Sometimes those tours that we did way back when I first came to Switzerland can be forgotten about and it’s only when you go back to do them again with a group that you realise how much fun they really were. I first rode the route Einsiedeln – Hoch-ybrig – Einsiedeln in summer 2002 or 2003 and this year I decided to revisit the route and bring a group with me.
Last Saturday thirteen of us rolled out from the train station in Einsiedeln under bright sunshine, perfect blue skies and surrounded by rolling green hills. We made our way out of Einsiedeln and crossed the bridge to Willerzell at a relaxed pace so that we could take in the scenery and enjoy a chat with other group members.
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| The first part of the route on the quiet roads near Willerzell |
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| A peaceful morning by Sihlsee |
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| Big smiles all round. |
The first part of the route was quite flat until we got to the little town of Waag, then the route started to go uphill quite steeply for about 800m to get to the top of Spirstock.
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| The climbing starts and the smiles keep coming. |
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| Some typical Swiss scenery. |
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| The locals were very friendly. This one even seemed to be blowing us a kiss. |
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| Just before the top of Spirstock. |
On top of Spirstock we could enjoy beautiful views over Vierwaldstätersee and the surrounding mountains and glaciers. It was a little warm to have our picnic out in the open on top so once we had taken in the views for a short period we descended a short distance and enjoyed our packed lunch in the shade of some trees.
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| The view from the top, Vierwaldstätersee, Stoos and Grosse Mythen on the right. |
After lunch the descent began properly. The fist section was a very rocky old Roman road. Quite wide, but enough rocks to make it “interesting”. After a few kms of this surface we veered off to the right and took an undulating single trail to the top of Ibergereggpass.
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| On the way to Ibergereggpass |
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| Some nice singletrail between Spirstock and Ibergeregg |
The trail was quite technical and in places some of the group had to walk but everyone seemed to enjoy the challenge and the experience of being out in the mountains with their bikes.
From Ibergereggpass we had a short climb before entering a nice singletrail descending to Brunni. This trail (for the most part) was easier than the first section of singletrail we rode, but it too had a couple of “interesting” sections.
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| A cool drink before the last section of trail to Brunni. |
We managed to get to Brunni with 13 beaming smiles after an amazing day in the mountains and from there gently coast down the road to the train station in Einsiedeln.
For some people in the group this was their first big tour, everyone accepted the challenge in an incredibly positive way and seemed really happy to have shared a great day in the mountains with an amazingly friendly group of people. It’s this friendship that is forged on these rides and the smiles from everyone taking part which make it worthwhile to spend so many evenings with my head stuck in maps coming up with routes for the group.
I am really looking forward to the next group events we have in the coming weeks in Graubunden and Wallis. I can only say a huge thank you to all the people who come out and provide such a positive attitude and make Swiss Alpine Adventure an amazing community.
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