CYCLING ACROSS EUROPE- EPISODE 27: SWITZERLAND (PART 1)

Welcome to our 10th country of Switzerland!
In this episode, we finally cross into the land of towering Alps, crystal-clear lakes, and brutal climbs and it’s everything we’ve been waiting for.

From dreamy drone shots over the mountains and finally getting our wish of no more flat cycling. We get a flat tire, stack it, and get a surprise late-night visit at our wild camp spot from a very chatty local who doesn’t speak a word of English. PLUS, we ride into Liechtenstein, our 11th country of the trip! A tiny nation with big scenery.

We are sorry about the delay on this one, in real time we moved states in AUS, we are now settled in and excited to get the Switzerland series out!

Let us know what you think, and of course, like and subscribe to follow us to the West Coast of Ireland.

Total distance cycled so far: 4732km
Countries visited: 10

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We’re Lauren and Scott and we are cycling 10,000 km across Europe. Starting in Greece, the plan is to cycle to the west coast of Ireland. Passing through 15 countries, we cycle through some of the most magical landscapes Europe has to offer. So join us on our first ever bike tour as we learn to navigate the European cycling networks, encounter all weather conditions, and overindulge in our favorite baked goods. Mine’s so crunchy. Welcome to Switzerland, a country of epic mountains. postcard perfect views and climbs that will test our legs and our spirit. In this episode, we finally leave flat Germany behind and head into the mountains. This place is so epic. We get a surprise visit from a local mid wild camp and have our first crash of the trip. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s ridiculously beautiful. Just had a stack. It is 9:00. My swim was amazing. Had a shower. feel like a new lady. Can’t believe they did let us do free shop free washing yesterday. I was like not sure. I was like, “Oh, how much is the um washing?” And she was like, “Oh, do you have any small change?” “We don’t actually have any, Frank. We forgot to go to the bank on the way through.” And um I was like, “Oh, like I have some euro cents.” And she’s like, “Oh, just follow me.” And then she like pulled out all of these coins from the actual laundry and just gave them back to me. I was like, “I’ll just keep putting these in until until it works.” And so we feel like new people, don’t we, Scott? Got some clean clean clothes on. Been for a beautiful swim. It was very rejuvenating. And we’re off to Likenstein this morning. Can’t wait. Bad news. [Music] We’re on the border between Likenstein and Switzerland. Last night we stayed on Switzerland side. Today we’ll be heading into bedum which is the capital of Leninstein. Um we are on the lakes route number nine national route 500 km from Lake Constance Lake Geneva goes through 10 different lakes like the main famous ones but the next 100 km should be flat in between mountains and then when we head over west uh should get a little bit more climbing hopefully. Morgan Got some lovely views at the moment. We’re in a valley, but very flat riding. It’s been 21 km just along the river. Still nice. Still nice views. At least there’s something to look at while we are riding flat. [Music] [Applause] Welcome to country number 10. [Music] Just stopped to get some um Franks. Fun fact, they use Franks in Lenstein. And then we’re going to find some food cuz they’re both hungry. And the other thing to check out here is the day. [Music] We’re having lunch next to the Ryan Park Stadium. Must be the official Lexenstein football club cuz we’re in that big massive car park. Yeah, it was a really nice stadium, wasn’t it? We already passed through it on the way in. Also, I got the number of country wrong. Oh, no. It’s 11. It’s just country 11. We’re going back to country number 10, Switzerland. As soon as we finish lunch, [Music] we just finished lunch. That was a great lunch spot. Not only did it have drinking water, a toilet, a table, it also had free Wi-Fi. What a spot. Uh back on the route, just about to cross back into Switzerland in a funky looking bridge. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I feel like we’re really entering Switzerland now. Back where we stayed last night, I was still relatively flat and there weren’t many mountains that we we could see. But after leaving VUS just before, we’re coming into valleys. We got mountains on both sides. So, I feel like we’re really entering the real Switzerland that we were hoping for. We just left the Rine now in farming countries of Switzerland. And Scott’s decided we’re going to follow Route 9 without looking at his phone. And I feel like we’re going to be fine with that because Switzerland has the best cycle routes in the world apparently. The world probably best cycling, but do they have the best cycling signs? Yeah, cuz Germany’s really good. Yeah, we’re coming up to a sign now for signs. Germany’s good. They bloody love a sign. The road has like too many signs to look at. Oh yeah, here comes our first sign. Oh yeah, it just says cross the bridge and go left. So keep going straight. We can do that, can’t we? [Music] Hey, [Music] [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Just met some Australians last night and a Canadian girl. Um they were from Warren Diet actually which is probably an hour outside Melbourne. Yeah. Where Bren Harvey’s from. Um anyway, we had a good chat with them last night and it was nice seeing English people, English speaking people uh again. Doesn’t happen too often. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Wow, what a picture perfect lake. It is really, really nice. We managed to like miss the bike path though and so we ended up up on this busy road, so I couldn’t film or take photos, so I just ran back. [Music] What am I even? How blue is the water? This place is so epic. We were just saying it’s like we just go home now. It’s the best place. It’s the best. It’s so beautiful. The sun’s out, the water is blue, the mountains are bloody beautiful. It’s just a good day to cycle. I can see why people like catching the trains in Switzerland because the train line is right next to us. But you’re going too fast, guys. Come on the bike. You get to see the lake longer then. Oh, it’s a fishy. [Applause] Just climbed up here. First climb in a while. That was a good one. Jeep. Yeah. Straight into the last gear. Nice though. Great lake. We’ve just come to what we believe is the biggest decline percentage on a mountain so far over the last 3 months. Have a guess what it could be. Nope. Nope. Yes. 25%. Have a look at this. 25%. Okay, we didn’t get off the bike. It was definitely more than 18. I don’t know about 25. Like this seems so extreme. Whoa, Rob would love this. Tunnel was great. We went through a few twists and turns and it spat us out next to the highway. We’re down on the lake, so this is a bit bit loud, but we’re by the lake, so haha cars. So, it’s 6:00 and we’ve ridden 87 km. Um, we just stopped at a little that’s got the best little ever been in it. They even had like selfch checkout, which never happens a little. And then we were just riding along the route and we saw this cool little spot and all of the signs we’ve recently been passing um have had a no camping sign, but this one doesn’t. And then Scott looked at park for night. Apparently, it used to allow camping and then they forbid it because people were leaving rubbish behind. But there’s no sign to say that. So, like if we didn’t have the app, wouldn’t we just stay? Also, the next campground that we can actually see is about like 40 km away. Actually, I think it’s more, which we could do. It’s very light, but I think wild camping tonight is possibly on the cards, especially if we get over to the next lake. It looks like there’s like lots of greenery around the next lake. See what happens. So, it’s just walking around translating all the signs. He’s convinced that one of them must say we can’t get. We decided to stay here and cook our dinner and wait until 10 p.m. into the town. And today’s day 90. We’re officially 3 months in. Celebration passed. So, we did end up camping here yesterday, last night, and everything was going really well until about quart 9 and then this guy came on his black 12. Yeah, I think so. Um, we were waiting until 10:00 to set up. Um, and he came and he only spoke German, but he we were like, “Oh, we’re just looking for somewhere to camp.” And then he was like, “Oh, just camp right here.” and like pretty much like gave us permission and like, “Oh, it looks pretty good.” But then he hung around for ages. It was like an hour and a half. He ended up taking a really long phone call. He was like showing us all of his pictures in his gallery. He’s apparently he lived down the road. He like showed us his house and his dog. He was very friendly, but then it kind of turned a bit odd. And then Scott could smell beer in his breath. Then he gave Scott a beer like 10. Yeah. And then while he was on the phone, we end up just sitting up the tent and sitting in the tent. And when he hung up, we were just hoping that he wasn’t going to come over and start chatting to us again cuz it was so tired. Luckily, he left. And so we didn’t go to sleep until 11:00. And then we the bike track this morning. I woke up about 10:00 to 5 and there’s already been like a few bikes and a few runners come through. So I was like, it’s got we got to go. So, it’s 5:46 in the morning and we’re going to start our day. We do think we’re going to go over 100 kilometers today. We’re going to try and get into Lucern kind of on the other side of Len. There’s a campground that’s not too expensive and we want to stay there for two nights cuz there’s some rain coming. So, see if we can get down there. That’ll be nice. And check out Lone as well on the way through. We’ve been riding for 40 minutes and we just made it to our next lake. Um, and there’s some public toilets here. So, we’re going to stop and have our brekie and go to the toilet finally. No, they’re locked. And then just as we pulled up, the cleaning guy pulled up as well. And so, like, oh, he must just be cleaning them, unlocking them. So, I did watch him unlock it and he went in and cleaned. But then when he left, he locked them again. So, now we’re in a little bit pickle. We’re looking for the next toilet. [Music] toilet. [Music] Okay, it’s 10 to 8. We’ve actually already ridden 18 km and all our jobs are finally done. We have had breakfast, found a toilet, found a drink, drinking water, and brush our teeth. Finally, we can ride without stopping. So, here we go. Also, Scott’s back there cuz he always leaves his gloves everywhere. He would leave his head behind if it wasn’t screwed on. Is saying [Music] [Applause] Where’s a 25% sign for that? [Applause] It’s got to be some strange clim. [Applause] We’ve been climbing for a little more than a kilometer and I had to stop cuz there was road works on like like the steepest part and wait for the light to go again. It was so hard to start again. I’m so back heavy. I actually like lifted my front wheel. Wow. Yeah, we got up high fast. Look at this. Wa. All right. Got that bit to get out a bit. Yeah, it does. Stopped at the wrong time. I’m so close to the top. Yeah, it still going up for this view. So lovely. Always worth the climb. Always going up. So, we just stopped at at an intersection of Route 9 and Route 99. Route 9 is taking on is like a really big loop and it looks like it follows the busy road we’ve been on. Not there’s any cars passing at the moment. Um, it’s about 9 km. You’ve decided we take 99 though, it cuts back into the route and it’s only 3ks, but it goes up to 1,60. Um, it’s only 3k, so I feel like someone can do anything for 3ks, right? We chose route 99. We thought, why not have some fun on the Switzerland slopes? You want to know how far CL’s got? 200 minutes. 400 m. That’s why we stayed there. There was a few 20% on the maps. We were following two road cyclists and they’re not even carrying anything. Now we’re still out of the saddle. 400 m down, 2.6 to go. So, this truck is the epitome of us. just got overtaken on this road and he is struggling. I actually feel like we might be able to ride faster. We’re going to catch him. I feel like R might have been faster for longer. Yeah, right. We only have 800 m to go. Our beautiful godmother gave me these shots of magnesium and her English isn’t that good. But I was saying like, do I put it in water? And she was like, “No, no, no. Just sugar.” So it is powder. But wish me luck. Surely not. Vision ingredients. Is that right? Magnesium. M. So good. She said, “Oh my god.” Like if you’re on a hill and your legs start hurting, just she gave me four of them. And I’ve been carrying them this long because we haven’t been on a hill like this for a while. Wow. That’s like I can live off that. I know. Thanks, Ma. 800 m is going to fly up there. Now, we’ve made it to the top finally cuz we’re at 950 m. Um, now we start going back down, I hope, and to join it back on the number nine route. It took us 40 minutes. 41 minutes. Yeah. To do 3ks, 2.72, I think. Not bad. We did stop every 400 m. I actually love that. There was like a few really steep bits. There’s 20%. Yeah, that one. I’m pretty sure that whole climb was 20%. There was never a time where you’re like, “Oh, yeah, that was flat.” All fun and games here in Switzerland. Welcome to Egg. Right, we’re at lake number two for the day. Four. Four overall. Yeah. And this one’s nice and calm. And there’s it’s very quiet around here. We’ve only seen one person in one car. We’re just looking for a seat to stop to have some Oreo. Hopefully from Yeah, we need some bread for lunch, too. That’s what happens when you get up so early. You just eat all day. [Applause] Yeah. So, it’s got a flat and we are on a busy road. We do have like a really wide shoulder. It’s just busy. [Applause] Guys, it was 25 minutes on this bloody busy road. The core remover came out three times, but he now has pumped up tires. And I can’t believe this is the route cuz it’s so busy and it’s like cyclist coming past. It’s like shaking the head of the truck being too close. Anyway, I really need to go a toilet. I haven’t been for like a whole hour, so I haven’t found anywhere to go. Classic. [Applause] We finally found a seat that’s not fully in the sun. The seat’s actually in the sun, but the bikes are in the shed. It’s got on a new um what did you say? This is new lunch today. Yep. It’s got peanut butter and Doritos. Has any of you ever had a sandwich? Two pieces of bread. You just have one, but saving it. And chuck Doritos or chips, potato chips in there and then bite it as a sandwich. Best thing ever. You get crunch and then you get the softness from the bread. And they’re chili Doritos. Really good. So this whole time in Switzerland, the only public toilets we’ve come across other than ones at the train station are these public to these what are they called? Portaloo toy toys. Very weird. Like you’ll see like a children’s playground and there’ll be a toy toy in there. Why don’t you just build a normal toilet? We’ve arrived at lake number three for the day. Aguri Shimart. Really? Say that one again. Aguri shish. So we just had a good part of the track. We just descended through like these nice little villages and it was like rolling hills finally because the first 50 kilometers of the day it was on busy road and that’s just not what it’s about. Yes, we have a cycling lane but people say Switzerland cycling are actually the best. So why put us on the road guys? Come on. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Goodness gracious. The route yesterday was so good. It was really good. So, we can’t say it’s the whole lakes route, but today what’s been going on? far more roads than I thought. I didn’t think that I didn’t expect Switzerland to be so busy. I know so stupid to say, but the roads are hectic and most of the cycle paths are on the roads. They just give you a bit more room. Only like sometimes, like half the time we don’t even have a bike lane. We’re just fanging down the hills with the road with the cars. Best scenery ever. The scenery center. So, it’s all good. Anyway, we’ve just come to a roundabout and our route is blocked at the moment. Um, even to pedestrians and so we almost went up the wrong road and then we’ve just seen a detour sign for the bike. Um, I don’t think we’re going to make it to Lern, let alone 20 km on the other side of today. I was trying to find some cheap accommodation, but 600 bucks in Zug two nights. Really? Oh, [Music] [Music] speech speech. just had a stack. He’s falling off the bike. Got some blood hand. You can barely see a little bit on the knee there. Oh, on the elbow. Coming through. It’s coming through. He’s ripped his shirt. Ripped your shirt and helmet here. Yeah, I can feel Yeah, you can see it on the front of when you took your helmet off. I could see it on your head. Yeah, I can feel it there. You slipped off the edge and went bang. That’s why you wear a helmet, kids. I’ve been giving him concussion tests. He has so far passed like grease up his arm from the changing the tube. You got blood on the elbow from falling. You had a good day today out or what? Got a hole in him now. Just went to the cap on. Could have changed it up. Oh, bike’s okay. Bike’s okay. That’s amazing. Scott’s okay. Anyway, we’re all good. We’re all good. 7ks from the campsite anyway. But we had to stop at this beautiful view. Got the boat coming in. Sun’s out still, although it’s getting really humid. Like, it’s going to rain soon. We made it to our campground, which is like a farm stay. Um, so we’ve got some pigs up there, some piglets, which there was like goats on the way in, wasn’t there, on the left. It does really smell like a farm. Um but it was only 3120 a night. Um so we have paid for two nights. Tomorrow is forecasted for 40 mills of rain. Y and we have got the tent up before it started raining. Hurrah. Probably need a rest day. We’ve timed it quite well. Yeah. We’ve seen four legs today. Yeah. We’ve seen what five in total. Six. Six out of 10 I think it is. All in good weather. So and Scott fell off his bike so probably should rest tomorrow. Yeah. Rest ahead. Got to order our bread for the morning. So, we we literally are not going to leave the campground. I don’t think we’ve done that in a really long time. Showers, rest, dinner on the cards. So, yeah. [Music]