Day 5. Another day of climbing, and a bit of retail therapy. Nauders where I stay is about 15 miles from Samnaun at an altitude of 1846 M 6056 Ft, an area in Switzerland which is a tax free zone. For example petrol in the UK in 2015 was £1.03 a litre while in Samnaun it was the equivalent of 75P and Southern Comfort was about £14 a litre. I of course filled up the car with fuel and my duty free allowance. Petrol was a bit more expensive at about £1.05 for Super but the Southern Comfort still worked out at £14 a litre. From there over the Flüela Pass (2383 M, 7818 Ft), and the Albula Pass (2315 M, 7595 Ft) From there back to Nauders via the Norbertshöhe (1410 M, 4626 Ft) .
Although I’d been over the Fluela before, it had always been from north to South, so I did it the other way this time.
The Albula is one of my favourite passes, but I’d always driven over it from South to North. I didn’t realise how much of the railway could be seen by going in the other direction. Here is the Landwasser viaduct with the right hand arch springing directly from the tunnel and cliff face. I’d never seen this view before.
The summit of the Albula Pass. The amount of middle aged bikers everywhere was amazing. Whole clubs of 15 - 20 riders were out over all the mountain roads. From there it was back down the Engadine to the Austrian border and then over the Norbert Hohe to Nauders.
