Cycle ride to Kublis

Today we decided to cycle instead of hike. We knew that rain was expected later this afternoon but the morning was sunny and bright so we thought we could complete the cycle before the expected rain. 

As the cycle routes are fairly long distances, Xena is in her Croozer trailer behind Gavin's bike (see extra) She is not in it all the time, she comes in and out so she gets plenty of exercise too, but she cannot be expected to run 30km alongside the bikes. 

As usual we started by picking up coffees in the village - now that we have two excellent coffee places in our small village, (they are opposite each other on the main road), we try to be fair by taking turns to support each of them! We headed off in the sunshine, a 500m ascent over about 4.5km from the village of Klosters up the mountain to Schifer. Thankfully we have e-bikes, they are mountain bikes with proper shock absorber systems which you really need for these bouncy and rocky trails. The cycle path actually follows much of the ski run in winter that takes you from the top of the mountain back down to the village. At Schifer we stopped and had a cold drink at the mountain restaurant. In winter ski season this place is buzzing and so full of people, but today the poor chap running it said business has been so slow this summer, there were only four of us there. Switzerland has also had a cool and rainy start to their summer but now that the weather is better they are hoping more tourists will arrive.

Then it was downhill all the way to the town of Kublis, which is about 14km by road from our village down the valley. As we approached Kublis the first drops of rain started to fall, but yay for us we had remembered our rain jackets. We decided to stop at the hotel for a light lunch on the terrace while we waited to see how heavy the rain was - it wasn't, there were a few drops and it seemed to fade away. So after lunch we cycled back up the valley, another ascent of about 300m over 12km and when we were 5km from our village the heavens opened and we had a thunderstorm with lashing rain. Of course despite having rain jackets we got soaked, and while I thought Xena would be snug and secure in her cruiser she actually got sprayed with water from the wheel. By the time we got back to our village the rain and stopped and the sun came out again. Such is the weather in the mountains, this is normal in the summer. 

Back home Gavin washed the bikes down and after our 30km cycle we are now relaxing!

Last night I finally subscribed to Apple TV as I cannot find anything suitable to watch on Netflix - it's all dubbed dramas or violent movies. We thoroughly enjoyed watching Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV which we have not seen although we have both read the book. Lady of the Lake also looks good so it was a good decision for now.