A National Holiday

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Blog -- August 1
A National Holiday

Today is Switzerland’s national holiday; we will probably fall asleep to the sound of fireworks because tonight we are camping in the country’s oldest city, Chur (pronounced Core). Speaking of pronunciation, we are now in German-speaking Switzerland. I have some understanding of both Spanish and French, but no German. I’ve tried, but it just does not come to me. I apologize to all those with whom we struggle to communicate over the next three weeks.

Leaving Disentis this morning, we quickly found ourselves on another narrowing mountain bike trail. Though the scenery was beautiful, our bodies and bikes are just not made for off road single track through the forest. We saw few other touring cyclists on the trail though we did leap frog with one young man on a recumbent throughout the morning. He agreed with us regarding the road, noting that while this is Road Bike Route #2 in Switzerland, it is also Mountain Bike Route #6. At one point, he fell, damaging only his ego. So, after 20 kms, and two hours of “mountain biking,” we got on the real road in Trun and took it for the next 20 kms. to Ilanz. We were sailing along at 25 kms an hour, feeling terrific. This was more like it.

After Ilanz, we continued on the Bike Route once again, knowing that it was paved most of the way to Chur. What a fantastic ride. We had some long, steep ascents and descents, but we were on lightly traveled roads that traversed the Gorge formed by the Voderrhein and Rabiusa Rivers, tributaries to the Rhine.

As it was a national holiday, nothing was open, not even a bakery, As a result, we were quite hungry when we arrived at the campground, having eaten almost everything in the pannier and thinking about nibbling on the pannier itself. Fortunately, the campground had a restaurant that was serving an all you can eat salad buffet at 6 p.m. Now, a salad buffet here in Europe means pretty much just veggies, bread, and some cheese. But that was enough for us. Three plates each later, we were satiated.

And while we ate, the waiter charged the computer for us so that we could write this blog tonight. Let me add here that campgrounds in Switzerland, unlike those in France, actually have hot (rather than warm) showers, toilet seats, and toilet paper. They are also quite clean and about twice the cost of those in France. That doesn’t seem to stop the cyclists. Tonight there are probably fifteen or more of us camped here among the motor homes and families on holiday,

Tomorrow, we head for Triesen, probably a short day as we strive to stay in towns with campgrounds.

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