A Blind Woman, Two Wheels and 25,000 Miles - Day 17

The part-time hotel became even more part-time this morning as it is Sunday and there is no breakfast. Talk about casual approach! Needless to say it did not take us long to get moving as me without breakfast is like a car without wheels!

The road back to the Swiss border was busy and queues started to form by the time we arrived. Trundling very slowly up to the border we were waved to one side and the guard asked if we had our motorway pass? Sounds of complete puzzlement came through the intercom as Bernard asked about this pass which we had not needed on our visit to Guide Dogs. It turned out that the cost to drive on the Swiss motorways was 30 Euros and for this princely sum we ended up with a genuine Swiss sticker on the windshield right in Bernard's line of vision - not too good really and we had to move it later on as a wagon could have been approaching and he would not have even seen it through the sticker!

It is so good to be on the move again and the bike is humming softly through the foot pegs and I can feel the thousands of mechanical bits and pieces creating their own symphony which I am now tuned into. I could tell if the sound changed for some reason. I am so tuned in that as the tyres go over different surfaces I know; the rubber creates different sound waves of different intensities.

After a couple of hours it was time to eat! Bernard is still a coffee and cigarette man and "You don't want to eat again do you!" can be heard coming through the intercom to my plaintive pleas for substance. Grumbling about wanting to get some mileage covered he acquiesced and pulled into a service station to enable me to restock the physical frame which is in danger of fading away before the journey has even got going. Listening to the ping of the cooling engine I heard sounds of approaching footsteps and then somebody talking in French asking Bernard for directions. An exchange of French occurred and then it was really funny to discover that Bernard was talking French to another Englishman who was on a motorcycle with a friend. So it was we met Nick Argent from Dorset and Alan who were doing a three week sponsored ride through nine or ten countries for Unicef. When Bernard looked at the other bike he realised the number plate was from the UK and for the rest of the day he kicked himself for not being more observant.

The food went by the wayside as I listened to the two of them talking bikes and road and all things two wheels. Even the loud rumble of my stomach did not dissuade them at all. Hopping from one leg to the other did not better as they continued to waffle on about bikes and roads and journeys. Nick was riding the obligatory BMW GS motorcycle which we had ourselves pondered about using but he agreed with many other people that it is a very top heavy bike and they had already dropped it once and so our decision was - perhaps - vindicated. Putting our trust in Bertha (from Berlin), even at 19 years old, seems to be the correct decision so far.

After a little while and after swapping details with Nick and Alan we headed for breakfast and the satisfaction of the rumble-stopping food. Even after finishing breakfast and walking back to the bike to set off we then bumped into John from London and so another long conversation ensued about the journey. After about an hour, and a wave to John, we climbed on the bike and off we went

The day passed with the journey interspersed with 180 degree bends over and through the Swiss mountains, with mad German riders flashing past on their bikes, diving past cars, accelerating hard and braking at the last minute as they sought to pass everything on the roads. Through the intercom I would hear Bernard exclaim "No way, don't go there mate, you are having a laugh aren't you?" as the German riders really did ride hard and fast through the surroundings. We just thumped along very gently.

After several hours of riding we came to a small town just at the border with France where we planned to spend the night. Parking the bike and stretching - gratefully - our limbs we walked through the main street looking at the cost of the hotels and searching for the cheapest.

Eventually we settled on the Hotel Suisse which nestled in the Swiss mountains covered with forests and power lines disappearing off into the heavens up the side of the mountains.
Our meal consisted of a bubbling - flame powered - pan of cheese, mushrooms and cognac where I had to stab pieces of bread with a skewer and locate the pan and swirl the bread in this potent mix!

Very interesting to do as a blind person I can tell you.