Back in the Engadin

It’s Auffahrt again – Ascension in English – so that can only mean one thing. I’m here in the Engadin for a long weekend.

It’s my favourite place in Switzerland, apart from Zurich, of course.

We’ve done many bike rides in the Engadin and lots of hikes too. Today we decided to head back to the very beautiful area around Morteratsch but this time with a difference. We put ourselves and bikes on the train at Pontresina and headed uphill to Ospizio Bernina, which is almost at the top of the Bernina Pass.

After emerging into the cold at the station we cycled uphill to get to the top of the pass. Cycling over one of the mountain passes has been an ambition of mine for a long time. I don’t think today’s bike ride counts but we did, at least, cycle back down.

At first we started on the main road as there was too much snow on the cycle paths. You’d think that cycling downhill would be easy but there was such a strong headwind that we had to pedal to make sure we kept upright and heading in the right direction. Soon we managed to turn off the main road and started heading down the cycle paths.

We stopped to admire the two lakes near the top of the mountain. One heads towards the Adriatic Sea and the other eventually flows out into the Black Sea. It’s amazing isn’t it?

We continued downhill, often having to dismount either because our path was blocked by piles of snow or just because the hills were a bit too steep. I can honestly say that the scenery was absolutely gorgeous and the cycling was a lot of fun – until the bit where I fell off…

Anyway, we made it downhill in one piece, going past the spectacular waterfall close to the Morteratsch train station. We ended up going back into Pontresina a slightly different way to our normal route and chanced across a gorge – not quite as impressive as some of the other gorges in Switzerland, but still worth seeing.

Before we headed home we cycled a kilometre or so up the Rosegg Valley and then stopped to have part three of our picnic next to the Zurich Vita Parcours.

All in all, it was a fabulous day.

Language Tips

Just a quick tip today. I’ve probably mentioned it before but it’s worth mentioning again. When you use the word ‘worth’ and follow it by a verb, the verb takes the ‘ing form.

Do say ‘worth seeing’

Don’t say ‘worth to see’