July 24, 2023
Andermatt -> Bellinzona
Wait, there's an Italian park of Switzerland?
I woke up at 6:30 this morning to the sound of rain pounding on my tent rain fly. Not just sprinkles, but large drops being blasted by strong wind. Thankfully the ground around my tent was well conditioned sod, so my tent stakes were holding, but my guess is the wind speed was approaching the design limitation of my tent. I laid there for a half hour and waited for the rain to let up. Around 7:00 it did, but not before I heard a few rumbles of thunder.
Today was the day I was supposed to tackle Goddhart pass, and I was not looking forward to doing it in a thunderstorm. When I had woken up, it was still fairly warm outside. Probably low 60s, however, after that first wave of thunderstorms passed, the temperature dropped 10 degrees. That must have been the beginning of a cold front. Checking the weather on my phone, I saw heavy rain and thunderstorms forecasted all day long (they were predicting 2 inches of rain), with temperatures continuing to fall. In fact, they were predicting snow tomorrow night in Andermatt. All I knew was that I wanted to get to lower elevation so I would only be wet instead of freezing cold and wet. I used the break in the weather to shower and pack up my tent. Right as I was finishing up packing, another wave of rain hit. I returned my tent number to the kiosk and got some breakfast in town. I hit up the Coop grocery store in Andermatt and got a roast beef sandwich and a chocolate bar. I also had some apricots saved from yesterday. I ate standing outside the grocery store in the rain. By the time I finished eating I was wet and cold. I hopped on my bike and started pedaling up Gotthard pass. After a couple kilometers I had warmed back up. As long as I was moving, I was ok. The headwind continued to get stronger, and the temperature continued dropping as I climbed past 6000ft, There were windmills on the pass summit that were spinning in the wind. I knew the descent would be brutally cold.
As I neared the pass summit, the rain stopped. I stopped at a restaurant and got some warm food and drinks. A coffee and a cup of minestrone helped warm me up. I threw on my wind breaker rain jacket and pants over my jersey and started down hill. Thankfully the road was mostly dry now, as the rain had stopped. However, a new hazard had developed: fog. Thankfully I had bright, fully charged head and tail lights, but the visibility was about 100 feet for most of the descent. There was very little traffic on the old cobblestone road I was riding on, and the few brave cars were driving cautiously. As I descended, I quickly felt the temperature warm up, and the fog lifted. I stopped to take off my rain gear and kept riding. Not long after I took off my rain gear, it started to downpour again. This time with vicious thunder and lightning. Thunder echoed off the canyon walls as I descended towards Bellinzona.
By this point, everything was in Italian. Switzerland has 3 official languages: German, French, and Italian. I was now in Switzerland's only Italian speaking Canton: Ticino. Gotthard pass marks the Canton border between Uri (German Speaking) and Ticino. It was so strange, in only a short distance it felt like I was in a different country. Even the people I saw walking on the streets looked different. They looked ethnically Italian instead of German, and had Italian mannerisms too. I saw people talking with their hands in conversation. It was hilarious.
The bike way became more scenic as I descended. It followed back farm roads, along with gravel double tracks. I rode past a (granite?) quarry, and many farm houses. The temperature continued to warm until it felt tropical. Warm and humid. Then I saw something I had not seen yet on my Eurotrip: palm trees. Many people in the Ticino valley had palm trees planted around their homes. It looked so out of place against the rugged Alps, but I guess the climate is warm enough. I also saw things like Fig trees planed in the ground for the first time.
I continued down the Ticino valley until the city of Bellinzona, where I had booked a hostel room for the night. By now, the rain had stopped again, and I was feeling a bit stupid for booking a hostel. "The weather's fine here, I could have camped" I thought to myself. However, as I was checking in, an even more intense thunderstorm swept over the valley and dumped rain so loud I couldn't hear what the hostel attendant was saying.
I got settled in, washed and dried my clothes, and got some dinner at a grocery store. Here I got some deli pizza that was restaurant quality. I walked around old town for a bit and admired the architecture, and the valley lined with old castles. The hostel I had booked was actually a historic building that backed up to a castle. I came back to the hostel only to have my phone die. My charger cables and charging ports had gotten wet, so I would have to wait overnight for them to dry out before I could charge anything. I did some bike maintenance instead. I had burned through another set of brake pads. By the time I had finished, it was dark out and I got some sleep.
Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 1,477 miles (2,377 km)
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