We’ve left the Alps behind us a few days ago and I (Irene) miss them already. Climbing the St. Gotthard pass (2091 m) via the old, cobble stone road Tremola, was a cool experience. After the rest day at the cute campground on the mountainside in Chigoggna, we had two days of climbing up to the pass. The first day, following a late start, Andreas had trouble with the gears which cumulated in a broken chain shortly after Airolo. He replaced a link, and we managed to gain 788 meters over 23km that day before we decided to tent on a gravel patch, former site of a restaurant, 9km shy of the pass. There we met Hans, who’s about to open a bed and bike in Airolo and wanted to include our story on his facebook page. To our great surprise and delight he came back later with locally made cheese from his relatives farm. Next day we managed to get a relatively early start 9.15. The old cobble stone road climbed evenly with 20 something hairpin bends up to the pass. As we came higher, the wind blew stronger and colder. Alma was on the bike all the way up. That way Andreas had slightly less weight to pull. Still, very heavy and he stood up most of the way. For me it was a bit easier but still a good effort. Almost up we met Hans again, he had taken some great shorts from the new road. They showed the masterfully engineered road much better than our photos did. Finally at the top, by lunch time, there was a historic hotel and lots of tourists and locals out for a “Sunday ride”. It was cold and windy and very alpine, just the kind of place where you want to find a sheltered spot in the sun, and we did. There we ate and I probably fell asleep a while. The kids went on their usual “kid discovery trip” and were happy there were some patches of snow. Late afternoon we started the long descent and took several stops to admire the alpine landscape, before we came to Andermatt and a basic campground. The views were splendid. We needed some rest but wanted a more convenient place to stay, so next day we continued downhill to a place that indicated a campground on the map. It was not, but at least there was a clear and ice cold stream to wash off in, and a somewhat level place to tent. We had only trail mix for breakfast next day until we reached a village with a bakery. Bless the bakeries. Weather was hot. Mood was affected by lack of a real rest day. A dip in a pretty lake mid day helped and by the end of the day we were at a well kept camping in Sisikon, just by the lake Urnersee. After a rest day Andreas was restless again and needed to move. He was out on the bike a couple of hours, checking out the next, supposedly dangerous, road section and to get groceries. In the meantime, Alma and Arthur had fun at a playground and I read a book. We left the alps behind the next day and pushed through the massive heat to a place by Reuss river. The road was not dangerous. Most of it was bike path. Yesterday, hot again, but gentle road, with a wonderful mid day break by the river Aar, but then, an afternoon of uphill and a merciless sun. I had a bit of a collapse at the top of a hill, fighting a churning stomach, dizziness, shortness of breath. Not as serious as it sounds, and certainly to a degree psychological, but nevertheless very unpleasant. Such can a day in the heat on the bike treat you. Today, a sudden change in weather. It’s 21 C and feels quite cold. The kids did not want to leave their sleeping bags. We’re in a small trailer park like place in Bözberghöhe. Had a light and expensive breakfast from the bakery next door and will hit the road soon. I hope for a lot of downhill today. PS. Gotthard pass would have been hard to do without full leg strength. The day we left the crab place in Cuba, biking was very uncomfortable and Andreas helped me adjust the saddle height, tilt, cleat position on my shoes, oil the saddle (stupid leather saddle!) but the pressure on my right sits bone seemed impossible to get away from. It felt like a piece of cartilage had developed on it, I felt and heard it moving against the hard seat.
Around the same time, I started to get leg pain that felt a bit like sciatic nerve pain. Perhaps a nerve was pinched by some misalignment in the spine/hip, as my right hip also hurt and felt out of position. A physiotherapist I went to last year told me I have poor mobility in the thoracic spine, so I started to do cat/cow moves, glutes and hamstring stretches but the pain only got worse over the following weeks. I could bike, but my legs felt very weak and it was harder to walk than to bike. After about two weeks I felt quite sick, and Andres felt a bit weak too, so we took some rest days. Those days it was hard to lift the legs to walk up a step etc, and I had intense nerve pain at night. It tried painkillers but that did not help. The problems lasted about 3 weeks and disappeared gradually. I tried to not let the pain and discomfort get to me too much but looking back, it seems quite weird, and I have not had anything like it after. I still blame the saddle a bit. Or Zika?! Andreas is not 100% happy with his either..
0 Comments
Yesterday was quite tough. We climbed up towards San Gottardo pass in the Swizz alps. Some days ago we sent 10kg of stuff we can do without, to Sweden, to lighten up before the climb. But it was still heavy. In the end of the 40 km and 600 m of elevation gain, it felt as if even a small downhill was going uphill. So today we took a rest day at a small cute campground, Gottardo, perched on a mountainside. We did laundry, bike maintenance and swam in the pool. Andreas and the kids went for a walk. I was beyond tired, only edelweiss and apricot ice cream could bring me back to life. Tomorrow will be uphill only. When Andreas and the kids got groceries yesterday, I went back to memories from Cuba. An older man had just given Alma and Arthur a coin each, with a big smile on his face, and it reminded me how the people on Cuba adored the kids. People often sat on their porches and looked surprised and happy when they saw us bike by. Arthur shouted Hola! or Adios! and they got even more excited exclaiming aahhh lindo!, meaning “cute”. When they had the chance, they’d come up to touch their blond hair or even kiss them on the head. It was not just fun, it was a great advantage to travel with kids. Some travellers we met felt duped in various ways, we rarely did, probably thanks to Alma and Arthur. People just didn’t want to destroy for kids in any way, it seemed. Another interesting thing is, we always felt very safe letting the kids play outside with local children. It was obvious that communities were tightly knit and “everyone” looked after “everyone’s” kids. Older children looked after younger. At home we don’t even let them play at the playground alone, in the town of Sandino we took a nap while they played with a group of kids on the street. Even Cubans explained to us that Cuba is very safe for children, few cars and no “bad” people. That is probably a modified truth, but we felt very safe nevertheless. Some Cubans were quite worried that we took the kids out biking in traffic, urging us to be careful of all the "crazy" drivers. With a few exceptions, we found drivers very considerate and some days we did not see more than 10 or so cars. The fewer cars, the more horse or ox drawn “vehicles” on the road. Havana was a different story of course but we did bike there, without any incidents. Adding to the safety, Cubans don’t carry or possess guns, and even if rum is available everywhere very cheaply, we only saw one drunk, and that guy was considered “whacko” and told off by a 10 year old girl to stay off her mom’s ice cream parlour! Drugs are banned and we never saw any addicts either. Thus, fear not to travel around Cuba, especially not with children! Back now to the town Viñales. There we discovered how poor the Cuban wi-fi was. Almost every plaza had it, and to use it you bought a card with an access code. It was hard to connect to and many sites and apps were blocked. Alma’s disappointment knew no end when we couldn’t chat with her friend Hazel. Except for occasional banking and emails, we got a much needed e-detox. Viñales restaurants offered a break in the food monotony. It wad a bit costlier than we were used to, but so worth it. The town was touristy, but in the valley it was very quiet and beautiful, pictures describe it best. We did a daytrip to a cave that had a natural pool several 100 meters in. A “guide” followed those who wanted to go inside, in exchange for 2 CUC. It was an eerie place. Another day we took a super touristy horse ride through the valley, with the mandatory stops at a coffee plantation and artificial lake, we managed to escape the tobacco farm. Tobacco leaves do smell lovely when it dries on the fields though. The weather turned hot while we were there, and when we left, we reached the more authentic life of the valley. It was a beautiful, long 80 km day through tobacco fields and the mogotes, the typical mountains. We did not find anywhere to stay that night, and not much food, all we found was a small store that had crackers, canned tuna and water. In addition a woman gave us a bag full of mangoes from her tree. That night we pitched out tent a few hundred meters from the road, in the edge of the jungle, and had mangos and crackers for dinner. It was comforting to know that there are no dangerous animals on Cuba, except for the mosquitoes, they carry the Zika virus. There are also lots of annoying ants and on the friendlier side, green fire flies, I think they were actually beetles, very cool creatures that lit up the pitch black night. The heat continued, it was above 30 and we could not wait to get to the ocean. We had been in Cuba for over two weeks and not even been close to a beach! We chose to go to the Westernmost point accessible by road, Maria la Gorda, known for it’s clear waters. We had not been warned that that part of Cuba, at that time of year, gets a crab invasion of insane proportions. It started gradually with a few crabs crossing the road, tripping sideways, and ended with thousands, creating a rattling sound and covering roads, walls, even caused a restaurant to close. We spent a couple of days in a casa in La Bajida, among the crabs, to snorkel in the clear waters. We met a Swedish couple in Maria La Gorda and had a nice time chatting. When we left the crab place after a few days, the rain was pouring down and the road was transformed to stinky crab soup. Poor crabs, we could not avoid to crush them, but at least we did not get any punctures.
|
AuthorWelcome to our family's 2017 bike touring blog! Who's going? Archives
October 2017
Categories |