Delicious breakfast
Our Airbnb host Pietra prepared a delicious wholesome breakfast with Swiss bread and Slovakian pastries (as she is a native of Slovakian), eggs, bacon, yoghurt, and fruit and helped us to get an old cardboard box to pack the bicycle bags.
LAKE TOMA - What an Experience
The trek to Lake Toma, the source of the river Rhine, was a must on our itinerary list, although we were running late as per our schedule. We decided to hike to experience the natural beauty of the lake. The lake lies at an altitude of 2345 meters! It was supposed to take 1.5hrs according to the directions posted but it took us 3 hours to hike up and another 2 hours to hike down due to our poor fitness, lack of training, and mostly due to the heavy loads we were carrying (camera, laptop, drone, water bottles, etc). It was a steep and scary climb up as most parts were at the edge of the mountain and frankly we are not mountain climbers. Finally, we made it to the top and were rewarded with beautiful views of the lake below and the surrounding peaks of the Gotthard range. This was our first hike in our entire lives.
Approaching Lake Toma
Lake Toma is regarded as the source of the Rhine, and this is the only place where the river that traverses four countries can be crossed with one step. The hike starts on the Oberalp Pass and crosses the valley southwards (with almost no variation in height); then it climbs 350m to the enchanted mountain lake.
Lake Toma
I tried using the drone to take some aerial pictures and unfortunately, it needed calibration and I was struggling with it. I was tired and confused and although I tried, just couldn't get it right. Actually, it is very simple.
Our Cycle Journey Starts Here!!!
It was 6 pm by the time we finished the hike and still shining. After a very short rest and Yogurt snack, we started on the Eurovelo 15 Rhine River cycle route to Trun. We had to use the motorway which wasn’t as dangerous as we had feared as vehicles were few and they also gave a wide berth. The ride was easy as it was downhill almost all the way. It was a 42km ride and took us about 2.5 hours. From Trun, we cycled towards Breil/Brigels where our BnB for the night was.
No way we could climb the hill anymore!!!
Didn’t realize that our BNB was up in the mountains!!! Luckily our host, Marta, drove us up in her minibus, bicycles and all. It was 10 pm by the time we got there and though the hotel kitchen had just closed, we had a special meal prepared just for us as the owner is a friend of Marta. One of the local dishes that we tried was “Capoon” – Vege rolls with meat. After the delicious meal, our aching bodies had a good night’s sleep in Marta’s cosy cottage.
