I was in a dilemma: I really wanted to take a detour to spend some time in St Moritz but I really did not want to be reckless and take on the Swiss mountain passes unnecessarily. What to do? I know – put the question out to the nice people on the Motorhomefun forum and see what they thought! The answer was a resounding “Go for it, girl” so, with my heart in my mouth, I pointed Gloria in the direction of St Moritz and her first mountain pass. My eyes were resolutely glued to the road during the heart-stopping hair-raising hairpins, as I couldn’t bring myself to look over the edge and see how far it was to the valley. I took my time, pulled over plenty to let the faster cars through and…… found that I actually quite enjoyed the whole experience! The scenery was utterly breathtaking and the engineering of the roads, tunnels and bridges was worth every cent of that vignette. I stopped for lunch beside a gorgeous lake (oh, the joy of just being able to stop and open the fridge and make lunch!) which was when I realised that it was the first time that I had really breathed. There was one more pass to go which was the steepest one yet before descending down to the Engadine lake plateau, a stunning plateau at 1800m that has four large lakes, one of which is St Moritz. The beauty of the plateau has inspired many poets and artists and it’s clear why, as the combination of snow-capped peaks, emerald green water and chocolate-box pretty Swiss chalets and hotels is unrivalled.

The first surprise on arrival, was finding myself watching the polo game that was being played right beside my camping spot…..not quite what I was expecting in a glamorous summer spa town/two-time Olympic host winter town! Although I couldn’t follow the game, it was a magnificent sight at the foot of the Alps and the polo horses were beautifully prepared, all shiny and muscly – and the jockeys weren’t bad either!!

I biked off around the lake and found myself in a weird kind of folk festival with even weirder dancing taking place…..

And finally cycled off to find the original reason for wanting to come to St Moritz…….the airport! I know how bizarre that sounds, but bear with me here, as in a previous life I flew executive jets and remember a pretty sporty, spectacular approach flying down the valley and landing with snow all around. But the one thing that really stuck with me from that day was seeing a level crossing barrier with cross-country skiers waiting for us to backtrack the runway before they could continue on their way. I was wondering whether my memory was playing tricks on me, so wanted to go and see it for myself . Clearly it hadn’t been a figment of my imagination and it was a great focal point for my bike ride.

The following morning, I biked to Post Muragl for a crazily steep funicular ride up the mountain for one of the most spectacular views down the Engadine valley and a great hike up to a lake at 2750m.

Finally, the big moment had arrived…..what goes up must come down, so there was nothing for it – Gloria and I had to negotiate the mountain pass back down again. The Mujala pass is one of the steepest and most famous and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to having had a sleepless night worrying about it – not because of the manoeuvring around the 180 corners, but because I had read about a motorhome that had suffered brake failure that just filled me with horror. And, without wishing to be rude about the old girl’s weight……she is a big old unit!! So, with great trepidation, lots of engine braking and with my heart in my mouth, Gloria and I poked our nose over the top of the pass. It was a bit like finding yourself on a double black diamond run as a novice skier and having to traverse the whole mountain doing a snowplough before plucking up courage to turn back the other way, knowing that at some point during that turn you will be facing completely downhill. However, once we got started, we got into our stride and before we knew it, the worst of it was over…..which is a good job, as I didn’t see anywhere to pull over or, more importantly, a run-off area in case of brake failure.

The rest of the journey through the beautiful Swiss and then Italian Alps was full of spectacular views and before I knew it, I was parked up by the shores of Lake Como. Wow -,gorgeous! And I knew I had descended a great height, as I had started off the day wearing two fleeces and was now back in T shirt and shorts, sipping on my first Aperol Spritz of the trip.

A relaxing day was spent chilling out beside the lake the following day with the inevitable bike ride before setting off on my journey to Milan to pick up my two VIPs. In my mind, I had pictured the journey down the lake shore to be picturesque, but it was completely different in reality. Almost straight away we were in a tunnel over a mile long with almost no room between Gloria and the tunnel wall and the other lane of traffic. Whereas the hairpins had given me sweaty palms, these tunnels definitely made me grip Gloria’s wheel more tightly than usual. Every now and then, we would emerge into sunlight with a little glimpse down a ravine to the lake before, like a mole going back into its hole, we would go back into the darkness for another mile or so of tight-grip tunnel torture!

And now I find myself near Milan airport waiting for my Gloria’s guests and contemplating how quickly two weeks solo has passed and given me so many extraordinary memories.

• Thoughts so far:
• Switzerland has the densest rail network in all of Europe, despite being 70% mountains
• You are never more than 16km from a Lake (partly because Switzerland has 1500 of them!)
• There are more banks than dentists
• Swiss trains capture and store the energy produced in downhill braking – every four trains going down produces enough power to send one train up – clever!
• Switzerland produces the most chocolate in the world
• Coffee in Switzerland costs more than a beer 🍺 😮