One thousand year old crucifix in the Cathedral in Vercelli.In preparation for this trip Gord and I started watching the popular Italian sitcom, Che Dio Ci Aiuti ( God Help Us) on line to improve our Italian. It takes place in a convent that has fallen on tough financial times and must rent rooms to a colourful and very beautiful collection of female university students. ...
Ruth: The Aosta valley is a beautiful, lush area ringed by some of the highest peaks in the Alps. It is also a bilingual area where greetings are done simultaneously in Italian and French. Cycling down out of Aosta was a treat, with castles on almost every strategic promontory and Roman bridges in many towns. The the last of these was a magnificent arch built ...
Ruth: It was time for a rest day and Aosta is a perfect place to spend it. We are staying at the lovely Narbussion B&B with our own 17th century studio suite right in the historic core of Aosta. The courtyard comes equipped with cats and much appreciated shade. The pace of our trip so far has been a little to fast for living in ...
29km & 1700 meters of climbing. The road was well graded although it averaged 10% in the last 10 km. The traffic was not a problem and it was lovely when we parted company with the main road which goes through a tunnel to Italy. This was the biggest climb I have ever done, and for those at home it was almost 5 Malahats!We were ...
Montbovon - Lausanne 78km no trains no buses just pedalling.Ruth: Today was all about closing the gap and returning to Lausanne where we stopped last year. It was a strange feeling arriving at the lake and heading away from Rome, but we are making sure that we complete every kilometre between Canterbury and Rome. Our ride started high up in the mountains,passed through the hilltop town of Gruyere ...
Spiez to Montbovon: 82 km Ruth: We had a beautiful but long ride today. I decided to take a train over the pass cutting 17 km and 350 meters of steep climbing. We are now relaxing at a beautiful farm that breeds Bernese mountain dogs. One of them has befriended us and I think she is bilingual. About 20 km back we entered the Canton of Vaud, which ...
Brienzwiler to Spiez: 42 kmThis was supposed to be our easy ride, but the Lakes Route 9 chose the very scenic but cliff climbing route rather than the flat side of the lake to Interlaken. Legend has it that when the clouds move into the mountains and threaten rain, one might just catch a glimpse of the elusive Goat King. We were warned that during mating ...
Gordon:We bagged another pass today. The Brunig pass is only 1000 m, but that is 600 m more than where we started the day. Once over the pass we took a secondary road into Brienzwiler, and the 16th century. It seems that this town missed the memo that all quaint towns should embrace tourism. Many of the houses, including the pilgrim hostel, were built in ...
Walenstadt - Rapperswil 52 km of flat and beautiful cycle paths. Ruth:The welcome at the Rapperswil Pilger Herberge was one of the best you will find. This is a gem of a place and a must stay if you are on the Camino in Switzerland.We really needed the hot showers, because the heavens opened up on us during our last 5 km into town. Everything that ...
60 kmGordonWe tripled our country count today, starting in Austria, passing through most of the length of Liechtenstein, and finishing at the end of a lake, Walensee, in Switzerland. By virtue of its novelty and a whiff of the exotic, Liechtenstein was the highlight of the day. It has only 36,000 citizens, but according to Wikipedia they enjoy the highest per capita purchasing power in ...