The Alps

My first day in the Alps started in Rosenheim, in southern Germany, by the banks of the river Inn. A bike path follows the river for over 300 kilometers to its headwaters near Maloja, Switzerland. The next day, after two excellent climbs in Austria, I found myself looking down into Italy from the Timmelsjoch road.

I love descents from the Alps into Italy's Po Valley: as you leave the cold, rarefied world of the mountains, the valley air warms your skin and rich odors fill your nostrils.

My cousin Tommaso was my traveling companion from Padova to Domodossola, via several passes in the Swiss Alps. His mood would tend to vary depending on whether he was at the top or the bottom of a climb. :-)

Bernina was the only pass this year that I crossed at sunset and with good weather. In fact, we slept up there, in the "Ospizio" next to the train station, so the next morning I caught some of the sunrise.

On our way to visit Heidi..

Some of the roads in the Alps are magnificent: here are a few examples, photographed on those rare occasions when I was disciplined enough to stop a descent and pull out my camera.

Nothing better than a little climbing on a sunny day.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle decided that Sherlock Holmes would meet his death in the rushing waters of a torrent above Meiringen, in Switzerland. Today Meiringen is a strange and kitchy little tourist town, where half the place names make improbable references to the mythical detective's haunts in England.

As my friend Eddie would say, scenery in the Berner Oberland "has many fabulons."

One of the shortest ways to get from the Berner Oberland into the canton of Valais is via the Col du Sanetsch (2251m, 7428 ft). The north side is approximately a 1000m climb. It seemed doable enough at first, but soon the "road" became a steep hiking trail with an average grade of over 30%, and I ended up pushing and lifting my loaded bike over big rocks and across a couple of small torrents. But what a view! From the top, there is an exhilarating 1800m (5900 ft) drop along a tortuous asphalt road to the Rhône valley below.

From Brig, in the upper Rhône valley, the climb up to Simplonpass is not too difficult. Tommaso and I were in Domodossola before lunch.

Go on to the slide show from Italy.