Day One – Wednesday
27 July 2016
We didn't get off to a
good start as the alarm clock failed to ring at just before 0500 hrs.
Instead, I awoke at 0515 hrs. – about 20 minutes later than I
wanted. That 20 minutes delay was crucial as we almost missed our
flight to Zurich. Getting through Manchester airport took more than 2
hours – longer than the flight! All the signs stated 'Gate Closing'
as we rushed through the duty free shop heading towards the boarding
gate. I sent JP on ahead as he can run faster then me – and for
longer! We arrived at the boarding gate barely time before the flight
should have been taking off. We were so fortunate that the airline
had also had problems and there was a delay of 30 minutes.
It took us about 2
hours to re-assemble and load our bicycles in Zurich airport, much to
the disgust of one of the baggage trolley pushers who made a nuisance
of himself a couple of times. He told me to move, but I informed him
that we weren't going anywhere until we'd finished assembling our
bicycles. He wasn't a happy bunny. We left him behind and headed for
the railway station – down the escalator! If you've ever tried
getting two heavily loaded bikes down an escalator, you'll understand
just how much fun we had. We nearly went down those moving stairs
faster then the stairs travelled. However, we grimly hung on to our
loaded steeds and arrived at the same time as the stairs we were
standing on. Just.
Our train journey to
Andermatt began. I thought we were able to get a direct train, but
no, that would have been too easy and nowhere near as much fun! The
first train took us from Zurich to Zurich. That is, Zurich Airport to
Zurich HB. We then had to disembark and find out where to go to find
the next train, this time from Zurich HB to Arth-Goldau. This was a
fairly simple matter, albeit that getting our bicycles onto the train
would have taxed the muscles of Samson.
The next train took us
from Arth-Goldau to Göschenen.
By the time we'd struggled our bikes into an empty lift (we had to
wait for one of those rare creatures) and gone to the wrong floor,
then tried again to another floor, again, another fun ride on an
escalator, we'd missed our connection. We eventually got on the train
where our bicycles blocked the entire room reserved for bicycles,
much the the disgust of a disgusting looking, dirty, scruffy, stroppy
passenger who voiced his protestations without effect. He went off,
probably to report this breach of safety and convenience to the
ticket inspector who, after some time, showed up and voiced his
protestations too. He said we should move our bicycle into another
compartment as soon as we arrived at the next station. I said 'no
problem'. And he looked much happier. I then asked him if the train
would stop long enough for us to carry out this monumental task,
assuring him that it would probably take at least 10 minutes to do
so. His expression changed. He looked at his electronic timetable,
much perplexed. The Swiss don't like their trains to run more than a
micro-second adrift of schedule so he had to give this some major
thought. After exercising his brain for some time he came to the
conclusion that moving our bicycles would delay the train far too
long and informed us ' never mind, leave them where they are'.
Another unhappy bunny!
Our next train ride was
from Göschenen to
Andermatt. No excitement on this little trip except JP's bicycle
falling over and various other cyclists coming to the rescue to help
me stand it up – something that would happen frequently during our
adventures. I soon learned that JP fell off quite frequently.
At Andermatt, we headed
across the railway tracks and into town. The chain on JP's bike fell
off another event that was to happen fairly frequently. We eventually
arrived at a Co-op store for the first proper food we'd eaten since
our very early breakfast, many hours earlier. The Swiss, true to
their reputation, didn't exactly feed us well on the aeroplane –
just a miserly croissant. We'd bought a couple of bottle of drink in
Zurich airport but that had been many hours before, so we were very
dry and hungry by the time we arrived at the Co-op. We weren't dry
for long as the Heavens opened and we got a good soaking, especially
JP who was wearing just a tee shirt on his top, his waterproof jacket
being buried somewhere deep inside one of his pannier bags.
I zoomed off, with a
bag of shopping in one hand, my bicycle in the other and with JP
following. I got to the end of the road and looked around. No sign of
JP! Nowhere to be seen – and it was a long road. I waited for a
while but still no sign of him. I reluctantly turned round and
started up the hill towards Andermatt in the rain and cold. As I rode
up the hill the driver of a vehicle coming towards me started
flashing the car's lights at me. We both stopped and he told me that
he'd stopped to help JP with his bicycle chain which had fallen off
again. I continued up the hill into Andermatt where I found JP. Back
down the hill again, this time with JP close behind. Again, I stopped
at the bottom of the hill where JP yelled at me to look at something.
JP had spotted a double rainbow framing the town of Andermatt. Wow!
This was special. There was even signs of a triple rainbow at times.
I grabbed my camera and shot a few photographs of this spectacular
sight.
We rode on, crossing
the railway tracks and turned left, off the path, heading towards a
bridge – signposted as taking us to the golf club. As we approached
a farm, I noticed a Honda CRV heading towards us. As our paths
crossed, slowly, the voice from within asked if I was Alan Cook. I
confirmed this was the same and continued to the farm. The Honda CRV
driver was the farmer, with his wife, who returned to the farm to
greet us and make us welcome to their 'Sleep on Straw' (Schlafen im
Stroh) accommodation. It was so good to have a shower and get some
clean dry clothes on after our day – and no doubt the other
occupants were grateful too as I'm sure we didn't smell too pleasant.
I cant wait to read all about this adventure!!!!! Fantastic xxx
ReplyDeleteGood to see that you are finally on your way. Good Luck. Tony
ReplyDeleteWow, what a wonderful journey. take care
ReplyDeleteAn epic adventure about to begin.Looking forward to following your trail and trials!
ReplyDeleteFather and son's first adventure about to begin! I guessed this is only the beginning of so many adventures ahead! Love you both xxx
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ReplyDelete-T.C Publisher