Ready to Roll!

We arrive in Zurich after a very pleasant week in Malta, and it is HOT! Sometime between when we first landed in Zurich over a week ago and now, summer has hit with a vengeance. I’m now digging through my meagre clothing trying to find something to wear to suit this new weather while we go about finalising our ‘real’ departure to Andermatt, the gateway to our EV15 adventure.

With many chores done, the luggage that is not going with us put into storage at our hotel, and the stuff that is coming with us pushed into panniers, we are out the door and on our way to the train station. We had thought about riding into Zurich from our hotel, which is near the airport, but were dissuaded by a local, so instead we are on one of the local trains, heading for Zurich HB.

Our train leaves just after 2pm, and we are loaded, the bikes stored in the right places and we are ready to relax. It is finally on!

We have the best connection for this trip: one train to Göschenen and then a short trip from there to Andermatt. When travelling European trains with bikes the less connections the better, as connections can be tight, trains can be difficult to load bikes onto; it can be an altogether stressful time.

Then we are on our way! We are out of Zurich and looking down on Lake Zurich, where only a week or so ago we were cruising around on a sight-seeing trip.

We get glimpses of wonderful Swiss countryside as we wind our way up from Zurich to Göschenen, climbing almost 700m in altitude. It’s ridiculous! Trains can’t climb hills, can they? I often ride on rail trails. They’re a popular option for cyclists, because the gradients are usually pretty moderate, with say a maximum of 3% How this train is climbing so high I’ll never know!

We have a four minute connection at Göschenen and have to get from Platform 1 to Platform 11. It seems an impossible task, and we are resigned to waiting 20 minutes or so for the next train. But you cannot fault Swiss Rail. Platform 11 is only steps away from Platform 1. We are off one train and on the other before we know it.

It’s as if they’ve done it before and have all the practice needed to make it seem a well-oiled machine.

The surprise is the short trip on to Andermatt. We climb more than 300m in less than 15 minutes. The train eats up the metres, and when I take a walk to check the bikes I am definitely climbing uphill on the carriage floor. It is insane!

We figure out that the train is a cog train, designed for extreme climbing. Who else but the Swiss?

Once we’re in Andermatt we settle into our hotel, take a turn about town, then there is nothing left to do but have an end of day beer and think about riding tomorrow!