Day 3 - Interlaken to Willisau, 200 miles
The day dawned bright and...no, it didn't, it was raining. Today was the Alps and the bucket list passes but first up was Lake Brienz on the other side of Interlaken and with the rain not as hard, we managed to stop for a coffee and pics:
After another 30 minutes or so, the Grimsel Pass was first, the only one I hadn't done on my last trip here in 2020. The rain was wire heavy and traffic slowed us down. Near the top, we hit cloud and could hardly see 2 cars in front. At the very top, it was snowing!
Yeah, probably a nice view out there somewhere....
But, 5 minutes down the other side, we burst out into bright sunshine and a view of proper majesty:
It was so hot, steam was coming off the road and we had a great run, roof finally down. We did have on and off rain for the rest of the day, however, but it strangely never ruined the drive.
At the bottom of the pass, we turned up the Furka Pass and very shortly, I stopped at the same layby I had broken down in my kitcar, 5 years previously (throttle cable snapped) - ah, the memories!
A couple of miles further on and I, once again, failed to stop at the famous Belvedere Hotel for a picture! I did see it but the car park was very busy and the others hadn't stopped either, so I drove on past and stopped for a few pics a bit further on:
The Furka Pass was much shorter than I remembered but we did fly up there - bloody awesome. Coming down, it was much narrower and bumpy, with some scary drops which kept us going slower.
We stopped in Andermatt for a very expensive lunch (£31 for a chicken pitta and apple strudel - lovely but pricey).
Next up was the Sustenpass and it was the highlight of the day - bend after bend for 20 miles or more. Traffic wasn't too bad and slower traffic was quickly dispatched. We kept stopping for pictures and re-overtaking the same people 😀
The last 30 miles of the day I hadn't expected to be much good - when planning, I saw an interesting small, almost single lane road with lots of squiggles. In reality, it was amazing, twisting frantically for miles, climbing all the time, with a stunning viewpoint at the top, overlooking Lake Sarnen:
The final 10 miles to the hotel was a slow cruise to our hotel, with beers, pizza and tenpin bowling to end the day - brilliant!
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