.
Option 1: Stay overnight again tomorrow and walk up Sunday morning.
Option 2: Get to Lauterbrunnen at 5pm after 60 miles of cycling and get the 14 minute train up, and save having to buy another hotel.
As I write this, I am thinking - option 2
Here's the map with only 60 miles between the blue and red dot :-))
And the winner is...... Da-dada-da, Paul Lupton!
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