Mikes Blog

Lago Magiore to a little Pension in der Schweiz
18th April
A sweet breakfast sitting under the awawning outside our caravan. We head off towards Switzerland. The road around the lake is so narrow that driving is a bit of a nightmare. We arrive at Cembana, last town before the border - and Zita wants to check the shopping. She finds that here it is great. An excellent range of Italian clothes and shows at really good prices. This is what she has been waiting for. I end up with new pants, shorts, shoes, tee shirt and pullover. Zita gets 2 new pairs of shoes.
On across the border and the climb up into the mountains. There is now plenty of snow around higher up and the mountains become big and steep with huge vertical rocky walls. Our intention is to go over Gebato PAss and maybe stay near the pass in a Pension, However all high passes are still closed with winter snow so we are forced to take the tunnel - 15 kms long with just a single lane of traffic in each dirrection. It takes ongoing concentration - not a place to panic. Once out the other side we start looking for accomodation. We expect to easily find a caravan by the lake. This doesn't seem to happen here. - unlike Italy. We look for "Zimmer Frei" (room free)/ Also no luck. We continue travelling back roads towards St. Gallen and ask in a few Gasthofs. Finally we find something for Fr90 = E60 = NZ120. A simple but pleasant room on the third floor of an old converted fram house. In winter this area, Appenzellerland - is well known for LAnglauf (crosscountry skiing). How I miss this activity. In summer there is lots of easy and more difficult mountain walking.
From our bedroom window we can see Santis - a prominent peak in this part of Switzerland. We still need to go out and drive three kms up the road to get dinner - at 9pm. We have WeinerSchnitzel, salad and a type of shredded fried potatoe. I have a beer. A welcome home meal to the mountains of western Europe.