Oberalpass to Martigny (130 miles)

Opened the curtains at my mountain stopover to find a classic Swiss panorama – chalets nestled in the Rhone valley surrounded by high peaks. This is German speaking Switzerland & it feels unchanged from the picture postcard view. Set off & immediately find myself riding switchback after switchback. Navigating these at night is unsettling. In the bright sunlight of the morning, they’re a joy. The Oberalpass soon merged into the Furkapass with steep ascents followed by steep descents. The bike lapped it all up giving the impression it could do all this at twice the speed whilst I just settled into a rhythm. If you like bikes, you wait for moments like this. Arrived at my destination in Nandez only 16 hours late. The guys were simply amused by the previous night’s trail of texts from an hour late, to a few hours, to first thing the next day to mid morning. Needless to say, much cheese and alcohol has already been consumed. I tried to catch up. After some fine walking, cheese, meat & lager I left Sunday eve, the guys looked with bewilderment as I packed the bike - why would anyone choose to sit on a narrow pad squeezed between two bags for hour on hour? I left this question unanswered and headed off to Martingy at the top of the Grand Bernardo pass. That will be my first task in the morning – heading back into Italy. Getting off I looked at the total mileage - I have clocked over 1800 miles... so far.