Bike Ride through Switzerland and Northern Italy

Bike Ride Total: 1,146 km and 15,667 m altitude (see red line below). We started in the Jura Mountains, then Lombardy and back through the Swiss Alps.

In Germany you can buy bicycle inner tubes in vending machines - how cool is that!

This is a pile of firewood in the middle of a forest in Switzerland. Note that each log has exactly the same length!

The same perfection applies to the stone fences, which are traditional in the Jura Mountains.

Beautiful riding, all off road!

Creux du Van is a natural rocky amphitheatre approximately 1,400 metres wide and 150 metres deep.

Kirsten on the lake of Bienne where my grandparents used to own a hotel. We had lunch there and the food is still great (even without my grandfather in the kitchen).

The old hill town of Bergamo.

Our daily breakfast while in northern Italy.

Constant fighting over the Lombardy since the 2nd millennium BC left most towns with a castle and high walls surrounding the old towns. The castle of Brescia below.

The famous Lake Garda, the largest lake in Italy.

Home-made gnocchi Gorgonzola and Caprese salad. Lucky we're sharing!

Gelato anybody? It will be addictive!

Our favourite evening picnic in the hotel room: fresh bread rolls with local dried meet and caprese salad again!

To ride off the calories, here's Kirsten on the Stelvio Pass - a total of 49 switchbacks. The top is 2,757 m above sea level, which makes it the second highest paved mountain pass in the European Alps.

Going from right to left is always steeper than going from left to right, providing a nice change.

We made it! But we were not the only ones: the local Porsche Club overtook us and many other bike riders, cars and motorbikes.

The last 22 switchbacks seen from our lunch spot.

Next stop: Verona and a night at the Opera.

The performance of Aida in the  Roman amphitheatre was amazing. We counted 300 people on the "stage" at one time.

Impressions of Verona.

We met our friends from Barcelona for a few days. 

Lucky we only went to Venice for a day. Very expensive and packed with tourists! 

Kirsten wanted to go to Cremona to buy her favourite Torrone (i.e. nougat). We didn't even know that Cremona is where Antonio Stradivari made his famous violins from 1656 to 1737.

Pleasant riding up-river along the Adda leads us back towards Switzerland.

Fabulous scenery riding towards Sondrio and Tirano!

Kirsten decided our bikes were too muddy after a couple of rainy days.

Here they are nice and clean & on the train to Klosters. (It was raining again, so we postponed one of the alpine passes until next trip.)

We had one more week, so we decided to do a few more local rides. 

Below, the valley of Berguen, leading up to the Albula Pass.

What a gorgeous autumn day!

We made it...

... and here is the reward: Vermicelles (meringue, chestnut puree and cream).

We were lucky to be in Klosters on the day of the "Alpabfahrt", which is when all the goats, cows, butter and cheese are brought down from the alpine summer pastures to the village. It was just in time because the next day it started to snow!

All the cows are beautifully decorated with autumn flowers.

The Vereina valley seen from Klosters with the first snow on the peaks.

Riding up the Dischma valley above Davos. It's definitely getting colder! Note the snow is not melting in the higher altitudes!

A lovely family lunch before flying back to Sydney. My nephew is missing - rock climbing camp in Sardinia - the taste for adventure obviously runs in the family!