This was going to be the biggest day of the tour. We were staying in Madulain as it’s a km and a bit from the east kick off to Albula pass, a classic and very historic pass that tops out at 2312 m. The west side of the pass drops over 1600 m into Thusis where we were then going to turn south and climb a further 800 m up the Hinterrhein valley (gorge in some places) to (almost) Splugen.
Although it was raining most of last evening, the forecasts we saw when we went to bed gave us some hope for better conditions in the morning.
Dream on.
It wasn’t raining when we got up, or when we had our great breakfast nor at 9:47 when we took our ‘departure shot’ in front of the hotel.
However, by 9:52 when we reached the first bike path underpass, which was closed because the Inn river was flooding it, it was raining pretty good.
On with the full Gortex.
A few minutes later we reached the turnoff for Albula pass. It’s still raining steadily and the cloud ceiling is about where we are, at ~1690 m.
Decision time … do we chance it and start climbing… into the fog and rain? Or, do we ride another 7 km’s down the road to Samedan and catch the historic Albula pass train that runs through a 6 km tunnel underneath Albula pass and then down the Albula valley and river to Thusis and eventually Chur.
Well, we’re adventurous, but we’re also old enough now to know how much ‘maybe type 2 fun’ we don’t want to have.
Samedan and the train it was. The pic’s that follow will show that it was the right decision. It was a really fun and interesting trip … by train. Once we emerged from the Albula tunnel on the west side of the pass, the weather was even worse. It was constant rain and low lying cloud all the way to Thusis. The train infrastructure was fascinating (it’s recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site) and the scenery, when we could see some, was beautiful …. In an eerie foggy / rainy way.
One more thing about the train … it was absolutely zero stress. Very easy to buy the tickets for us and the bikes and the train was waiting at the platform (with elevators and ramps to access it ) for at least 10 minutes for us to board. It was a roll-on train car where we could leave all of our bags on the bikes … and we were the only people in the very comfortable bike car for the entire 1h 45 min ride.
Once in Thusis we then had another decision to make. Do we load up the bikes and then ride the last 22 km’s and ~800 m of elevation gain to Sufer where our booked hotel was … or do we jump on one of the Post buses and try out the bike racks that all the busses here are equipped with?
The weather was Ok in Thusis but it was currently raining at Splugen / Sufer, and frankly our enthusiasm for another big climb today was long gone. So the bus it was.
Have to give it to Switzerland. They make it pretty easy to move from place to place, with your bike, on public transport. It took about 30 minutes to make it to Splugen on the bus, and then we had to ride back about 3 km’s to our hotel at Sufer (can’t make these names up for what this day could have been!). The ride up would have been spectacular, but pretty hard and very wet. Yeah, it starting raining just outside Thusis and it was a steady drizzle in Splugen when we got off the bus.
Anyway, we’re here now and hopefully set up well for tomorrow … one of our (well really me) ‘focal point’ days for this tour. Watch this space.
We had a great night at Chesa Stuva Colani. Leaving at 9:57 …. We were a bit slow off the mark.
Very nice breakfast spread. We were the first folks down for breakfast (I think, there's only a handful of people in the hotel right now - early season and mid-week)
In addition to the standard buffet items (all made in house and very good) you could order omelettes, various styles of eggs, crepes … or the Aussi classic … Avo toast with scrambled eggs!
We used the underpass roof for shelter while we donned our rain pants, and had a discussion about our options … our ‘fail-safe’ decision point was coming right up.
On our way to Samedan and the train. Pretty easy decision, when we reached the Albula pass turnoff the rain and fog made any thought of climbing 600 m further up into it a non starter. There was no bike path on the pass either - just a narrow road. Probably not much traffic … but not great to be in fog on a bike in that situation
Tickets purchased and out of the rain. There was an elevator that easily fit our bikes and then nicely graded ramps up to the platforms. Very bike friendly.
The roll-on roll-off train car. There were seat belt like straps to hold the bikes up. Loads of time to get on board and we were the only people in the bike train car for the duration of the trip.
Kirsten KaarsooTo Mike HadenThey certainly do. There was enough room for 5 bikes in the area where our bikes were and another 10 bikes hooks just behind where our bikes are. There was also an area for bags if you had to remove them. Definitely impressive Reply to this comment 1 week ago
Exiting the ~6 km long Albula tunnel on the west side of the pass. The elevation here is about 1800 m, and the weather looks worse than the east side where we boarded the train.
Beautiful Engadine valley with the Hinterrhein river flowing down towards Chur (where it will meet up with the Rhein flowing down from Oberalp pass - a source-to-sea trip we did in 2013) Is that another blue sucker hole on the northern horizon?
It was actually pretty nice in Thusis (elevation 700 m), but still looking pretty dark higher up to the south where we were headed. We didn’t buy into today’s sucker hole
We had a short 5 km ride back to Sufer and the Seeblick hotel, from where the bus dropped us off in Splugen. Here’s the upper reaches of the Hinterrhein …. Pretty raging with spring runoff …. And the rain!
Yes, we did surrender, pissing rain… so we took the train.
I've crossed the last line From where I can't return Where every step I took in faith betrayed me And led me from my home And sweet surrender Is all that I have to give
Good night from Seeblick .. earned these today for sound decision making , not cycling effort.
Lyle McLeodTo Jacquie GaudetHaving those options was a life saver! Mostly blue sky right now and we’re heading over Splugen pass …. And then down down down towards lake Como. We’ll be retracing some of your rides (in reverse) over the next few days hope you guys continue have good conditions Reply to this comment 1 week ago
Scott AndersonHey, we biked up Albula Pass twenty-some years ago, on our ride from Innsbruck to Geneva. I've still got the photos and half a journal from that tour. This is just the prompt I've been waiting for to finally put that journal together.
And smart choice! I wouldn't want to bike that pass in the rain either. Reply to this comment 1 week ago
