Switzerland

The lightning didn't end our tour and so we woke in Lindau to the task of repacking our panniers now that the departure of Tommy meant we were going to have to carry our own luggage over the Swiss and French Alps. We contemplated an early end to the life of our tents and accessories in favour of hotels, but finally decided to push on fully loaded, minus the light reading (what were we thinking??).

The lake glistened under the morning sun as we made our way around to the Swiss border and I for one was wondering how the hell I was going to lug 15kg of unnecessary crap like a tent, shoes and clothes over the Alps. It had certainly crossed our minds to complete the rest of the tour in one sharp looking lycra cycling outfit and shoes; at least one wouldn't have to get undressed for the showers anymore...

We will never be afraid of riding anywhere on a bicycle again. Switzerland offered us 8km of flat road before a breath-taking 5km climb at 10% gradient. It was f&#king hot, there is no other way to put it, with the temperature in the sun rising to 38c. But this was just the introduction: we had another 60km of steep hills and rapid decents before we stumbled on a campsite at the base of some stony alpine cliffs somewhere just outside of a town called Appenzell. Dining on something that was constituted from potatoes, cheese, sausages and noodles was a blessing and sleep came rapidly to all. I want to take this opportunity to say that I am forever indebted to Simon and the guys at the Specialized Concept Store for stuffing up and putting a 12-27 cassette on my bike and not a 12-25; they know what I mean. Stage 8 - 94.7km

I write to you today from Glarus at the base of the Klausen Pass. It was another day of hard riding on what passes for rolling terrain in Switzerland, but for the rest of us is like a lung-busting climb every ten minutes. The Swiss Tourist Information offices have been uniformly disinterested in offering anything but the barest minimum of assistance and it seems that a laundromat is about as common as seeing John Howard in a red leather G-string at St Tropez.

We are off for some food so we will leave you with some photos and us to contemplate tomorrow's ascent of the Klausen Pass. Stage 9 - 92.6km