Getting higher!

Grüss-di aus Andermatt! Wir sind in Gasthaus Skiklub, auf Gotthardstrasse. That’s enough German: predictive text is being unhelpful.

So there were quite a lot of trains yesterday and today:

Amsterdam Centraal	18:55	Arnhem Centraal	19:59
Arnhem Centraal	20:44	Duisburg Hbf	22:14
Duisburg Hbf	23:13	Basel SBB	06:22
Basel SBB	08:28	Brig	10:40
Brig	10:40	Brig Bahnhofplatz	10:40
Brig Bahnhofplatz	11:23	Andermatt	13:20
View of Rhône from train to Brig		Brig Bahnhof is watching you!

It’s amazing how much waiting this involved, and mounting and dismounting of luggage. I ended up wearing my wee rucksack over my camel to minimise changeovers. Our normal system is for Elly to get on the train with a bike. I then pass her the other bike, then the panniers, then get on the train.

We didn’t get a lot of sleep on the Duisburg-Basel train. We nabbed a pair of seats each but neither of us could find comfortable positions to lie in. In the end, I got to sleep some time after 2am, sitting with my head resting on Squidge-pig on the tray-table in front of me.

Coffee, a Schoko-croissant and juice at Basel SBB helped, as did a shared breakfast on the train to Brig.

The train from Brig Bahnhofplatz was crowded for the first few stops. there were bike-hanging places in the passenger canines but we were helped by the guard to lift Lev and Fidel into a goods van.

The train to Andermatt wound its way along the Rhône’s very twisty valley for quite a while, before a long tunnel that emerged a couple of stops before Andermatt. We cycle about 600 metres to our hotel: tarmac almost all the way. This was followed by the first espresso and Eiskaffee of the trip, watching roadents and mountain-bikers go by, then a short walking-pole aided walk around Andermatt. I hope the photos do it some justice! Click the thumbnails to see the full-size photos.