Brig to Sierre, or is it Sion?

I forget...

Raining again when we wake up, but in the forecast we trust. So we get packed and ready to go, and there is a hint of blue up there. Chilly, and a brisk wind means pants and jacket and away we go. Oops, flat tire - just a bent pin. A quick fix, and check that the pedal is tight and all is good. Brig is quiet in the morning.

...and quickly the pavement turns into a good trail beside the Rhone - if it's a bit of a industrial motif.

That rotten river! In German-speaking portions of Switzerland, the Rhone is called the Rotten.

Nobody is complaining though, as its flat and paved. Soon, it gets even better with a tree-lined pathway on firm gravel. Super trail!

About this time we enter a town with every house made of old stone foundations and wooden structures - like we have gone back to the middle ages. Every. single. house.

Marjory spots a possible restaurant, but there is only two older people sipping their (morning) wine in front. I nix it and promise better to come. The town stretches into a larger center called Niedergestein, and our attention is drawn to a hill beside us with an enormous old church structure. Then we notice the "Unesco World Heritage Site" sign. With houses built right up to it.

I'm thinking at least 900 yr old due to the irregular bricks?

Let's go check it out! We bike up hill towards it past some ancient hay storage barns.

Why keep hay in a barn when these 900 yr old buildings are available?

We finally get close to that Unesco site, and see the stairs (as in STAIRS) leading up to the bottom of it. We look at each other. Without a word, we turn both bikes around. Lets find a restaurant instead!

After a lunch stop, we pass that invisible line in Switzerland where they stop speaking German and speak French instead. I can tell by a sign by a busy truck place which says "camion sortie". Yay! Apres maintenant, je peux parler francais! And also, just by coincidence, we start seeing this....

Almost all white, only occasionally rows of red.

And soon enough, the hills are alive with the sound of ....wine grapes!

Vineyards now dominate the banks of the Rhone.

We do have to travel along a highway for a short time, and I thought it might be interesting to note the petrol price. Note this is in Swiss Francs....

By this point, like any good male, I am mindlessly following the Komoot app, which is telling me turn by turn directions to our hotel, which tonight is an Ibis. Amazing the roads and turns it takes us on, to make such a great tour. Here is an example - how would you ever know where to go on a fork like this?

About 2km from our hotel in Sierre. Or Sion?

And then back on to pavement with about 1km to go.

It might have been about this time when Marjory says, "now THIS is what I signed up for!". Paved path, beautiful orchards, mountains, sunshine. Damn.

So we pull up to the hotel and I go inside to check in. She can't find my reservation so I show her my email from Booking.com. "Oh", she says, "that's in Sierre. This is Sion. You have to cycle back about 15 km". Ouch. I tell her that Marjory will kill me. She says just a minute, makes a phonecall to the Ibis in Sierre, and the problem quietly goes away. We check in. Don't tell Marjory! But that receptionist deserves a tip!

Major headwinds all day made for a slow pace. Marjory corrects me - "say it was gale force wind!"

Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 154 km (96 miles)

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Polly LowI'm not admitting to anything, but it is possible that I might have done that Sion/Sierre thing myself. Very inconsiderate of the Swiss to put two such similarly-named places so close to each other, imo!
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7 months ago

Patrick ParnoLOL! Too late for me not to admit it, but there you go. It did turn out really well though, as it meant the next day's ride to Montreux was shorter and we got to spend more time in that wonderful place.
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7 months ago