Day 10: Andermatt – Basel

Well, last nights plan didn't exactly happen... with WiFi being intermittent at best in my hotel room, I moved to the hotel bar with the laptop to sort out emails and the admin that’s been piling up. I’d just finished sending out a few tweets for the trip when I heard two English voices at the bar ordering a whisky and a coke! The first British nationals I’ve come across since arrive in Europe - Hurrah! What followed was a couple of fantastic hours of conversation between myself and the couple as we discussed reasons for being here - they’re spending a week or so doing a circuit of Switzerland, starting from and ending in Zurich. It seems that they’re tackling the Klausenpass today, so I hope I’ve not made Pauls wife too nervous about the trip after talking about my own experiences yesterday!

It was really nice meeting such a lovely couple who regaled me with stories of their honeymoon several decades ago - from being held up at gunpoint on holiday as they travelled south of Morocco and experiencing a bomb scare on the flight back with a forced stop-over in Paris, to hearing how one of their sons was also enrolled on the JET program (teaching English in Japan) for a couple of years. The hours passed far too quickly, and I am extremely grateful to them for the beer which they bought for me as we finished the first round of drinks – alas, they retired to bed before I could return the favour.

I decided to make the most of the rest of the evening after having such a great time with them and head out into Andermatt to grab a late night snack, maybe another *final* beer and see what was happening in this (supposedly) sleepy resort town now the sun had gone down.

The snack didn’t happen as I worked my way along the high street that appears to be the entirety of Andermatt. I noticed that one of the bars had the word “pub” above the door and that sold me immediately. Walking into the smoky bar and ordering a beer, I sat alongside several Andermatt locals as I took my first couple of sips from a beer which had cost me more than €6!

It wasn’t long before I joined a group of eight or so local people, either working on construction projects in and around Andermatt, or for several of the hotels which make up around 40% of the town. Much gratitude to both Paolo and Danijela, along with the rest of the group for making me feel so welcome. It was very strange finding out that these people hail from such far-away places as Bosnia, Germany, Spain and Portugal, yet had been living and working in this tiny town for several years! My beer finished, I ordered another small one as the company and conversation was great to be a part of and I hadn’t had a night out properly since Fohnsdorf. I headed back to the hotel at midnight - content and a little bit wobbly, but I made sure that I didn’t overdo it, despite being in the mood for at least a couple more. I’m not sure my body (nor my wallet) would have appreciated that in the morning!

As it happens I awoke fairly early and met the British couple from last night in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. A quick chat about routes for the day and some coffee / muesli and I was set. I grabbed my gear, checked out and started packing up the bike.

Outside I met a young German couple, Philip and Corinna, who had been travelling down on a bike from Lake Constance (much like David and Daffid yesterday). After a quick chat about bikes, and Philip looking fairly impressed with Betty, I discovered that they’d be taking the same route for a while before heading off to finish their journey up to Zurich. We made plans to ride together and off we set.

I’ve been looking forward to today most of all since the start of the trip. Not one, but three passes lay before me today, with about 100 miles of motorway to finish off the journey. It wasn’t going to be a particularly long day of riding compared to some of the journeys I’d had thus far, but with the Furkapass, Grindlepass and Brunigpass to cover, it was pretty much guaranteed to be incredible.

The weather was with us too, with no rain to speak of, but some low lying cloud and fog as we made our way up the first of the passes through the mountains. Visibility was really poor in places and fantastic in others. Despite being less dangerous than the Klausenpass yesterday, it was still pretty damn crazy. We had an absolute blast navigating our way through and the views were utterly breathtaking. I keep saying that the last days riding was better than the one before, but it just keeps happening! The Furkapass up through (and above) the clouds and back down to the tiny town of Gletch at the bottom brought a huge smile to my face, but I was totally unprepared for the Grindlepass – heading back up another mountain to be greeted by huge reserviours and lakes that seemed to go on forever, the huge mountains dominating the landscape as we insignificant folk navigated the twist and turns which would take us through the pass.

The sun was out and it was warming up as we headed through the mountains, the bends and scenery broken up by long tunnels through the rock, constantly throwing up another unexpected wonder as we emerged bank into the daylight from the darkness, the noise of the engines echoing through the landscape.

After a few unforgettable hours it was all over. I’d said goodbye to Philip and Corina at the end of the Grindlepass as I made my way through the Brunigpass and onto the A8 which took me first to Luzern, and then through to Basel. As such, the day was pretty well mapped out and there were no problems with the directions. I made it into Basel at around 2.30pm with the usual plan to find a cheap hotel (everything in Switzerland is so, so expensive) at the forefront of my mind.

Today has very much been one of two halves – not just in terms of the landscape and the ride, but in terms of my feelings regarding the trip as a whole. From excitement and awe to the more sobering thoughts of the mundane. As I was travelling down the motorway, with the mountains disappearing in my mirrors and the view ahead replaced with mere hills and greenery (despite being very pretty indeed), I got the sudden feeling that the adventure was pretty much over and that from here on in I was actually on the home stretch back to England. Despite still having France, Luxembourg and Belgium still to visit, I’m heading back north from this point forward and will soon be back at the port in Amsterdam. Whilst I really enjoy my job and my work, I’m struggling to see how life can be the same after this trip and I became a little bit down at the thought of the Yoo-Rup Cruise coming to an end, whilst at the same time knowing that what I’ve done will stay with me forever.

So, no more adventures for Dan. Just a plain old run up to Nancy in France tomorrow – a short three hour ride according to Google, and several similarly short trips for the rest of my destinations. Or so I thought. From this point on, I shall be extremely careful what I wish for...

Arriving into Basel, I’d barely had time to get off the motorway and find my way into some semblance of the proper city from the outskirts when Betty started to feel a bit weird. I’d been thinking this morning that I’ll definitely need to drop Steve and the guys at trackside a message to order me a new front tyre and some brake pads (Italy pretty much destroyed those!). As I pulled away from a set of traffic lights, the bike started to head to the right, slipping and sliding underneath me. I pulled the clutch in and rode the bike up and over, onto the pavement on the corner of Schultzengraben and Schultzenmatt strasse. Looking at my rear tyre my heart sank. Flat.

Betty had covered over 2,000 miles since we set off on this adventure together, and this was the first problem we’d had (well, apart from Philip mentioning that my rear brake light wasn’t working after we’d navigated the Furkapass – as I’d not be doing any night-time driving and my destinations are fairly short from this point on I figured it’d be kind of ok to leave it until I got back to the UK). I rang  the RAC (which from Switzerland is at least £1.00 per minute), using my International breakdown cover for the first time.

It was two hours later that a truck pulled up to collect Betty – by which time Roland, a local bus driver and fellow biker who had seen me sat waiting in the sunshine for the recovery truck several times as he completed his routes came to see me on his break. An unbelievable gesture from another stranger, and yet another biker who has gone above and beyond to help me out. He gave me the number of his mechanic, and waited with me, chatting about his own bike trips to the UK and the adventures he’d had parking in London and staying with friends in Scotland.

All the while this was going on I was trying to remain upbeat. I looked at the bike and the tyre, and thought of the travelling which had been done up until this point. Well, I guess it’s only flat at the bottom, so it’s not the end of the world...

Mark and his colleague from the breakdown service finally turned up and we loaded the VTX onto the smallest trailer imaginable, with the front tyre rolling almost over the edge in an effort to get the back wheel on and secured. My heart was in my mouth the whole trip to the garage, and I felt every single bump and subsequent clatter as the truck and trailer navigated the streets of Basel, with Mark laughing and me semi-laughing about her falling off or indeed doing a barrel roll...

We dropped the bike of at Blum Moto, the garage recommended by Roland where I managed to decipher that they were going to check and see if it’s a problem with the tyre itself, or the inner tube. Labour is going to cost me between 50 and 80 Swiss Francs (with pretty much a 1:1 ratio to the €). Assuming it’s the inner tube, that’ll be another 60. If it’s the tyre, I was informed that the cheapest they’d be able to order one for would be a whopping 250 Francs! At this point I don’t have much choice other than to wait and see  what happens – if it’s the inner tube it’ll be sorted by 9am tomorrow morning, if it’s the tyre then I should be on my way by 2pm. They’re going to call me tomorrow when it’s ready.

To be on the safe side I had them ring my phone there and then to confirm the +44 number would connect ok or if there would be any problems. It worked fine, so they’ll be able to get in touch when Betty is *hopefully* all better. I’ve got their address and a number for a local taxi company too, so I’ll be able to get back to the garage no problem tomorrow. I’m not particularly looking forward to having to spend the whole morning and some of the afternoon carting my luggage through the streets of Basel once I check out from the hotel in the morning though!

Speaking of hotels, I realised I didn’t have one yet... Mark offered to give me a lift and asked where I wanted to go. At the prospect of a £300+ bill for the repairs, I suggested a barn or bus shelter (half) jokingly, and then asked to be taken to somewhere cheap, a real budget hotel. I’m currently in the ibis, which in the real world is a pretty affordable chain of places to stay. In Switzerland however, it’s a cracking 135 Francs. Sighing and knowing I wasn’t going to find anywhere cheaper in a major city in Switzerland I gave up and agreed. Breakfast isn’t included either, nor is WiFi or any other amenities. What a day...

So here I am, without a bike and faced with the prospect of close to £500 to pay for a single night in Basel. I’m really hoping that Betty will be ready tomorrow so I can get the hell out of here. Switzerland has been a lovely place to look at and ride through, but I’m not sure I’d ever want to do it again – especially when Austria is just as beautiful (personally I think more so) and at a fraction of the cost. I’m contemplating going out for dinner as I’ve not eaten since breakfast and it’s now almost 7pm, but I’m not sure that I’d be willing to pay the asking price for a meal here – coming in at around £10 just for a small starter, I’m tempted to open the bottle of “Emergency Vodka” (which has remained untouched) I brought with me from the UK. I’ll probably go for a wander and see if I can find a supermarket that’s still open and get a few bits from there. Surely that’d be cheaper...

From an incredible ride throughout the morning, to the horrendous events of this afternoon and this evening. I wanted an adventure? I’ve sure got one!