Rally Elan

The Grand Tour of Switzerland is a route mapped out by the tourist board and sounds good but our tour was called The Seven ‘C’s of Switzerland. It was very gentle– we did more miles travelling to/from the start than we did in Switzerland but there again it is a small country! We met up in Neuchatel (near the French border in the north west) after taking the ferry to Hook of Holland and a 500 mile thrash through Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and France – we had to be there in time for the Welcome Dinner at 7.30! Swiss wine and cheese fondue were on offer and I hadn’t had a fondue since they were all the rage 40 years ago!

There were six cars in the tour but that reduced to five when one couple’s house was broken into and their E type stolen so they hastened home to sort out the chaos. Another was a German speaking Swiss couple who drove a Corvette until that broke down and they switched to a Mustang. I was intrigued by the insight into Switzerland that when they spoke to a waitress in a French speaking area – it was in English!

The tour was a clockwise meander round the centre of the country with plenty of “all you expect” views of Alpine scenery – cows, lakes, vineyards and hills.

Chocolate and cheese were on the menu from day 1 with a tour round the Cailler factory, a few miles from the town of Gruyeres. Our journey on day 2 was interrupted by people in ceremonial jackets directing all cars to pull off the road. When I asked what was happening, the short answer was Les Vaches. Cows, decked out with cow bells and straw hats were descending to winter pasture and round here cows are the source of income

After cows the next feature was the Schilthorn – scene of James Bond’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

where a sequence of cable cars go up to the 2970 metre summit. This is the centre of Swiss skiing but fortunately there was no snow to worry us in September. Next stop the City of Thun with a castle dating from 1180. Switzerland has an amazing number of mediaeval buildings, many still in use, others closed for repairs or because it was a Monday. I guess that avoiding two World Wars helped.

We spent a day wandering round Lucerne. The size of the Elan not being a relevant barrier, I had to try a different tactic to lure Allison away from the watch shops that comprise most of the shopping opportunities here. The wooden bridges with their painted panels and sculpture of a dying lion seemed to do the trick! The Lion is a memorial to the 786 Swiss guards who died defending Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

That evening in Vitznau I thought I should reduce the noise pollution from the squealing brakes and was joined by an underworked rally mechanic who thought he should show willing and provided the copper ease which helped reduce the screeching.

A guided tour round the Swiss Army Knife visitor centre occupied us before we took the ultra-modern funicular railway to Stoos. The train consists of 4 barrel-like carriages which rotate as they climb so the passengers are always upright despite a gradient of 110%. (48° in old money). Next stop Andermatt and then we had some mountain passes to test us! We started on the Susten Pass, opened in 1945 for tourism and generally the last to be cleared of snow.

We decided to walk up to the Steinen Glacier and found the Swiss Army in training. This consisted of shooting at the rock face – not sure why but as they were having their lunch break they didn’t mind us being in the line of fire!

The next pass was the Grimsel, a much narrower road where a black Rolls hooted furiously at our temerity in ascending whilst he was descending, just missing us in the process. We had a choice of routes at Gletsch and took the shorter route via the Furka Pass

spending some time in a passing point as a group of 25 French Porsches followed a bus slowly up hill. Probably not what they had in mind when they set out! Sadly we missed out on the Tremola and Saint Gotthard Passes but we did drive them five years ago as part of the Peking to Paris rally (not in the Lotus!)

Day 8 saw us reverse the Furka Pass and this time we stopped to visit the Rhone Glacier, a rather sad lump of ice covered in white sheeting in a vain attempt to reduce the melt. After a rest day in Crans Montana, mainly spent hiking around some expensive ski slopes we found our way to the Chateau de Chillon.

Who can forget Byron’s poems about the democratic Protestant prisoner, Francois Bonivard, chained to a pillar in a dungeon for four years by the Dukes of Savoy? “There are seven pillars of Gothic mould, in Chillon’s dungeons deep and old…..”. Chillon sits at the edge of Lake Leman and from the lake is a picture of peace and tranquillity – until one sees the railway line and highway running right along the lake shore but it is Switzerland’s most visited site and the tourists have to get there!

Our last day revealed an unexpected treat at the Abbey of Romainmotier.

This huge building constructed between 990 and 1030 is hidden away in a tiny village below a narrow mountain road – and the entrance is via a cupboard door in the café! There are huge rooms with wide floorboards and massive pillars in the cellar to take the weight. Then it was time to close the door on expensive hotel rooms and Swiss luxury with another 500 mile trip to the Harwich ferry.

So what were the 7 C’s? Sarah was reticent on this – what did we want them to be? How about Cantons, Cheese, Chocolate, Cows, Chateaux, Clocks and …. maybe Cuisine?