Day 16 Leysin to Innertkirchen

It's raining tonight. Set in about 6 but luckily I was in the hotel by then.












The route and sequence of passes planned went smoothly today. Up the Col Des Mosses, more nice riding;





































missed the Juanpass on the way to Saanen, but saw where its end joined the road I was on, so went back up it a few km; just another well-surfaced narrow road winding up the side of a mountain with magnificent views. Ho-hum.













These alternating traffic lights are in almost every village at present, while they work on the road surface or the drains; I guess they have little work time between the winter tourists and the summer ones.














Major road towards Thun (at the western end of the 2 lakes beside Interlaken), lovely surface, good open corners, but increasing traffic, then eventually motorway for the last 20 km or so. Paid to park near the centre of Thun-Nord, next to the old city wall,



















then found about five free locations for bikes in the first ten minutes on foot.









Took about half an hour to visit a supermarket and find their equivalent to JB HiFi, getting a couple of 8 GB Sandisk cards for $18 each, about the same as Oz. Then around the north side of the 2 lakes,









brief get-off in Interlaken for old times sake,


























(it's much bigger than I remember from 1998) then on



















to the overnight in Innertkirchen.









Here's a map to help organise you; Interlaken at far right, Innertkirchen is on the line above Meiringen at the left, in the valley where 2 valleys meet.












Dropped the gear, went for a walk, then couldn't resist and took a quick ride up towards the Susten Pass.












Innertkirchen is one node on a network of passes; Susten, Grimsel, Furka make one loop, and you can add in the St Gotthard, Oberalp and Nufenen, to make a hard day of it. Partway up Susten I was getting spotted with raindrops, so turned back, not wanting to repeat the experience of Day 11. Today I was even less prepared, wearing runners even.

Three riders were carrying their gear into the hotel as I set off for Susten, and when I returned they were sitting on the verandah enjoying an ale, with coasters on their glasses to keep the flies out of the beer (Switzerland's cows are quite noticeable, by their bells and aroma, and the flies). Anyway I rocked up to the group and says "G'day mates; where are we from?". Well, it was if I'd spat at them. "We are from Deutschland" and because of the plate on my bike, they expected me to be also. Not friendly.

Now at 8 PM the sun is out again, Switzerland is back to beautiful

Location:Innertkirchen, Switzerland