We probably had our easiest day of riding getting to Interlaken from Bern. It was only ~70km on perfectly sign-posted Swiss national bike path, with minimal elevation gain. 

Leaving Bern, we went through a city park along the river, then found ourselves in Swiss farmland. The bike route was mostly on quiet farm roads or gravel park roads. As we approached Lake Thunersee, we suddenly were on a grated bridge hundreds of feet in the air above a river. It was pretty nerve wracking staring down as we pedaled, as we could see the bottom with very little obstruction. We took a few pictures and videos – then got off the bridge as quickly as we could. 

The path met up with the lake at the town of Spiez, where we had lunch. The restaurant provided a great overlook of the town and water below. We only had 20km to go after lunch, so it was nice to take a longer rest. 

The rest of the route into Interlaken followed the lake and was mostly downhill. We arrived around 3pm, checked into our campground, and went downtown for coffee and dinner. We spent a second day exploring the Interlaken area, including taking a ~30min train to Brienz in order to catch a steam-powered cog train to the top of a mountain peak overlooking the region. The train was about an hour long, and went at a very steep angle up (thus the need for cogs). It was a great way to climb a mountain while exerting zero physical effort!

As a slight programming note, we have a couple more days in Switzerland before we head into Germany. We decided to try to bike back to Amsterdam from Switzerland along the Rhine River, instead of heading to Norway. Caitlin’s flight leaves a few days earlier than Andrew’s flight, so he’ll rent a car (what a novel idea) and explore Norway, Sweden, and Denmark on his own. 

We’re looking forward to continuing to Lucern tomorrow!


​