August 26, 2023
Downhill to Lake Thun
With a few uphills thrown in just for fun
Today we journeyed mostly down hill from Gstaad to Interlaken but managed to get in 2100 feet of climbing. Again we rode through beautiful valleys, with vibrant green farmland, undulating pastures, surrounded by craggy mountains. We also spent a lot of time riding along a river and crossing and recrossing it. Today was different in that about 20% of the ride was along crushed gravel paths. Some double track and some single track.
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We are still following bike route 9 and see lots of other cyclists on the bike route also. Today at one of the single track sections we came upon a large group, about 20 kids, ages 8 to teenagers out enjoying the trail and having a great time. We met them coming down just as we were getting ready to go up a really steep grade. So, we held back while they streamed by, then labored up the steep grade from a dead stop… the e-bikes got us up there but we sure did have to work for it…
Today while on the trail we encountered a nice little rest area with a covered picnic shelter, water trough, and out house/porta pottie.
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We got to Spiez on the shores of Lake Thun with 10 minutes to spare before the ferry for Interlaken was scheduled to depart. What perfect timing. The color of Lake Thun is amazing it is the color of light turquoise. Apparently the color comes from the glacier sediment in the water that feeds the lake.
For navigating our route we have found that Ride with GPS is a lifesaver! The Eurotrek app provided by the bike tour company shows the route in general but it doesn’t get to your individual hotel nor does it contain the bicycle route numbers. And sometimes our hotel was as much as 10 miles from the end of the route in the app. Also, you have to have your phone turned on with a phone plan in order for it to navigate. Ride with GPS has gotten us where we need to go without fail. The time spent putting in our individual route info was well worth it to have great door to door, turn by turn directions. The turn by turn directions even kept working when we went between two mountains that was signposted as a no gps zone.
The boat ride on Lake Thun was a really nice ending to our ride today. The water in the lake is a really incredible shade of turquoise that varies with the light from the sun. The pictures have not been retouched and the color is really true. On the way to Interlaken the boat stopped at several small towns along the way.
The riding was wonderful today with a high temp of 69. These Floridians are loving the cooler August temps! We did have some light rain for about 5 miles but we pulled out our rain gear and were just fine.
We are in Interlaken for the next couple of days and hope to do some day trips out into the mountains if the weather will cooperate.
Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 612 miles (985 km)
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