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My heart is thumping, my panting is almost all I can hear. Through the adrenalin rush I can hear and observe only one sound. There is no brain capacity for more. The jingling of cow bells. The gush of water. The sprinkle of rain. Or pure silence in the beautiful mountains. The Drahtesel is conquering the Alps.

Today I was greeted by lots of lovely people, all wishing me well on my route. At the top of the Albula Pass, on a hiking road to Zernez, on the bus (!) to Livigno, in the hotel and more.

Many look at my bike, trying to find the electric battery. So many people use them around here. I don’t know how easy it would be to charge such a battery in Tajikistan on the Pamir Highway. One would need a mother of a solar panel. 🙂

I hereby name my bike ‘Drahtesel’. Such a cool name, first used by Viktoria Schulte from the Kölnische Rundschau. While crawling up the mountain, I found myself talking to Drahtesel. For me it signifies a heavy but sturdy beast, that, slowly but surely, scales anything. We’re getting there Drahtesel! You’re doing well, Drahtesel. Drahtesel scaled his first pass in the Alps today – the Albula Pass (2315m).

Then Drahtesel flanked the side of the valley in the forest, following a river down to Zernez. Although the river was flowing in my direction (I checked that), it was a steep up and down affair on gravel roads. The group of swiss walkers I met there made my day. What a lovely bunch. They told me all about the railway that was built there, and how the bridge collapsed 100 years ago and killed lots of workers.

My planned route was a turnoff from the road leading to the Ofenpass. Oops. I was wondering how the road was going to magically pass into Italy. There were no obvious side rivers. Just massive mountains everywhere. Well, a bike-free tunnel with a bike shuttle bus. My first cheat of the trip (only 3km – I don’t feel too bad about that).. 🙂

And then ‘Hello Italia’. My home for the coming week or two.