Groovy Graubünden – 3

September 22-23, 2018

Going home

Map Link

As expected, the Schloss looked better with the morning light

We woke up fairly early for a weekend away from home, but our motivation ended at getting out of bed. There had been talk of a “quick run up the mountain” but I wasn’t too excited about that, although I didn’t discourage Dan from going ahead with it. Instead, we went downstairs for a leisurely breakfast and had another walk around the village. Dan would walk back to Scuol (about an hour and a half on nice trails), and I would head home via two wheels and look for some alternative roads from yesterday’s ride.

Morning sunlight

View from the other side of Tarasp

It was another great day for riding

Climbing Flüela Pass again

Looking back

I actually pulled over for this photo, in case you were concerned about the proximity of the guard rail

One of Switzerland’s many caves

Cresting the top of the pass

Looking back

I like my bike (and this is a motorcycle trip, after all)

I think they expect a lot of snow up here

I love alpine slopes in the fall

Log piling

So far I had only retraced my steps from yesterday. Not that this was a bad thing: I love these roads and there were fewer cars on the road with me this morning. But now I was reaching a decision point: I either head north and continue to retrace my route on the motorway through Zürich, or go south and find a couple more passes – and extend my day considerably. I considered the passes that I knew of on the longer, southern route and decided it was worth it. I hadn’t wanted to come home too late tonight, but I certainly didn’t want to waste the opportunity of enjoying the mountain roads while I was here.

I went south

It was dull motorway until I got past Chur and then I headed west towards Oberalppass. I knew this pass fairly well and was looking forward to the long, gradual approach. Instead of leaning lightly into corner after corner, I found myself behind slow and inconsiderate traffic. Any time there was the smallest chance of passing, traffic would magically speed up. And knowing that a fast motorcycle might come around the next corner kept me from pushing my luck. I enjoyed the scenery and tried to ignore the rolling roadblocks in front of me.

I watched this guy’s bumper for a loooong time

Finally got past him!

I crossed over Oberalp Pass but didn’t stop. I was on my way to Andermatt where I had to make another decision: drop down Göschenen Pass and take the motorway home via Lucerne? Or keep on going over Sustenpass (my favorite!) and make my way home from there? I looked at the time, considered the amount of traffic I was already dealing with, and my reluctance to make it a long day. I’d head down Göschenen.

Coming down towards Andermatt

Teufelsbrücke painting

I love the infrastructure of this area!

Traffic was so bad coming down Göschenen that I had more than the usual time to take photos as I crawled along. It was actually the “perfect” pace: not too fast that I couldn’t take the photos, but not too slow so I had to be cautious of the car in front of me getting too close. Hey – got to be optimistic about things, right?

From here on out it would be motorways all the way home. The one thing I really do appreciate about motorways is that there is a second lane so I can pass slower people. Not that I speed (much), but I hate to be trapped behind someone else. And at least the motorways around here aren’t boring.

I don’t even…

Almost home!

And that was my random weekend in Graübunden, bookended by a couple of a nice days on the motorcycle.