Interlaken: Across the Alps on a TransAlp

I got down from the plane in Geneva at 10am on Saturday and quickly started walking towards the baggage claim area. the corridors in the airport seemed never ending. in-fact the airport was so huge that they had walkalators in the corridors. i was impatient as i was waiting for the baggage to come. The plan for the weekend: Switzerland on a bike and i was wasting precious riding time here. But even as you walk through the Geneva airport, you know that you are in a rich country. Inside there are vending machines where you can get a free ticket for bus/tram to any place within the city. good to see the extra money being used for welfare of people. i had already found out the place which rents bikes in Geneva and talked to those guys. normally in europe, the renting places are closed on Saturday's and Sundays but this one was open till 12pm. this was a Honda showroom which also rented Honda bikes. I wanted to pick up a Goldwing which was available for 570 swiss francs. after quickly getting the baggage, i picked up a map of Geneva, found out the way to the shop, dropped the suitcase at a drop-luggage counter at the airport, sat on a bus to the city and reached the Honda showroom. right at the gate, parked was a brand new Goldwing. What a bike!! i was really looking forward to a long ride on one. the shop owner told me that the shop will be closed on sunday but i could leave the bike outside and slip the key in through a slit in the door. but then came the disappointment. he said it would not be safe to leave the Goldwing outside as there are more chances that someone might tamper with such a bike. he said i should take one of the less exotic bikes. the cheapest ones available were CB 600 Hornet and XL 700V Transalp for 290 francs. i choose the Transalp over the Hornet as it had more comfortable riding position and also a facing. it also had a big carry box in which all my stuff would fit easily. so after making the payment, getting my bike checked and borrowing a helmet and gloves from the shop, i was on my way. the first twist of the accelerator, the 700cc engine roaring angrily and the cars and people flashing by.. its a feeling words cannot describe..

the route planned:
- Geneva to Lausanne (65kms) on the road La Cote which goes along Lake Geneva; visiting the many châteaux in the small villages on the way
- Lausanne to Yverdon-les-Bains: relax in the spa which has pools of thermal spring water
- Yverdon-les-Bains to Van De Travers : the Absinthe making part of country. visit the Green Fairy factory (and buy some at cheap rates :D )
- Ride along the lake Nauchatel to Bern and then a quick run to Interlaken
- Stay in the HI Hostel in Interlaken at night. Paragliding and rafting next day
- Interlaken to the beautiful Swiss Riviera at Montreux through the Alps
- Highway run from Montreux to Geneva


total route was around 500km which was very easily doable on a 700cc bike with the awesome highways of Europe.

So i started looking for the highway. but the problem was that the locals dint speak English and i don't speak French. i kept on going in rounds and rounds. i had the written directions from google maps but from where they told me to go left, there was no left turn. then i had a map but it showed the bus routes in detail not the roads. finally i decided to keep the maps inside and use common sense. i knew i had to ride along the lake, so i started looking for the was to the lake. once i reached it, then it was simple. i simply had to the ride along its banks and it lead me to the highway. but till then i had already wasted over an one hour and it was already 2pm.

Jet d'Eau, the 459 feet tall fountain in Geneva. It is an awesome sight. good thing the wind was not blowing towards me..



click on the photos to see the larger size
from the other side of the lake..



then i hit the highway..



In Europe, i have found that there are normally 2 routes. One will be the highway which will be the faster, wider flat road which has been made by cutting through the hills and does not pass through any town/city. second will be the smaller road running parallel which will be going through the towns and mountains. i realized that if i followed this highway i would miss all the castles and directly reach Lausanne. so i took the exit for Coppet, the first village with the castle. little did i know that this was a wrong decision. it took me a lot of time to find the castle and infact i almost crossed it once. i was expecting one of those huge, grand castles but what i saw was really disappointing.






i parked my bike, took out the helmet, gloves, bandana etc, then took out the camera from the luggage box and then walked to the castle. the castle was closed at that time, but i don't think it was worth going inside anyways. what a waste of time..



ab camera nikala hi hai to photo hi kheech lun...



then i reached the lake again and started riding along it. the weather was pretty warm but when the bike was moving the cold sea-like breeze was hitting the face.. i was enjoying the ride so much that i dint feel like stopping. the roads were single lane but there was no traffic. best part was there was no speed limit and i was easily riding at 120-130. bad part was that there were many towns and round-abouts on the way and so i could not go fast for long. there were many bikers on the road and when ever they passes me, they waved. i have seen this camaraderie amongst bikers earlier also when i was riding through France. This shows how the people there respect the common passion, rather than comparing the price tags. in India usually a person with even a 150cc bike will look down upon a person with 125cc.
i stopped many time to click pics along the lake









the châteaux at Nyon..



me..



along the fields..



cotton clouds..



lovely blue water..



next stop..









after walking around a bit, i started back. then i spend a lot of time searching for the next castle in my list. i went round and then finally reached the highway again. after wasting half an hour, i aborted the search. back to the highway..



now the sun was beginning to set and it was getting cloudy also.



i was very far off from my destination and had many places to cover.



now i was getting a bit worried. i dint want to skip anything which i planned but was running out sunlight. now i was cursing myself for wasting so much time over the stupid castles..



i again took the main highway and headed straight for Yverdon-les-Bains. this place is famous for its thermal springs whose water the locals say is very good for health. i had not called my parents since morning and knew they must we getting worried. first thing i did after reaching there was finding a phone and calling then. then i asked around for this spa called Centre Thermal. there i relaxed first a huge open air jacuzzi.. (imaging picked up from the website)..


then it started drizzling and it was getting cold, so i went to the pools inside.

for an hour i was just floating around in water. then fully recharged, i started back. now it was 6 and the sun was getting closer to the horizon..



i just had enough time to reach Interlaken now. with a very heavy heart i skipped the rest of the places. i took the main highway and started following the sights for interlaken. i bypassed Van de Travers and Bern. after Bern i took the mountain road instead of the highway. this was an awesome route, twisting through the hills, lined with very high trees and with no other vehicle to disturb my rhythm. then i came back to the main highway. as i came closer to Interkalen, i could see the huge mountains ahead.



soon i was riding through these mountains. it had rained there very recently as the roads were very wet. but thank god i had good tyres. the road was now getting twisted again. as i took a tight right hander, i came across this really beautiful sight. there was this huge lake with emerald green water, surrounded by mountains on all sides. i dont think i was able to do justice to the scene with this photo.. the lake is called Thuner See (lake of Thun)..



after a few more turns, i came closer to the lake..



as the sun set..



lovely rain washed roads..



and the rain washed bike..



and it sets..



just before interlaken, i saw a petrol pump. there i refueled. Here you go to the pump, pick up the pipe yourself and fill the tank. there is no one standing there to even see you. then you go inside the store in the pump and make the payment. its very easy to fill the petrol and run away.. dont people do that over there? is it possible for all the people in a country to be that honest??

i found my hostel and checked in. at night i came back to the town for dinner. the black forest cake in the desert was something which i will never forget. on my hotel booking i got a free pass into the casino in Interlaken. after dinner i went there to take a look. i tried my luck at the slots, even won some money but i dint know how to take it out of the machine. so what ever i won, it used to bet that again and eventually i lost it all. shot of a hotel in the market..



next day i got up early. but it was raining heavily. i wanted to do paragliding or sky jumping but the people at the reception said, it wont be possible in the rain. only think i could do was rafting. so i decided to do that. i paid in the hostel and within 5 minutes the person from Alpine Rafts came to pick me up. at the office there already people waiting. we all signed and picked up our gear. thank god there were neoprene suits to wear. i dint have any spare clothes.. then they took us to the point of the river from where we would start rafting. the scene there was very beautiful, seemed right from some book describing Switzerland. High mountains on both sides, with green color splashed all over them, a river running from between them and brown wooden houses with slanting red roofs scattered all around.



there were 2 boats. one had a group of Americans and our boat had me with a couple from India and a guy from Costa Rica. as soon as i put my hand in the water for the first time, it froze. the guide (a Kiwi named Dougie) told us that the water must be 6 degrees cold at that time. since it was raining, the level of water was also high. but after some time the hand became so numb that i stopped feeling the cold. right from the beginning the river was violent..



many times we were rowing in the air..



i the river was not very wide and there rocks here and there..



our boat was thrown on all sides, dint turn though. my not knowing how to swim added to the "adventure". after a tiring but thoroughly enjoyable leg of rafting we came to a place where the river was very calm. here Dougie said we had to get off and go downstream in the car and then start rafting again. this was because ahead was a grade 5 rapid and Swiss government did not allow rafting at that level of danger. and anyways we were all amateurs. we got off and dragged the boat up the banks. now was the difficult part. in the car it was pretty warm and then we had to get out again in the chilled water. after we got back into the boat, Dougie said we would be tackling a grade 4 rapid called Double Fuck. grade 4!! this would be interesting. i was listening very attentively to the instructions specially for what to do if you are thrown out of the raft. we started again.. following pics show in sequence the rapid and why is it called so..

first we went up..



then down.. mind the big rock..



futher down..



splash.. ahhhhh!!! icy water...



then up..



straight again..



now as we are thanking god that we survived..



it starts going down..



and splash again..



and very sharply up.. here is the maximum risk of it tipping over..



but we emerged victorious...



after that the river was mostly quiet. there were a few rapids here and there but usually we were sitting and chatting. Dougie was telling us about Switzerland and New Zealand and how Kiwi cricket team is better than Indian. obviously there was no agreement on the last part. finally the river pushed us into a huge lake on the other side of Interlaken called Breinz See. The water here was absolutely still and the scene again was breathtaking. Dark green water surrounded by light green hills with clouds covering their peaks. but here we had to put in all the effort and rowed to the bank on the other side of the lake.



we took the car back to the office where we changed and then had some snacks. they served some local cheese which was the most delicious cheese i have ever had. when we were rafting their driver had been taking our photos. now we could buy them (for 40 francs). i took the photos and i asked them to quickly drop me back to the hostel. there i had a quick lunch in a nearby restaurant and started riding back. it had stopped raining and i wanted to cover as much distance as i could while it remained so.

the lake right next to the hostel..






typically swiss..



the Thun lake once again on the way back..



this time i took a different route which would take me straight to Montreux through the hills..



it was raining on and off.. i took some pics when i got the chance. this was a proper mountain route with road meandering through the hills.. the rain washed slopes were bright green in color with standard Swiss architecture. In fact Dougie had said that Swiss were so traditional that if you need to change the design/color of your house, you need to take permission from the whole community before doing it.









as altitude got higher and the weather got worse..



i came to this pass where it was raining very hard and it was very very cold. my hands were almost frozen and i couldn't feel my knees. good thing is that my jacket was warm enough although not fully waterproof.



but the scene was so beautiful that i took my umbrella and then took a picture.




this turned out to be my last stop for photos. after this there was heavy rain for the rest of the way through the mountains. this slowed me down quite a lot and i started getting very late. i had to reach Geneva, find the Honda shop again, return the bike, get back to the airport and catch a bus for France. now again i dint have time to stop anywhere else. so i headed straight for Geneva, only stopping to warm my hands and knees on the engine or silencer when the cold got unbearable. around 50kms before Geneve it stopped raining and the clouds cleared. thank god.. now i could ride faster and also the warm sun felt very good. on reaching Geneva, i had the same problem. where to go now. i asked a taxi driver standing next to me on a traffic signal and he said he was going in the same direction and that i should follow him. god bless his soul... after following him i realized that on my own i would have never reached the place. quickly i refueled the bike and dropped it off. it had started raining again (although it dint matter much as i was already drenched). then i took the tram back to the airport, well in time for my bus to France..