13th July Mountain Country.

 Today we set off for the "Hills" with our efficient touring team. Maria was plotting the course, in consultation with Roland and Roland was  behind the wheel. We left town via a 10km long tunnel which was quite amazing. Our first destination was the town which claims William Tell as a resident. There is a very impressive monument apart from a restaurant named for him. Of course the sun was coming from the wrong direction but I have done my best with the photo

From there R & M had decided that we would take the old road to the uplands as it is more interesting. Their decision was vindicated soon after we began again when there was advice of a traffic jam  on the autobahn. School holidays and American tour buses etc. Our first stop was The Devil's Bridge. This was interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly it was the site of a five year long battle between Napolian's troups and the Russian army. There is a large memorial to the Russians but nothing for the French. Again the situation didn't make for a decent photo. The reason things dragged on for so long was the difficulty of the site. It has a very steep and deep chasum filled with rushing icy water.Very  beautiful but difficult to navigate.

The story goes that the locals decided they really needed a bridge but a meeting of the decision makers from either side couldn't work out how to build it. In frustration one of the leaders stated that they should leave it to the devil. Duly summoned he offered  to  build it.  The price would be the first to cross the bridge. When the day came the locals cannily sent a goat across. The devil was furious and picked up a huge rock to smash the bridge. Then an old lady approached the devil and expressed concern at how hot and sweaty he was getting. She persuaded him to take a rest and put the rock down. While he was resting she quietly went around the other side of the rock and painted a cross on it. When the devil picked the rock up and it rotated in the process he saw the cross and screamed with rage and stormed away.

A substantial stone bridge was built in 1939 and replaced by a wider one in 1956. The old bridge is part of a circuit walk trail which includes a tunnel through the rocks. The tunnel was part of an extensive military defensive development which includes numerous caves to store equipment ready for any eventuality.

We took the walk which was about half an hour. We then went on the the upper pastures which gave us a good view of the snow fields. A picnic lunch by the side of the road gave us lots of opportunity for photographs. We then continued climbing up to the Pass. It was a very hairpin road though good condition. Lots of motor bikes again and more cars on the road in the afternoon. We stopped for coffee, a marmot park where we saw one apart from the one sprinting across the pasture.

In all the road was up and down mountains and we crossed three Passes. We also stopped in Mieringen to buy the town's specialty desert. Meranges which were delicious for desert with strawberries and icecream.