July 26, 2023
Andeer -> Schruns
Three Countries in One Day
I woke up this morning around 7:00. The rain had stopped, but everything I had was either soaking wet or damp. It was very cold. Low 40s if I had to guess. The clothes I had on a drying rack felt more wet than when I had put them up. The guy in the RV I was camping next to was nice enough to make me a cup of coffee. It helped me warm up a bit. He spoke almost no English, so we had a conversation with my broken German. He was from Zurich and said he liked coming to Andeer in the summer because Zurich was too hot, and it was cooler here. "No shit" I thought to myself as I was shivering on this cold morning. He told me there was a dryer for campers to use, but when asked the host I found that there were no available dryer appointments.
I put on my damp cycling kit, with my thermal leggings over them, and a rain jacket on top. This kept me significantly warmer. After packing up and getting on the road, I started to make my descent down into the "Alpenrhine", the section of the Rhine Valley above Lake Konstanz. Not long after I left camp, it started to rain again. However, I was prepared with my rain jacket and waterproof goretex gloves. After yesterday's experience, I was done trying to tough out the cold. It kept raining off and on the next several hours, and I had to frequently stop to adjust my clothing to the rain or lack of rain. I didn't mind. Near the bottom of the descent, I stopped at a Coop gas station and got breakfast. A "shinkengipfel", some candy, a chocolate bar, a falafel bowl, and a yogurt gave me some energy. Side note: Haribo "Pfirsiche" flavor are the absolute GOAT of gummi candy. They have real fruit juice in them, and I ate the whole bag outside the gas station.
I kept pressing onward. As I neared the City of Chur, I saw something I didn't expect. A fresh dusting of snow on the mountain tops above me. I looked at google maps, and the snow capped mountain was "Vilan", at 7795 feet in elevation. This meant the snow line was probably around 7000 feet: cold enough to be a winter storm in California. The bikeway was a more gentle downhill from here. Eventually I made it to a covered wooden bridge over the Rhine. This marked the border between Switzerland and Lichtenstein. In the middle of the bridge was a sign with the border and flags on each side. I took a picture of a couple travellers from Switzerland, then took a selfie.
Liechtenstein is so small, it would have been easy to cruise through on my bike without stopping. However, I wanted to be able to say I "visited" liechtenstein, so I stopped at a bakery in Liechtenstien's unimpressive capital: Vaduz. As I ate my cake (which I bought with Francs, Liechtenstein's national currency), it started to downpour again. I waited until the rain let up, then continued on my bike.
Not too long later, I crossed over what looked like a drainage ditch, and saw a sign for the Austrian border. 3 countries in 1 day by bike, pretty cool. I continued on until the town of Schlins, where I stopped at a bike shop. My handlebar tape needed to be replaced, and I figured I could do it tomorrow morning once my bike had dried out somewhat.
After I navigated the handlebar tape buyihg process in German (I had no choice, the woman working there spoke very limited English), I took a look ahead at tomorrows route. I had initially planned to continue East over Arlbergpass. On a map this route looked great. There was a tunnel below the pass road, so most of the traffic should be on that road, away from where I would be riding. However, when I googled "Arlbergpass cycling reddit", I found out that the tunnel under the pass was closed, all the traffic was being routed over the summit road, and the route was actually closed to cyclists. Some Austrian reddit users suggested going over a different pass to the south: "Bielerhoehe". I asked the bike shop staff, and they confirmed what Reddit had said. Arlbergpass was a no go by bike. I called the campground at the foot of Arlbergpass that I had arranged to stay at a few hours prior and told them "Ich werde heute nacht nicht da sein, tut mir leid". They said it was no problem, as they didn't actually take reservations for bikepackers, but thanked me for the heads up. I booked a hostel along the southern route, and continued there.
When I arrived at the hostel, the reception was already closed, but they had left the key with check in instructions taped to the door for me. I moved my bike into the bike storage room, and washed my clothes in the neighboring wash room. I'm not sure if the washer/dryer was meant for guest use, but the door was wide open so what the hell. All I can say is this is by far the nicest hostel I have ever stayed at. This place has a fully stocked kitchen, nice bathrooms, and bunks with blackout curtains for privacy. Talk about luxury. All for 32 Euros! I went downstairs to get some dinner from the restaurant, but it looked too fancy for me. High menu prices, and people dressed up eating dinner. Instead, I went to the kitchen and cooked myself dinner. All the grocery stores had closed, so I went into the hostel's "Unclaimed food items people left, take what you want" fridge. I got some bread, eggs, and sliced cheese and made some soft boiled egg sandwiches.
It seems that I'm the only one in this hostel. In my room of 8 beds, I'm the only one here. I am not looking forward to leaving. However, I want to see as much of the Alps as I can before I go back to real life, so I will press on. I was looking at my route along Bielerhoehe, and spotted a mountain hut near the summit. It was only 40km from the hostel, but I figured I could use a light day (especially with 1800 meters of elevation gain). It was too close to the arrival date to reserve online, so I called the hut. I asked the guy in German "Haben Sie morgen nacht ein bett ins matrezenlager vefuegbar?", "Ja, wir haben betten vefuegbar morgen nacht". I was waiting for more instructions, but he just left me hanging. "Darf Ich ein bett reservieren?". "Ja, was ist dein name?", "Erik Bruenner". Before I could ask about dinner, or reserving a half board, he cut me off and said "Gute Nacht" and hung up. Guess we'll find out tomorrow if I get to eat.
Today's ride: 83 miles (134 km)
Total: 1,619 miles (2,606 km)
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