By Bike

Day 29 (1st September) – Part B: Santa Maria val Mustair to Silvaplana.

I wanted to ride through the Swiss National Park, the only national park in the country. Located in the western Rhaetian Alps, it’s known for its stunning alpine landscapes, complex geology, rich biodiversity, unique flora and fauna and beautiful coniferous forests of pine, spruce and larch.

Sam wisely chose to take the camper van for this leg, for within half an hour of departing, the skies opened up. The first rain of our trip so far.

The rain quickly abated and held off while I climbed Ofen Pass, a name derived from the iron smelting ovens used to process iron ore extracted from local mines.

The road down the other side was enticingly smooth and fast, but I had barely gone a kilometre when the rain came down again, this time in earnest. Not familiar with my new bikes or tyres wet weather handling capabilities, I thought best to ride cautiously.

The up-side of descending slowly for a change was that I got to take in the dramatic dolomitic and gneiss landscapes of the national park. Once the rain eased though, it was a super fast descent into the 80km long Engadin Valley, also known as the Engadine.

The Engadine is home to the Romansh people, a linguistic minority in Switzerland, descended from Latin populations of the Roman Empire.

Even though there are more than 170 glaciers in the valley, the Engadine is also said to have a “champagne climate” with little rainfall and over 300 sunny days per year. In winter its dry cold air preserves snowfall and perfect powder snow conditions rivalling those of the Rocky Mountains.

This of course was all cold comfort for me on my long ride up the Inn River (the same Inn River that flows through Innsbruck and into the Danube) against the wind and intermittent bursts of rain.

After a last climb through the back streets of St Moritz and another burst of rain, it was a welcome relief to rejoin the team and camp at Silvaplana.

According to Garmin