To Bern

September 12, 1993

The second section of the tour, in Switzerland: four cycling days

Another see-saw day. The wind howled against our hotel all through the night last night, waking us both off nd on; and when we awoke this morning, all was grey, bleak and drizzling. We went downstairs for breakfast, and then lay around for a half hour hoping for signs of clearing. When none appeared, we resigned ourselves to a soaking and perhaps riding only as far as Neuchatel, 26k downhill and to the west.

Remarkably though, the skies began slowly to break open less than a mile into the ride; and by the time we started our 2000' drop to Lake Neuchatel there was enough visibility for a lovely view of the lake basin - although not of the distant mountains. I somewhat gloomily began resigning myself to another masterpiece of poor timing, like our trip to New Zealand two years ago, when we never really did obtain a good panorama of the Alps there. (Ed: Surprisingly, there's no mention here of the ride along the top of the ridge, watching the fog lift, enjoying the cattle in the fields and a horse-drawn wagon. We've talked about this many times since, as one of our favorite recollections of the tour. It's so interesting - you can't really predict at the time what the memory will retain and cherish).

In the Jura Mountains, as the morning fog began to break

Overlooking Lake Neuchatel from the Jura

We dawdled around Neuchatel for about an hour, eating some cold pizza and orange juice by the lakeside. We had a rather hard time finding anything open on Sunday morning, making us wish we had stopped at one of the boulangeries we passed on the way into the city.

Warmed up and refueled, we set off for Bern, thirty miles to the northeast. I had not known what to expect from this stretch of the ride, and so we were both pleased to discover that they were quite easy miles - we were aided by a fair tailwind most of the way, and except for a few long but gradual climbs we enjoyed relatively level terrain.

Somewhere along this route we rather abruptly left French Switzerland and entered the German sector. Suddenly, all the street and town names and all of the architecture was sharply different. Suddenly, boulangeries were replaced by konditereis.

Also, along this stretch of road the view to the east improved, and gradually a hole in the clouds exposing a fraction of the Alps opened wider - until by day's end the entire southeast horizon was clear, giving a breathtaking view of the whole Bernese range.

If you peer carefully, you can see the Alps in the distance.

The Bernese Alps, from northwest of Bern. If I'd been a better photographer or had a better camera twentyfive years ago, this would be more impressive.

Bern is a fascinating city. It has a very colorful setting on a hairpin meander of the Aare River. Much like Ornans though of course a much larger city, it is built right to the waterline at many points. We watched a man fishing the Aare while chatting with a friend leaning out a window only a few feet away. It also has an impressive array of architectural features, especially in the old town - gateway clock towers, churches, parliament buildings - we found much to look at once we started sightseeing.

We were unable to start though until Rachael was replenished. She mostly wanted chocolate or pastries, which we were unable to find - all such places were closed down for Sunday - but we happily settled for pizza and beverages at a sidewalk café, followed by ice cream cones which we ate while sitting on a bench overlooking the river and the Alps.

Our room for the night is almost a hostel. Quite comfortable, warm, dry. What a great day! Tomorrow we follow a string of lakes eastward to Meiringen, and then Tuesday climb up the first pass!

Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 625 km (388 miles)

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