August 2, 2016
Oberwald at last: A day in trains
Today was largely a day of train travel. We slept well in the very comfortable Radison Blu Hotel. Yoghurt and orange juice for breakfast then we loaded up the bikes and we're off to catch the train. Train travel with a bike is always a bit stressful particularly when you are doing it for the first time in a new country. We found a lift down to the platform. Where would the bike wagon be? How high would it be off the ground? Would we be able to secure the the bikes securely? We watched a couple of trains arrive and it seemed that the bike wagon was near the front of the train. Our train arrived and there it was at the front. A mad dash for it and we were able to wheel the bikes straight on. Most bikes it seemed needed to be hung on hooks but there were two places were we could just secure them to the sides. The carriage almost filled with bikes and we were off. We were on an Intercity Train for this first long leg to Brig stopping only at Berne and another couple of places. It was passing through attractive but not very mountainous countryside. At Brig we changed onto a small regional train and then the views became really spectacular. The train was following the Rhone up the valley giving us a preview of what we would be biking up in the next couple of days. There was tiny village after tiny village and we stopped at them all. The friendly lady next to me lived up high in the mountains and certainly was very proud of her country. She knew about New Zealand because the honey she liked to buy came from there.
Oberwald when we arrived is a really tiny village. It has one shop, a garage, a bike shop and three hotels. The Hotelsport was easy to find and very Swiss looking but probably the nicest thing about it is the friendly and obliging Derek who runs the place. Although lunch had finished he made us some and we were able to get straight into our charming room with its balcony and view down the valley.
Oberwald is at the start of the steep part of the approach to the Furker Pass. One of its main attractions is the steam cog railway that goes to the top of the pass and the Rhone glacier. This is what we had intended to do tomorrow and I am sure it would be a great trip. However we seem to have been sitting in planes and trains for so long that it seems considerably more appealing to get on the bikes and start our long journey towards Madrid in this beautiful alpine setting
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