What was going to be an easy 20k day turned into a very full 35k day. We wanted very much to get off early as we had an 8k ride to Stans which is where the Cabrio Gondola is. This is a very unique gondola as we will soon demonstrate.
Firstly we picked up the sturdy steads who had a most comfortable night all tucked up nice and dry. Again the weather turned sour during the night and we hoped it would rain its self out.
Awoke to cloudy skies but dry so headed out after a hearty breakfast along Lake Luzern and hanging a right into Stans.
The Cabrio gondola consists initially of a 10 minute ride up a beautiful old cable car where you then join up with this amazing gondola.
The whole system has been rebuilt due to terrible floods about four years ago and someone had a pretty smart idea……
Notice anything unusual yet? Here is a further clue.
Still don’t get it??
Well here is the giveaway photo.
How cool is that and just another one to convince you.
No doubt in the near future it will feature in a James Bond movie.
The view was stunning.
We struggled with the clouds a bit but the result was still more than satisfactory.
Let’s just throw in another one to confirm to you just how good it was.
On our way up Fras was saying how wonderful it would be to experience walking up to the top of the hill which takes 4.5 hours. Reckon when the Swiss calculate their walking times that they use 80 year olds on turbo gophers because there is no way any normal person could do it in that time. Even these few switchbacks didn’t deter him for planning a future excursion.
And, this was only a tiny portion of the track we saw.
To get to the absolute top you need to walk the final 50 meters which of course mountaineer Fras did.
It was then back onto the bikes to ride into Luzern. We were very lucky as we managed to avoid a heavy rain shower courtesy of a strategically located bus stop.
After a quick shower and clothes washing exercise it was back outside to explore.
Think we all know what Luzern is well known for but did you know that in 1993 there was a large conflagration resulting in the main bridge being rebuilt. Conflagration is about as stupid a word to use in marketing as is recuse in political realms.
Di trying to look sultry but just too tired to go there. Usually when you see photos of the bridge the flowers are a bright red colour but this year they went for the subdued look. Di liked it but Fras was so, so about it.
They have done a really good job of making the new look like old – the bridge we are talking about here.
This will probably be our last tour up any more mountains in Switzerland as it is just so horrendously expensive and we budgeted $350CAD per day and we have blown it big time. Think it will be Walmart greeter jobs on our return home.
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