Wednesday 31st October 2018

There was a good international selection of campers at the Aire overnight - German, French, Belgian and British! We had showers and serviced the van. Unfortunately I somehow forgot to replace the cap on the fresh water tank after filling it. We moved on to a local supermarket but when we arrived there we realised that the water filler cap was missing. We went back to the Aire to search for it but it was nowhere to be found. We discovered the location of a local camper dealer on Google and went there and bought a new filler cap. We then moved back to the nearby supermarket and did our grocery shop.

We moved on east crossing the wide river Adda en route.

We stopped for the day at the town of Stezzano near to the city of Bergamo. We initially parked at the town Aire. We used Google again to search for a launderette - this time with less success as it led us to a dry cleaner within walking distance. The woman there was very helpful and drew Ann a map as to how we could get to this seriously posh launderette. We drove there in the van.

It's like a mid range hotel with TV, drinks vending machine and really nice baskets to load and unload your laundry!

We were even able to park the van right outside the launderette while our clothes were washing and drying. Having done the laundry we returned to the town Aire which is a bit down at heel but free and the water is turned on.

Today we travelled 75 miles (121 kilometres). We are at N45.65596 E9.65250

Stezzano      Street view

Tuesday 30th October 2018

This morning the weather seemed a bit better in Savognin than it had been yesterday. We very unwisely, emboldened perhaps by our newly purchased snow chains, decided to make another attempt at crossing the Julierpass. All looked fine as we set out.

As we climbed higher it became clear that the weather was foul at altitude.

We had only got a little higher than our high point of yesterday when we no longer had any grip with our summer tyres and that the only way to make further progress would be to fit the snow chains, But where to stop to do the fitting? It is very very difficult to make rational decisions in this type of situation (if indeed there are any rational decisions to make).

We found a reasonably flat bit of road and pulled over to the right as far as we could. As soon as I got out of the van I realised we were in a very dangerous situation with an intense blizzard blowing and barely controlled lorries and cars in various states of distress passing us in both directions! I eventually managed to fit the right front chain. I then had the horrendous prospect of fitting the left front one with barely room for the lorries to pass me in the blizzard gloom. To make matters worse I became incredibly cold and my body was wracked by uncontrollable coughing fits. Somehow I got the left front chain fitted.

 

I got the van started but after having moved forward about 10 metres the left chain dropped off. Assuming I had fitted it incorrectly I went back into the firing line of the passing barely controlled vehicles and tried to refit it only to find that it had broken! Behind us was this Croatian registered car which was clearly in distress. I somehow managed to turn our van around and head back down to Savognin where the garage we had bought the chains from yesterday replaced them with a new pair saying that ours had clearly had a "manufacturing fault". I really feared for my life today. It was not just about the prospect of being run over by a vehicle in the gloom but by the intense wind chill and the terrible effect the cold and stress was having on  my body.

We travelled back north and then west and parked at the railway station at Thusis.

There is this nice statue on the platform. After much coming and going we managed to buy a permit to travel on Swiss motorways as we reckoned that this would be the only way to cross the main chain of the alps in the current weather conditions,

We set off south down the motorway.

We passed through numerous short tunnels.

As we got higher the blizzard conditions returned but the authorities had somehow managed to keep the motorway open.

We went through the St Bernard tunnel eventually managing to get through the main chain of the alps.

Coming out of the south side of the tunnel conditions were still tricky for a while.

Eventually we reached lower altitudes where there wasn't any snow.

We crossed from Switzerland into Italy.

We are staying tonight at the Area Camper (Aire de Camping Cars) at Como. Here's the view out of our windscreen.

Today we travelled 140 miles (225 kilometres). We are at N45.83503 E9.06061

 Como   Strret view - the aire was obviously being constructed when this was taken.

Monday 29th October 2018

This morning it was raining so heavily in Chur that we abandoned our plans to visit the Old Town which is reputed to be very scenic. Instead we set off south!

While raining heavily there was also a lot of snow about. Soon after leaving Chur we stopped to take on diesel.

We were headed for the city of St Moritz.

We passed through some pretty bleak looking villages which would probably have looked charming if the sun was out.

As we headed up towards the Julierpass the rain got heavier and heavier.Vehicles coming in the opposite direction were plastered in snow.

As we approached the Julierpass (2284 metres, 7940 feet) the rain turned to snow and it began  to settle on the road. Shortly after this photo was taken we encountered two stuck lorries one of which was backing down the hill towards us! We just about managed to turn around in the road and retreat downhill to the village of Bivio.

We didn't stay in Bivio long as the weather was seriously deteriorating. Instead we retraced our route even further to the town of Savognin. Here we bought some groceries and some snow chains. (Regular followers of this blog, (if there are any), will recall that we broke our last set of snow chains when we got stuck up a mountain road in Corsica last winter.) We are staying the night here. This is the "view" from our van. 

Today we travelled 59 miles (95 kilometres)   We are at N46.59508 E9.59563

Savognin      Street view

Sunday 28th October 2018

It was still raining this morning so after servicing the van at Giswil we had little option to head north towards Lucern as the passes to the east and south of us were still closed due to snow.

We eventually cleared Lucern and headed east. We passed numerous lakes.

We then headed to the south aiming for the city of Chur.

As we approached Chur it became clear that there had been quite a heavy snowfall.

The roads however were very clear having been treated with anti freezing stuff.

When we arrived in Chur we parked at the Stellplatz (aire de camping cars). A few metres away from our parking place this river tumbles into the Rhine.

We'd got our big boots out so we could wander around in the snow without getting wet feet.

We wandered down to the banks of the Rhine. It is an impressive place with high cliffs on the other side of the river.

I asked the woman at the Stellplatz reception whether this kind of weather was usual here at this time of year. Apparently not. It had been T shirt weather in Chur until a couple of days ago!

The unseasonal snow has broken many branches off the trees round here.

Tree debris is littered all around.

Here's looking the other way towards where the tributary flows into the Rhine. The earlier picture of Ann was taken on the bridge above this waterfall

We wandered back to our van and turned on the heating. Two German registered vans have turned up and parked on either side of us. We hope to visit the historic centre of Chur tomorrow if the weather improves.

To day we travelled 122 miles (196 kilometres). We are at N46.86205 E9.50714

Chur      Street view

Saturday 27th October 2018

A bit of a frustrating day but quite "interesting"! It rained in the night and rained all day. Rain round here means snow high up. We tried to travel east but found that the Sustenpass was closed. We then tried to go south and found (surprise surprise) that the Grimselpass was also closed. Eventually we came north over a lower pass and stopped at the village of Giswil. There are dedicated camper van parking spaces here!

High above the village stands the church.

There is a nice old wood covered bridge over the river.

Here's another view of the bridge.

There is a free camper van service point. That's about as far as the village plus points go. 

The combined bakery and restaurant advertised a tempting menu of the day at a reasonable price. We turned up, sat down and when asked what we'd like to drink asked for two glasses of water. When the menu arrived the menu of the day advertised outside was not on it and when we asked for it we were told it was not available.

We decided to give it a miss. The bill for the 2 glasses of water came to 9.60 SF = £7.50.

Today we travelled 46 miles (74 kilometres). We are at N46.83266 E8.17914

Giswil      Street view

Friday 26th October 2018

Today was not a very good day. We travelled a long way without getting very far! From our overnight parking place we crossed over a pass into a great valley. We spent a bit of time looking for places that sold LPG even though we weren't really short of it. We eventually found a place which sold it in Interlaken and filled our tanks. From there we travelled up to Grindalwald which is the most horrendous tourist trap you could ever find. Here's the view from an allegedly closed campsite which was full of campers!

Grindalwald is truly appalling. It is absolutely packed with tourists many of whom appear to be from the far east. There is absolutely nowhere to park.

Having taken in a brief view of the impressive surrounding peaks we were glad to beat a hasty retreat back down to Interlaken and east along the valley.

Having passed numerous inviting lakeside parking places all prominently displaying no parking for camper vans between 22.00 and 7.00 signs we happened upon this nice little piece of waste ground and stopped for the night.

It is close to the road and a bit noisy here but there are some nice views,

There are lots of big agricultural machines muck spreading around here.

To day we travelled 93 miles (150 kilometres). We are at N46.74097 E8.05976

Balm        Street view