Distance: 57.6 miles / 92.7 km
Elevation: 7,057 feet / 2,150 m
Time: 8 hours and 48 minutes (6 hours and 2 minutes cycling)
A change of plan
I had a tough choice to make – the weather forecast for Bormio was for thunderstorms for most of the day, and it was only 8°C at 09:00. The plan was to ascend the Passo Gavia, which was 1,500m above my current altitude. I visited the bike shop for a mudguard and the shopkeeper spoke very good English, so I asked him for his thoughts. He told me that ascending the Gavia today would not be a good idea, and I should delay until the next day. Had I done that I wouldn’t have been able to visit Lauterbrunnen later on in the trip, so I decided to ask for his advice.
He told me that I would be best dropping down to Tirano whilst the weather was at its worst because it was a straightforward, easy route. From there was a massive climb, but by the time I would arrive the weather forecast looked a bit more promising. Since his knowledge of the area is probably second to none, I swiftly made a basic route outline on my phone (ironically I probably had all other possibilities saved except for the one proposed) and got to work. He didn’t sell any mudguards, but I bought a croissant to say my thanks.
More rain to Tirano
As the forecast had predicted, I got extremely wet. The ride to Tirano was not really that pleasant, but the shopkeeper was right in that the route was fairly straightforward. Since I made a decision to go this way at the last minute, and the route I had made had not been checked properly, I was following my instinct on occasions. On my GPS device it’s not very clear to distinguish a cycle path and a river (they’re both blue) and as a result I accidentally added on a needless climb which really annoyed me at the time. I was following somebody else, but it turns out they were going elsewhere.
In Tirano I stopped at a nice looking café but as soon as I ordered the waitress started taking all the tables inside. It turns out that the café closes at midday every day, which seems really crazy. I must have just managed to get there in the nick of time. I had a cheese and ham toastie – the only thing allowed!
Heading to Switzerland
As soon as I left Tirano, I entered Switzerland???????? for the first time. The climb from here to the summit of Passo Bernina had an elevation gain of nearly 2,000m – so actually remarkably similar to the Stelvio the previous day. The difference was that this climb started from a much lower altitude – less than 500m – so did not peak nowhere near as high. There was also a nice 5km break in the middle, around Miralago – a beautiful lake.
Following the train
Most of the climb followed a train track, and I love trains. Not long in to the ride, I spied one out of the corner of my eye going around a really tight viaduct – I didn’t realise this at the time, but the track was actually a helix at that point and the train did a full 360! Since the line was only single track, I didn’t think I’d see another for a while – but they kept coming, much to my excitement.
There were sections of the climb where the road was too narrow for both the train track and the road, and so they became one and the same. This led to some very strange sightings where both trains and cars were waiting at the same traffic lights, or cars were stuck behind a train at a roadside station. This meant I had to be careful on my bike since riding over the rails in parallel can lead to a guaranteed crash – and at times the lines were going everywhere.
At the lake I stopped to take some photos, but some people taking photos of the geese had a go at me because my cycling shoes unclipped too loudly. This amused me somewhat because there were so many cows about whose bells were much louder than that. Looking back in the direction I’d come from, I saw a train approaching and because I’m a nerd I stopped to take a photo of it. He gave me a whistle which I was happy with! I don’t know what the photographers thought about it though. The geese flew away.
Passo del Bernina
Since I completed the Stelvio I think I was a bit complacent/cocky with this climb and didn’t really take any supplies with me. It’s funny because up until the day before, this would have easily been the highest I’d ever been on a bicycle. There would be no way I’d take so little with me.
It also did not help that when planning the routes in advance, the climb looked ‘small’ when stacked next to the Stelvio.. so I thought little of it. It took me a lot of hours again – but maybe just (!) three this time. Some of the mountains at the summit were snow capped, which was a surprise to me.
Racing a train on the descent
The train line had followed me all the way to the summit at 2,330m… though it had spiralled up in some tunnels for some of the journey to limit the gradient. As I was ready to leave, remarkably a train to St Moritz was also in the same situation. I was quite a lot faster descending than the train, and I chased (and passed) it on multiple occasions. I stopped to take some photos of it whenever it was close, and the driver gave me another whistle. Some of the passengers also noticed what I was doing and they were cheering me through the windows. I am a nerd sometimes. After about 5-6 yo-yo events, I was stopped at a level crossing to let the train past and it was gone, never to be seen again ???? but I absolutely loved it.
My campsite for this evening is at 1,800m above sea level and it’s pretty cold. It’s only 4°C at 9am tomorrow morning, so I might be using my sleeping bag for the first time. Sadly they only took cash and I was only carrying Euros. Surprisingly the camp site is the cheapest one I’ve stayed in so far but unsurprisingly the food is the most expensive by a very very long way ????
Since I missed out the Gavia I am in effect one mountain pass ahead of schedule now, which is a good situation to be in. Though it means all the campsites I had planned to stay at need a bit of a rethink ????
