A Short Motorbike Ride Through Three Countries!

Many moons ago I read a wonderful book called "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" by Erik Newby.  It is an account of his hilarious/harrowing journey through the wild and magnificent mountains of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.  A "short walk" is, of course, Newby's ironic way of indicating that the trip was much more than a short walk!

Likewise the "short motorbike ride" of my title was actually a 10-hour day sitting on the back of a large motorbike and covering over 350 km through parts of Switzerland, Lichtenstein and Austria.  How did this happen?

While visiting Zurich after our holiday in Puglia (see the three blogs after this one), my Swiss

bro-in-law, Ivo, asked whether I would like to go for a "motorbike ride into the mountains."  Why not, I answered, in a rather cavalier fashion.  

My last motorbike experience had been in Manila back in the 1970s on my 250cc HONDA which got me to and from work at the Asian Development Bank via the back streets.  It was also used for little joy rides with Sarah, Paul and Ligaya around our Dasmarinas village in Makati.  In other words, rather tame stuff.

I soon gathered that the proposed motor bike ride with Ivo might be a more challenging experience.  Ivo took me down to the garage and showed me this big beast, a 1080cc Austrian  KTM which looked like it could go up and down mountains at disturbingly high speeds. 

The next thing I know we are all kitted up in motorbike gear with knee pads, thick gloves, thick jackets, neck scarves, a head condom (don't ask), ear plugs and monstrous helmets with visors to keep your eyeballs from being gouged out by wind at high speeds.  Seriously, it felt like you were being prepared for some medieval jousting tournament in the "Knight's Tale" movie.

Now, I have to tell you that Ivo is a very, very experienced biker.  He has biked all over Switzerland, many other parts of Europe, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam so I knew I was in good hands and would be just fine if I followed his instructions.  

The principal instructions were to "hang on" and to "lean into the bends" with him.  On no account should I try not to lean into the bends.  Of course.  Lean into the bends.  What could go wrong?

We set out at about 8.15AM from our abode in Hongg (pronounced a bit like Houink with umlauts etc) and drove in a northwesterly direction through various small suburban villages. I found the most comfortable position was to hold the frame just below my seat. The frame went up and behind me to the black box which held equipment and various provisions. 

The bike throbbed and I could feel the latent power vibrating through my body. My seat was exceptionally comfortable and I could lean back on the black box.  I was relaxed and just enjoying the sensation of the wind blowing around my helmet.  I felt I was in my own safe, hermetically sealed, little world.  

This was about the change.  Up ahead I could see that we were going to filter onto a three lane AUTOBAHN.  It was the morning rush hour and the road was packed with traffic hurtling along. Ivo began to accelerate to get up to the same speed as the traffic on the Autobahn.  Now the wind was not just blowing around my helmet it was hammering my helmet.  Ivo picks up even more speed and we are suddenly between two huge trucks barreling along at about 95 kmh.  For some reason, my eyes were glued to the speedometer which I could see if I just slightly peered around Ivo's helmet.

The next thing I know the engine roars up to a new level (how many CCs are we using?) and we pull out of the second lane and into the third lane.  I look directly ahead because I feel that if I turn my head it will blow off.  Seriously, nothing had prepared me for this feeling of being assaulted by an invisible force, otherwise known as wind or, more accurately, a gale force wind!

We are now surging forward, overtaking taking traffic on our right.  I see the speedometer reach 123kmh.  What?  Thank God I could not work out what that was in mph because I thought I might howl.  But nobody can hear you howling in a sealed helmet.  Least of all Ivo!  The speedometer was nudging up and up.  We were now in the 130 kmh range. I closed my eyes. Yes, I went into deep meditation, just like on the unstable wooden Rebel Yell helter skelter at King's Dominion many moons ago.  I had never in my 77 years of life on Earth felt quite so vulnerable.  I swear I was not afraid.  I was, thankfully, comatose!

(Yeah, I know, this is not my photo; but I was not exactly in a photo-taking mood.  Thanks, Shutterstock).  

I opened my eyes a while later and we were are now ahead of most of the other traffic.  There was open road in front of us and I felt another surge of power and even more wind noise.  I looked at the speedometer and we were at 139 kmh.  Now it was 140 kmh.  141 kmh.  A slight pause at this speed and then 143 kmh appeared on the speedometer.  Were we going for some land speed record in Switzerland?

Disturbing thoughts about the noise, the wind, the speed, the blurry outline of the open road ahead of us were all rushing through my mind but rational thought had stopped after that 143 kmh figure had appeared and was now seared into my brain. 

And then, quite unexpectedly, there are no more thoughts of vulnerability or speed or anything in fact.  I am dimly aware of a brand new feeling.  I think it is called ELATION!  It is when you stop worrying and accept this new experience which is like falling or being atomized, beamed up, or something that can't be described in words.  It can only be FELT! 

I don't think this 143 kmh speed lasted more than a few seconds.  I felt the power decreasing slightly and we turned into the second lane.  I think I relaxed then because I suddenly realized that my hands had been gripping the frame so hard that they had gone numb.  My brain was sort of numb too.  I was still on the back. Ivo was still on the front. I had survived "ludicrous speed" (remember that "Space Balls" movie?) and I had entered some new level of consciousness.  Maybe this is what hallucinogenic mushrooms will do to you? Must have had some for breakfast?

I still didn't know how fast 143 kmh was and that was a good thing.  It wasn't until that evening that I googled it.

"143 kilometers per hour = 88.8560805 miles per hour."  I was glad I was sitting down and had consumed quite a few glasses of wine.  It felt more theoretical than real. Nearly 90 mph?  OK, that's cool. Definitely cool after it is all behind you. We never got up to that speed again and that was just fine by me!

Meanwhile, back on the trip, we pass through a long tunnel and when we come out there is a gorgeous lake on the right.  Ivo slows down and stops so that I can take a photo.  I was going to get off the bike but couldn't really move.  I was frozen in place but I did manage to get my camera out of my leather jacket pocket and this was the view.  Magnifique!

My befuddled brain was telling me that this was the most beautiful sight in the world. Only moments ago I was thinking black thoughts and now we had gone from Hades to Paradise.  I know that this sounds a bit overwrought but I just am trying to convey the sense of relief and the heightened sense of beauty all around.  Were those angels singing in the distance? 

This sense of peace lasted for about 10 minutes and then we started to hit the hair pin bends. We were not going fast or anything but when you tilt over at a 45 degree angle and your helmet is about 3 inches away from a guard rail, you begin to think that tilting or "leaning into the bend" is not such a good an idea.  I kid you not, it took a lot of will power not to lean in the opposite direction  Even more so when you glimpsed a thousand foot drop over the guard rail to your right!

Like everything in life, if you do something long enough you finally get used to it. It was like getting flogged at boarding school.  After the first few miles of hairpin bends I sort of got the hang of it and after three or four more mountains I was positively enjoying it.  We reached our next "official" stop at the top of a mountain pass where there was a shop, a church and a bathroom.  

I headed straight for the church!  I was trying to remember who was the patron saint of travelers.  I think it was St. Christopher.  Anyway, him and a few other saints were thanked over and over again together with a few Hail Marys for good measure and one for St Basil because the church looked vaguely Russian.

 

There were other bikers who had made it up to this pass. I have to say that as I wandered along with my helmet and all my leather gear I was feeling a bit more like a Hell's Angel and less like a pussy--I mean a wilting violet. 

Naturally, I did not convey any of this to Ivo because I didn't want to spoil his double espresso moment. I had a quadruple espresso and began to feel great!

Next stop Lichtenstein!  And above is Vaduz Castle which is the official residence of the Prince of Lichtenstein.  We didn't see him though! We crossed over the border without stopping--I mean we are in Europe and you can more or less go wherever you want.  Thank goodness they didn't know that I was a US citizen and, even worse, a wretched ex-Brit--even though I thought BREXIT was a complete scam and fiasco.

I have to say that the little town of Schaan in Lichtenstein (above) seemed an awful lot like Switzerland except that the accents were a bit different--or maybe the two guys behind the lunch counter were speaking Turkish? Below is Ivo eating lunch outside the restaurant of choice called VIBES and the food was really good.

Ivo put so much Sriracha on his sandwich that I feared for his life! 

After lunch we drove off and at some point passed into SW Austria. Once again we just rolled over the border.  Hell, we were on a big Austrian 1080cc KTM motorbike so they would not think of stopping us!  The town where we crossed into Austria was called Feldkirchen, an old medieval town in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. Feldkirchen is the westernmost point in Austria on the River Rhine, the tripoint between Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein.

It is a beautiful town and we drove through the center which was full of beautiful old buildings and a marketplace.  We did not linger because we had more mountains to visit.  Luckily, Ivo was not proposing to hit all the hairpin bends any more but rather to take a chairlift to Mount Santis.  This seemed like a very good idea--purely from a time perspective, of course.

Here is the view from our gondola on the way up to Mount Santis 

   

   On top of the world? Well, Mount Santis is at an elevation of 8, 208 ft and the highest mountain in the Alpstein massif between Lake Walen and Lake Constance

Glad we came up on the gondola and not on the motorbike. Looks a bit rocky.

How on earth do they get these cows up here?

Meanwhile, back on Earth below, we gear up for the ride home.  At this point, I think you should see the map that Ivo sent me when I asked him for the names of some of the major towns we drove through. You can ZOOM into this map and see the towns much more clearly. 

You can see Zurich, our starting point, at the NW end of Lake Zurich.  We proceeded in a northwesterly direction from Zurich and then dropped down South. You can then follow our progress around the "blue circuit."

And what better guide can you have than Ivo's e-mail which he sent to me yesterday.  Actually, I should have used this at the beginning and you could have read it and looked at the nice photos  rather than plowing through all my garbage above!  Too late now.

Over  to you, Ivo:

1. "We stopped for coffee (and a toilet break) at the “Tellskapelle” (“Tell’s Chappel”), which commemorates where - allegedly - William Tell jumped off the the prison boat and escaped the grasp of the Austrian occupiers. 
2. Next is the “Klausenpass” where we had another coffee break enjoying the sun and the surrounding mountains. We then drove down into the Canton of Glarus and then into the tunnel after which we saw the …
3. Walensee (the lake surrounded by towering mountains). Afterwards we continued into Liechtenstein (after crossing the Rhine River) and drove up to ….
4. “Vaduz Castle” (“Schloss Vaduz”) which is the official residence of the Prince of Liechtenstein. We then continued on to ...
5. Schaan, where we had lunch at the “Restaurant Vibes” (absolutely a top spot to remember ….). Our next stop was ….
6. Feldkirchen, which counted for our detour into Austria. Then we headed back to Switzerland across the Rhine River and our next waypoint, which was
7. Altstätten, where I was born at “Altstätten Hospital eons ago. Then we planned to check out the capital of the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, ….
8. Appenzell, which however was closed off for some public event. Hence we carried on up the mountain road to …
9. Schwägalp, from where we took the cable car up to the “Säntis” (mount Säntis). After returning to Schwägalp, we drove down to the Toggenburg valley and then across the …
10. Rickenpass (Ricken Pass), past Rapperswil and along Lake Zürich back to Höngg.

I think your memory is correct that our trip was about 350 km. I tried to measure it on Google Maps, however in vain. Because the “Klausenpass” is closed due to too much snow, the 508 km noted on the above map include a detour from the Klausenpass back down the same road to Altdorf, Schwyz, Freienbach / Lake Zürich, Glarus Nord and back up the Klausenpass from the other side."

The highlight of the trip back home was riding along an extensive stretch of Lake Zurich in the late evening sunshine.  The lake was golden and all the villages which we passed through were so gorgeous and so "perfect" in that wonderful Swiss way!  What an amazing country.

I should have mentioned at the outset that the weather for all 10 hours of our trip was also perfect as you can see from the photos.

So, that's the end of our "short" motorbike ride.  We did one more motorbike ride a few days later to Rheinfall and I will leave you with these few photos of Ivo and me at that huge and magnificent bend in the Rhine River.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

AND HOPING FOR A MORE PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!