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!

9Jun2023

Zürich to St Moritz

by Miss Penny Black

Before breakfast we did a quick run to the supermarket for lunch and snack supplies. I don’t know what food on Swiss trains is like, but if it’s any more expensive than supermarket food we don’t need it.

We packed our bags and headed to the station early, keen to try to get seats on the best side of each train.

Our journey from Zurich to St Moritz is in two parts and for the first half Luke had read that it was best to sit on the left, for the second half on the right.

We managed excellent seats for the first half, having four to ourselves. The first section of the trip was along the side of Lake Zug. It reminded me a lot of the train to Interlaken. Bike paths, parks, people on stand up paddle boards and sailing on the lake. It all looked very idyllic but the lady in the hostel told me the water was around 14 degrees at the moment.

Then the train headed into farmland and alongside a milky aqua lake surround by high peaks.

We changed trains at Chur and got to sit on the right side but facing backwards. Fortunately the girl who was sitting across from us got off only a few stops along and we could move across.

There is a more expensive and luxurious train but why bother when the normal trains are spotless and have huge windows?

This is the third ever UNESCO protected train route and the rails were laid over 100 years ago.

If you’re reading this because you’re planning on going to St Moritz by train, work out where your hotel is. The walk from the station to some of the hotels is up a steep hill. There is a bus that meets the train at the second last stop and then goes much further up the hill. We would’ve saved ourselves quite a slog.

The tour company had booked us into the Hotel Arte. The staff at reception were lovely and our package for our seven night bike tour includes baggage transport and breakfast every day. The first two nights are in St Moritz, which is just as well as we’ve both only ridden electric bikes once and that was five years ago.

Our room has an Egyptian theme, including a 3D (ish) frieze of the pyramids, which had an LED strip to light it up so… that’s a thing. I’d love to see some of the other rooms!

We checked in and then decided, after looking at the menu of the downstairs hotel, that we could afford their very cheapest item, a margarita pizza. So we booked a table then went out for a walk.

On the way up from the station we passed a strip of boutiques – Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes etc. Every store in our part of town is the very height of luxury and the people walking around the extremely clean and perfectly landscaped streets are dressed in clothing that probably costs more than our entire holiday.

Behind the shopping area is a hill with some beautiful houses. Here’s one that’s brand new.

There’s a real mix of modern and traditional but they all use wood, stone or are decorated like Wes Anderson hotels.

The tower below leans more than the one in Pisa, although it is shorter so it’s harder to tell.

Is it possible for a place to be too clean? It kind of feels like a Disney set of Switzerland.

I can’t tell if we’re out of season or if there’s always no one about in summer. There is a lot of construction and renovation work being done, which makes sense I guess. Can’t do it in Winter!

After a mooch around we went back to the room and got changed for dinner. The restaurant is in the same building. The interior was all wood and they do pizza and also Swiss food like fondue and schnitzel. We had one drink each (the wine was $18 for 100 mls! The beer was 300ml and $14) neither was of particularly exceptional quality. The pizza, which we shared ($30) was mediocre and nowhere near as good as the ones we bought at the supermarket in England and cooked in the oven at our apartment. Even the bain-marie pizza from the coop the other day was much better quality.

The restaurant was also boiling hot and we both felt we would be happier eating picnics in our rooms from now on. I did Google why food is so expensive here and it seems to boil down to ‘because they can’. The supermarket food is cheaper now because Aldi and Lidl (German chains) were allowed in. Thank goodness!

It did occur to me that the exceptionally pristine environment of Switzerland, both in the cities and in the countryside, is at least partially to thank for these high prices. We can barely afford to be here and we make reasonable money – Switzerland will never be accessible to most holidaymakers. I have mixed feelings about this but I’ll enjoy it while I’m here and, to be honest, this will probably be our last visit.

Luke being disgusted by the prices and the quality of the pizza. The staff were lovely and friendly though, and didn’t charge us the $10 the menu threatened for sharing a dish and needing two side plates.

After dinner we continued watching Ghosts and then slept very well, overlooked by pharaohs and in our very cosy beds!

26May2023

Windermere: Cragwood Estate

by Miss Penny Black

From Buttermere we needed to get to Cambridge, which is pretty much at the opposite end of the country.

This would mean a bus, a bus, three trains and possibly a bus, so we decided to split the journey over two days.

This option became even more enticing when we found a relatively reasonable room rate for Cragwood, a hotel that is part of the same group as Merewood, where Mum and I first stayed on our last big trip. It was one of the loveliest hotels I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting, so finding out we could stay in the affiliated hotel, which is just over the road, was a no-brainer.

But first we had to catch the bus to Keswick.

A visit to the laundromat was in order. After four days without a washing machine we were in no state to swan about a fancy house pretending we belonged there.

Seven pounds just for a single load! Ouch. Still, it did mean visiting my favourite clematis, which grows right outside.

The washing and drying took about an hour so we had time afterwards for a quick visit to Mrs F’s cafe for a last bowl of soup.

Luke was treated to the full Mrs F’s experience, with the lady who owns the place talking non stop to us and an American couple from the moment we entered until the moment we left.

She even remembered me from my visits a month ago, which was lovely.

The cafe is decorated in the style of her nan’s house.

Now that we were relatively clean and presentable it was back to the bus interchange. We found a park bench as we’d missed the last bus by only a couple of minutes. Fortunately we made a new friend to keep us entertained. A boxador!

There’s friendly and then there’s ‘I’ll lie on your feet before we’ve even exchanged names’.

Then we made another friend on the bus.

The bank holiday traffic flowing the other way was a slow and steady stream – we were making our escape at the right time!

The bus stop was right outside Cragwood, which was handy. Not too far to carry my bag, which has grown heavier and heavier with new clothes, gifts, and even a chopping board that was given to me by the lady at the Booths cheese counter.

First stop was our room, which had a window seat that was bigger than my bed in our previous accommodation.

I think our bed was bigger than the room we slept in at the cottage. After a bath and getting into our newly-washed clothes, we headed out to look around.

The old part of the building had beautiful wood panelling.

The grounds were lovely, with a perfect striped lawn looking out over Windermere.

The gardens were full of rhododendrons in flower.

We got a drink from the bar and went to sit in the shade.

We had booked dinner at 7pm but when we walked in there were two women with two small children, both of whom were playing with phones that had the volume up. I don’t judge or care if people give children devices in restaurants to keep them settled, but having one, let alone two, with the volume up is so irritating that I asked if we could come back at 8pm. Fortunately they weren’t busy and didn’t mind.

We were glad we asked to change because we ended up enjoying a peaceful and delicious meal and talking to one of the waiters. He was from Valencia and had moved to the Lake District many years ago.

I had mackerel then chicken, Luke had pigeon then pork. We both had desserts and the only problem I had was the same one we’d had throughout the Lake District – not enough icecream with the sticky toffee pudding.

After dinner our waiter gave us a little sample of Kendal mint liquor, which tasted just like after dinner mints but in liquid form. Very nice but a lurid colour.

We took our last glass of wine out to the terrace.

Tomorrow is a long day of travel but I’m looking forward to seeing Andrew, his new house and his corgi, Winston!

26May2023

Buttermere: Last Day!

by Miss Penny Black

Before I do anything else, here’s some pictures of the inside and outside of our little cottage.

Please note all doors and windows are 2/3 normal size.

The tiny windows and low ceilings definitely add to the doll house feel.

A bedroom that is barely big enough for one bed, let alone two. The beds are so small our feet hang off the ends!

Mark and Sue went off to climb Rannerdale Knotts, the home of one of England’s largest bluebell fields. Unfortunately the bluebells are mostly done here so the rest of us opted to dither around the cottage until 11:30 then walk to Buttermere for lunch.

We somehow managed to take the wrong track once again (a different wrong track this time) and had to jump the stream. It’s a track that’s about 500 metres long and we somehow are yet to find the right path.

Back to the same cafe as the previous day for a different type of pie and a different flavour of fancy lemonade.

Across the road from the Buttermere pubs is a walk that goes alongside a deep beck. We headed up and along, enjoying the shade on such a warm and bright day.

It’s (yet again) hard to capture but the side was steep and dropped away sharply. The path was fairly flat but narrow and I started to feel a bit of vertigo. It was annoying that, on such a straightforward path, I felt suddenly very anxious and had a moment of panic. Sometimes I wonder if I’d been more outdoorsy and comfortable with this sort of thing if I’d kept up the walking we’d done with Mum on our childhood holidays. We used to go to the Blue Mountains and climb down ladders on cliff faces ands scramble around. Still, I do what I’m comfortable with doing and that will have to be enough.

At the end of the path we went through a gate and onto the open hillside, just in time to see a jet zoom past.

A fairly awful photo of one of the fighter jets. I cropped a tiny section of a much larger photo so sorry for the quality but I’m amazed I got it at all.

Sometimes you don’t have to climb too high for amazing vistas.

Poignant feelings given it’s such a stunning day but also our last proper day here.

Eventually we walked the short distance down to the road and took yet another path back through the wood and field to our cottage.

We spied two little black lambs drinking from the beck.

We have really enjoyed being here in lambing season. From our sunny spot by the kitchen window we watching little groups of lambs climbing on logs, chasing each other and annoying their mothers.

Almost definitely the last photo of a person on a bridge.

A shaded wood with the last patch of bluebells.

Back to have a drink in the sun and relax before dinner.

Sue and I decided that if we ran a bed and breakfast she would do the greeting, the laundry and the continental breakfast, I’d do the shopping, cooking and gardening. That seemed to cover pretty much everything so we’re good to go!

Dinner was at one of the Buttermere pubs. I didn’t take any photos of food but here’s the actual, very last photo of our group and a bridge.

I talked them all into standing by the sign and then informed them that they’d been unwittingly lured into a final bridge photo.

Lea managed to finally post the card she had forgotten to take to the postbox for the last week.

A last look at the lambs on the way home…

In the morning there was nothing to do but pack up. Sue, Mark, Lea and Pete left just after 9:30.

Luke and I weren’t going anywhere near as far, so we hung around until almost 11 packing our things and using the wifi. We had a chat to one of the caretakers and she said the scratching Pete and Lea heard in the roof above their bedroom was a protected colony of bats! We’d seen them fly out the previous evening but they were so small and dark we thought they were birds.

We’ve all loved our time in the Lake District and felt very fortunate to have had such stunning weather. Blue skies every day (well, for at least part of every day) and only a spot of rain overnight.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing my favourite place with Lea and Pete and, apart from a few hairy moments, the walks have been pretty right for our ability levels. The food has been great and our accommodation, while quirky, has been perfectly located. Luke and I are looking forward to a better bed tonight though!

24May2023

Keswick to Buttermere

by Miss Penny Black

We had to check out of our lovely Keswick accommodation at 10am so there was time for a couple of hours of wandering around Keswick before moving to Buttermere, a lake in a valley to the west of Keswick.

Luke kindly let me drag him around a number of shops in which I bought nothing but we did pick up some fudge, a bottle of Kin toffee vodka and a Lake District book for Sue.

Chicken, chorizo and bacon pastie for breakfast.

A last visit to the cheese counter at Booths for supplies.

The next and last stop is Buttermere. Our house is relatively remote so we need to take everything.

Mark and Sue brought their car so they are taking the bags while the rest of us take the bus. We were hoping for a double decker but ended up with the back seat on a single storey bus.