No Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Ride!

By now most readers of the SBT blog know of our keen interest in the James Bond movies and books.  Hopefully many of you have checked out the blog post The Definitive List of Bond Movies from back in November.  We timed that list to coincide with the release of Skyfall.  Among the Sticky Bottle Team we had some discussion and protest over the placement of Goldfinger in the bottom five of the definitive list.  We hope to make things right with our Goldfinger fans with this post that takes a look at a bike ride that one could take that mirrors Bond’s drive through Switzerland in his 1964 Aston Martin DB5.   The Aston wasn’t alone in the Swiss Alps.  The bad guy Auric Goldfinger was riding in a classic 1937 Rolls Royce III Sundance De Ville and Tilly Masterson was behind the wheel of a brand new Ford Mustang.  

Let’s put a bike on the road, one that climbs well and start pedaling.  We are climbing the Furka Pass and starting out in the Alpine village of Andermatt.  The Furka Pass links Andermatt in the Canton of Uri with Gletsch in the Canton of Valais.   A pass is just a simple term for a break in mountain peaks, also known as a saddle.  But still this is high country, remember we are talking about the Alps.  The pass sits at an altitude of 2436 meters above sea level. 

The Furka is one of the highest Alpine passes in Switzerland. The Rhone River flows westwards towards the Mediterranean and on the opposite side the Furka-Reuss drains towards the North Sea.  The views are incredible with good sight lines of the Urseren Valley and the Gotthard Massif, an exquisite glacial formation.  On a clear day you can see the Matterhorn.  This ride will have to be done in the summer months, the Furka Pass lies in one of the snowiest regions in Switzerland.  In the cold weather months cars and trucks use the Furka Base Tunnel, opened in 1982.

The Furka Pass has never been much for automobile traffic due to the length and hairpin turns. It's much quicker to go through the tunnel.  The road, when it was built in 1866 was simply an east-west crossing of the Alps.  It is to this day the longest pass road in Switzerland.  Always popular with tourists due to the fun driving experience and spectacular view, the people that do drive the pass are doing so for the sheer fun it brings.  A number of hotels were built along the pass so overnight accommodations are plentiful.

The Rhone glacier provides a unique ice grotto formation and in the last few years a steam  railway for tourists has opened.  It is here we recommend you stop, take a look around and then decide what to do next.  From Andermatt to the glacier it's 23 kilometers so it may be a nice place to turn around for the ride back to Andermatt to complete your nearly 50K ride.  For the adventurous riders continue on to Gletsch with eight more hairpin turns and an additional seven kilometers.  For the true Bond fan it is believed Gletsch provided the petrol station where Bond dropped off Tilly Masterson following the crash of her Mustang.  

We have a review of some "Bikes with Flair" and a new product review and much more on our website www.stickybottleteam.net.