Eurobike Tour: Day 2: St Moritz to Zernez

Today is a 36km ride along the Inn Way, a mostly flat route that goes along a valley north from St Moritz.

Goodbye St Moritz, I hope Zernez, despite being smaller, is a bit more lively. It’s like everyone in St Moritz is competing to be the quietest. I’ve never been in a hotel breakfast room that was so hushed.

We had the Nutella-filled crepes this morning and Luke had the scrambled eggs as well. He liked them but they were a bit mushy looking for my taste.

And before we leave the hotel, here’s the shower, with more nozzles and dials than I’ve ever had in a shower before. Full disclosure: I couldn’t get anything but the top one working. I am useless with working out how foreign plumbing works. Luke seems to have more success.

Although I am generally not a fan of baths, with all the hiking and cycling on this trip it has been nice to have some long soaks when a bathtub is available.

I prepared myself for today with two kinds of hay fever tablet and three nasal sprays. Hopefully that will hold it at bay until at least lunchtime!

We set off around 10:30am, once again walking our bikes down to the lake, somewhat fearful after yesterday’s brush with the local constabulary.

Goodbye St Moritz, you were pretty, weird, and expensive.

The first part of the ride was quite a steep bit of uphill then downhill through the forest.

We stopped at a pond to take some photos.

I was trying to capture some reflections of the trees but it didn’t really work.

There’s lot of picnic spots with pre-chopped wood, bins with rolls of dog poo bags hanging beside them and a variety of designs of fireplaces. The bins are never filled to the top or overflowing.

The bugs were out in full force and I had my hair band as a mask today. I am surprised that no one else wears anything over their mouth, I definitely heard at least one person go into a coughing fit after swallowing a bug. The thought of getting one in my eye or mouth on a steep or busy stretch makes me nervous.

We passed a large group of riders and horses. Some of the horses were massive. Maybe it was because it was a Sunday, but there seemed to be a huge number of people out riding.

Finally found a good spot to capture some mountain reflections.

For about three quarters of the way the route was concrete or tarmac and the hills weren’t too bad and our choice of e-bikes really paid off.

There were super cute villages and plenty of springs where water bottles could be filled.

This bit, which was straight, downhill and smooth was one of our favourite bits.

But then disaster struck in the form of a closure of the route. We had to take a very rough gravel track, which was both steep and alongside a deep ravine.

We followed it for a while and, after many stops to check the map and double back, we decided to turn around and head to the nearest train station, not too far behind us. The road we were on looked to be heading towards the highway, where we would have to ride on the side of the busy road. We turned our bikes around just as two people rounded the corner on eurobikes identical to ours and, like two guardian angels sent straight from New Zealand, we met Jane and Rutherford!

They were more confident than us and assured us that we would be fine to keep going. We hadn’t realised that Google maps doesn’t show all the bike paths, so we wouldn’t have to ride along the highway after all. They offered to ride with us and were so kind and encouraging that we decided to keep going.

Rutherford was obviously the most experienced rider of the four of us so he went ahead. Jane was definitely leagues ahead of us but they stopped with us to take photos and we had a lovely chat.

At one point I said I’d go ahead and Luke followed behind while Jane and Rutherford had a break. The track from that point to the bottom of the valley was the most terrifying I’d ever done. The surface was extremely rough, steep, winding and covered in fist-sized rocks. I sat on my brakes for much of it and went very slowly, juddering and bumping all the way. By the end our wrists and shoulders were aching from bracing against the handlebars, we were exhausted!

Fortunately after that the path flattened out and we could enjoy the scenery again.

We saw a lot of vintage tractors as got close to town, there must have been at least 20.

Our destination wasn’t too far along and we were extremely relieved to reach our hotel for the night.

After putting our bikes and bags away, I realised the hotel did not have the pool I was anticipating… darn it! However the local pool was just a few steps down the road so I cajoled Luke into an excursion.

Well, it was $18 to get in and closed in an hour, but the outdoor pool was amazing! It had a whirlpool end that pushed you around in a circle, a row of lounging racks over jets and a wall of intense jets at different heights so you could move along and have different areas massaged. So good!

The guy at the front desk was really nice too and they had a popcorn making machine by the entrance. What more could you want? I mean, apart from a reasonable price and longer opening hours?

Unpopped kernels at the top of the machine.

When we walked back to the hotel, Jane and Rutherford were having dinner and it looked really good so we told ourselves we deserved a nice meal after our harrowing afternoon so we got changed and then went out to the restaurant.

We had a celebratory (commisoratory?) drink first.

The meal was marginally more reasonably priced than those in St Moritz, so that was something.

The little tube is mustard. This meal looks small but the sausage was quite large.

We even had dessert – the local specialty, apple strudel with vanilla sauce.

We are both hoping tomorrow is less of an ordeal! Here’s a few photos from the day to finish.

One of the more unusual flowers by the road.

10Jun2023

Eurobike Tour: Day 1: St Moritz

by Miss Penny Black

Let’s talk pillows. In the hostel in Zurich we had square (‘European’ in Australia.. do they call them that here?) feather pillows that, when you lay your head on them, squashed completely flat. Even doubled over they barely had the thickness of a sandwich, and not a decent salad sandwich either.

In our current hotel the pillows are marginally better but seem to be stuffed with marshmallow-sized chunks of foam that gradually migrate to the corners, once again leaving the head unsupported. Have Europeans not heard of polyester filling or memory foam? In the words of an irate London bus driver, it’s 2023!

Anyhow, rant temporarily over, let’s talk about our first cycling day!

To say Luke and I were filled with trepidation would be putting it precisely. Neither of us had cycled in the last few years and we had booked e-bikes which are are a little trickier to use and heavier to push. Still, we had the hotel breakfast to enjoy first.

Back to the restaurant room which was much quieter and cooler than the previous night. Would the hotel redeem itself with the breakfast on offer? Yes, yes it would.

There was excellent coffee, a selection of cheeses, cold meats, salmon, fresh fruit, Bircher muesli, and also omelettes and pancakes could be ordered at no extra cost. Marvellous!

We stuffed ourselves to the gills in anticipation of skipping lunch and managed to not be hungry until dinner.

Next was setting up the bikes. Now, before I go into anything else I will say that we did not have helmets as we were supposed to bring them and forgot. There is nowhere in St Moritz to buy a reasonably priced helmet and so we decided to go without. Don’t bother commenting that we should get them, we ride at a snail’s pace and tomorrow’s Sunday so we literally can’t. Just be aware that we both feel bad about it and know that we should be wearing them.

We wheeled the bikes to an empty (and, more importantly, level) car park and rode around in circles practicing changing gears and using the power assist functions.

Marginally more confident, we walked the bikes down to the lake and set off.

The sun was out but thankfully it wasn’t too busy on the track. The route we were supposed to go followed the valley and wound around four lakes. There were some small hills, some steep enough for us to get off our bikes and push, but all in all we managed well enough.

The problem with riding is you can’t take photos on the fly. We had to stop, which was fine but I probably would’ve taken many more if I’d been walking.

The fields were filled with flowers and the mountains felt almost close enough to touch.

We rode through a few tiny villages too.

Of course, the mountains make everything look small.

The trail was about 12km in one direction then a return back the same way. We got almost to the end when my hayfever really flared up. I’ve brought six kinds of medication with me – three nasal sprays and three kinds of tablets. I had fortified myself well for the morning but by early afternoon it was all wearing off so I took more and we sat in a cafe for over an hour to let my symptoms calm down and medication take effect.

This is what a $9.82 hot chocolate looks like. To be fair, it was excellent.

I felt a bit anxious about the hay fever when we left the cafe but it subsided. My hay fever is not so much a runny nose as my eyes itching and swelling. It’s properly debilitating and I’ll be better prepared tomorrow.

The only other annoyance of the day was the hoards of bugs. No biters or stingers but lots of ones the size of flying ants. Not terrible when standing still but to avoid inhaling any while riding I wrapped my scarf around my face. Luke used the band given to us by eurobikes but it was too small for my gargantuan cranium.

Looking stupid is worth it, many bugs bounced off my face.

Oh I guess we were an annoyance of the day – Luke got told off by the police for riding on the footpath on our way back into St Moritz.

We got back to the hotel at about 6 after a trip to Lidl for cheese and bread. Now we’re doing holiday homework – the blog and recording expenses. Fun!

Supermarket picnic served on the plastic shoe tray covered in a towel. We’re sharing the one mug to drink our duty free Bacardi and soft drink. Classy! This whole meal cost less than 100ml of wine in the restaurant downstairs.

Tomorrow we ride twice as far to a village along the trail to Innsbruck. Woo!

Goodnight!

18May2023

Walking Ambleside to Grasmere

by Miss Penny Black

A much more gentle goal for today’s walk; a low level walk from Ambleside to Grasmere via Rydal Water. I’d never done this walk before so I was keen to do it.

We headed out of town a little after 10am. The first part was road walking but we soon stepped off the main road and onto one of Cumbria’s many corpse roads, where bodies were transported from town to town.

We took many photos of the landscape and livestock as we wandered along. The weather was cloudy but warm.

Over a stile and into the grounds of Rydal Hall, a manor house with some lovely garden features.

‘Grot House’ must have been named before people realised ‘grotto’ was more suitable.

To get to the house we walked along this lovely path then under a bridge.

The inside of the house was simple but lovely, with window seats for viewing the waterfall.

We had a little walk around their gardens and took a photo of the front of the main house.

We thought about pretending we were staying here but you lot would never believe it.

On our way out we saw the most magnificent carpet of wild garlic I have ever seen! Look at it!

It was very hard to photograph well but we gave it our best shot.

On to the 400 year old church just down the road.

The interior of the church was lovely in its simplicity.

There was a bowl and little slips of paper up the front on the little table. Visitors were invited to write a prayer or message to god and put it in the bowl. Luke pulled a couple out and had a look.

Did he fall asleep in church? Is this a threat?

Past the church and down to Rydal village, which is a very small collection of houses and a pub. It is very cute though!

Clematis is out everywhere at the moment. So pretty!

The next section of the wall was on the other side of the main road, over a bridge and then along the banks of Rydal Water.

The forest was a luminous green, with all the new leaves and fresh ferns.

Bluebells are irritatingly difficult to photograph effectively but so magical in person.

This is a very famous boat shed that has has been photographed millions of times… I haven’t done it justice, but sometimes it looks like this:

The walk along the water was lovely and we got to see some people doing something unexpected…

… getting in the water. Upon closer inspection we could see the kids had gum boots and there were a couple of adults with wetsuits. The water temperature today was 11 degrees.

Then it was across country to the next body of water, Grasmere.

Another photo that completely fails to capture the millions of bluebells in front of us.

I won’t lie, much like this post, the route was longer than I expected. Maybe my mile to kilometre conversion was off but the walk did feel longer than I’d anticipated.

We stopped for a toilet break at the cafe next to the cottage where Wordsworth lived. This is a photo of his cottage, not the cafe.

Here’s a poem I liked from the visitors centre.

Next stop: lunch! Even though I walked everyone further than they’d probably have liked, food is so much more enjoyable when you’re tired (or at least, that’s what I keep telling them).

I managed to take a photo that looks like I’m stalking them.

Lea and I shared a coronation chicken sandwich and then I ate half of Luke’s bowl of chips.

Almost as delicious but half as brightly coloured as my last curried chicken sandwich.

The people next to us had a dog that was a BORDOODLE! Border collie x poodle.

Here’s the dog I patted for about half an hour.

A mix I had not heard of until this year and one of my workmates got one. This one kept leaning on my leg and I found myself patting it without realising what I was doing. I am definitely missing Bonnie but I am 100% certain she is not missing us, going by the photos I am getting from the people she is staying with.

Daycare photo from a few days ago for reference.

Next we wandered around Grasmere and looked at all the cute buildings.

After doing a couple of circuits of town we decided on afternoon tea at the hotel above. Apart from Lea being served a pot of tea that contained a single teabag and getting a grumpy look from the waitress when I asked for more, the food as lovely and served in a very comfortable room with a view of the plebs walking past.

The only significant thing we did in Grasmere was buy some ‘famous’ Grasmere gingerbread.

This required queuing, which I am ideologically opposed to, but we eventually got into the tiny room and Lea bought a packet.

Last was a top-deck bus ride back to Ambleside!

This might be my longest post yet but I couldn’t bear not to share all these magnificent views. To finish, for those of you who know my dog, here’s a last photo of her at daycare with her adopted older brother, Chester.

1May2023

Camino Ingles Day 2: Pontedueme to Betanzos

by Miss Penny Black

I am not sure I’ll have a lot to write about today because I am completely exhausted but here’s today’s walk in brief.

First, it’s Sunday, so Pontedueme was pretty quiet. We had tomato on bread for breakfast but with ham this time.

The path out of Pontedueme, starting from our breakfast table, went up, up, UP.

Still, we consoled ourselves with the amazing views as we sweated through our clothes. Or as I sweated and Danny lightly dampened his clothes. It turns out Danny doesn’t sweat much, which somehow seemed quite unfair.

One the first day of our walk we had discovered pilgrim fountains everywhere. They have running water and foot baths with a bench around. On this day we saw a few but nowhere near as many. I would be interested to know if they are a feature on other routes.

During the first half of the day we walked through forest and along some very pretty trails. Thankfully not all the forests were eucalypts.

We saw a lot of grape vines on trellises. This was probably the most impressive.

The roadside verges were full of flowers and there were many lovely scents along the way.

The path took us through very varied scenery, including beneath massive pillars that held highways above wetlands.

We saw beaches and waterways.

For lunch we stopped at a very pilgrim-themed place to have a bite. There was a cute and very tiny dog.

The lady running the stop was lovely and very welcoming. We left after having a very restful sit and picking some wild strawberries from their garden.

Just a short way down the track we saw a huge mural featuring the woman from the pilgrim stop. If only we’d had a photo with her!

I bought an apple in the next little town and we came across a large group of women pilgrims walking so slowly that they ended up being the first (and probably last) people we would overtake. Sure, they overtook us later on but it did feel nice to not be the slowest for a short while.

The path continued to be very hilly.

Towards the end I was really struggling. My right hip was hurting, particularly on the uphills, which was doubly annoying because on the downhills the soles of my feet really stung. Across the day I took 5 ibuprofen tablets and I’m not sure they helped much.

This is a photo Danny took of me struggling;-).

The second half of the day was through countryside that felt almost deserted and was also lacking the plentiful benches of the morning so we stopped and sat in a gutter at one point to eat our snack nuts (snuts) and biscuits.

Classy!

The sandals I bought in England were a nice change for my feet in the middle of the afternoon as we climbed the last hill. A lady pulled over as we were halfway to the top and told us it wasn’t much further. At the tip we found her with her husband manning a little pilgrim stop with cold drinks and a donation box. They asked where we were from and then pointed to all the eucalyptus trees, telling me they were from Australia. Yes, I had noticed that half of Spain looks exactly like the trees around my house, thanks.

We got a stamp and then sat down for a rest. A Dutch fellow came along and sat down for a chat. He had done many Camino trails and usually came with his family.

The couple at the stop took a photo of Danny and I together before we left.

Eventually we made it to Betanzos. The hotel was nice, we had Japanese for dinner and used the laundromat. My feet were pretty swollen and my blisters worse than I’ve ever had in my life! We’ll see how tomorrow goes!

22Apr2023

Cockermouth

by Miss Penny Black

Despite the bus breakdown, the ride to Cockermouth was stunning, with mountain, lake and forest views along the way.

I did find a big mural with the history of the place. The town has been around for over 1000 years, which is pretty incredible!

Cockermouth is an ancient town, the first written record of it is almost 1000 years ago so it’s probably been around even longer. Apart from the castle it doesn’t look very old though and unfortunately the castle is a private home.

I walked around the Main Street and saw a new history mural.

There was an historical walking route so I decided to follow that around the town.

I noticed one of those historical plaques above a doorway.

If you notice this notice you’ll notice this notice is not worth noticing.

Somehow I crossed the wrong bridge and ended up on the other side of the river.

Cockermouth is most famous (to me, anyway) for being the home of William Wordsworth. I thought it was peak daffodil season because there were white daffodils everywhere, which felt like an odd choice, considering the famous poem is about a host of yellow daffodils. A lady I met on my detour told me that I’d missed the yellow ones by a couple of weeks.

We talked about how many times her house has flooded since she moved here from the south (twice) as she lives by the river. We also talked about how small towns like this are being affected by things like Airbnb, online shopping and younger people moving away. It’s the same story everywhere, really. The towns that are thriving are too expensive for locals and the smaller quiet places feel dead because the houses are empty except on weekends.

We also talked about the largest building on the river, the brewery, which was now for sale. The locals want a museum but it all depends on who buys it.

I returned to the trail, which took me through the main courtyard of the brewery.

A man saw me taking photos and jokingly asked if I’d like to buy it and I said I was just seeing how much I had on me. He said if I had three quarters of a million pounds it could be mine! Well, I said I’d have to ask my husband but why not?

Next was around the castle wall to have a peek through the bars, then down some back lanes. I quite like the name of this pub.

Next was the churchyard.

It’s always worth pushing on a church door, just in case you can get in and have a look. The stained glass looked like it might be worth a view from the correct side.

Very nice! But I think my favourite part was where it looked like they had the local primary school kids do a project on the church then put the beet one on display.

The buildings in Cockermouth are quite brightly coloured, which is interesting (well, to me!).

It was a nice day for a wander about. The little blister on my toe is getting better but I’d like it to be gone by the time I get to Spain so I’m having a couple of easy days. Plus it’s supposed to rain tomorrow.

The last thing I did before I caught the bus back was have a chocolate eclair from a very nice bakery. I sat in the sun at the bus stop with an older lady and got chatting about chocolate eclairs and the weather and the buses and she said ‘You look very familiar,’ and I replied that there was no chance of her seeing me before as I’d never been to Cockermouth. Then we worked out that she had been on the bus that had picked me up from the broken down bus earlier that day.

When the bus arrived I once again got the front seat at the top (woo hoo!) and, since it was a different numbered bus it went back along the other side of the lake and I got to see the train cafe where Luke and his family and I have booked for an afternoon tea when we come back to the area in late May.

Before returning to the campsite I went back to Mrs F’s Cafe for some lunch. Pea and mint soup.

I asked what soup would be on tomorrow – curries butternut squash. I can’t wait!

Back to the campsite to enjoy the sun. The wind that had been predicted wasn’t affecting my little spot but, with two days of rain predicted, I decided to pack up and book a bed and breakfast.

Enjoying the view for the last time (this trip).

These people take their dogs EVERYWHERE!

As I was rolling up my gear another camper arrived, Chris, who was doing the Cumbria Way so we had quite a long talk. I had some time to fill before the 4pm check in at the B&B and it was nice standing in the sun.

The bed and breakfast was only about 600 metres from the entrance to the campsite – Keswick isn’t very big, but I haven’t stayed in this area before, close to the lake park near the theatre (for anyone who knows the place). Also about 100 steps from The Wainwright, one of the best pubs in town.

I had a lovely dinner of steak and ale pie and read my book. A lady at another table asked me what I was reading so we talked about that.

She was there with her mum and the two of them looked like they were having a whale of a time, like a two person hen’s party, laughing at everything.

I returned to hop into bed reasonably early and it’s amazing how even just one night of camping can make getting into a real bed seem like one of life’s great pleasures!