Today, John leaves the valley of Lauterbrunnen and points Vanilla towards Pontresina, deep in the eastern Swiss Alps. 🇨🇭🚐
The plan sounds simple:
follow mountain roads south through lakes, glaciers, forests and high Alpine passes until the scenery becomes almost too ridiculous to process properly.
After days beneath the waterfalls at Camping Jungfrau, today feels like the next proper chapter of the adventure. The roads climb higher. The mountains become wilder. Switzerland starts showing off properly.
There’ll be coffee stops somewhere above the clouds, countless photo opportunities beside turquoise lakes, and probably several moments where Vanilla ends up parked in silence while John simply stares at the view wondering how life somehow led from Staffordshire to this.
Not bad for an old HGV driver.
The route towards Pontresina promises everything Switzerland does best:
snow poles, mountain tunnels, impossible bends, tiny villages, glaciers, dramatic skies and roads that look like they were designed by somebody who thought brakes were optional.
And beyond all this waits Italy, the Dolomites, Tuscany, Croatia and eventually Bosnia.
But today is about the drive itself.
One more huge Alpine crossing.
One more unforgettable road.
Written by AI… but powered entirely by the heart, soul and wandering spirit of John Nickolls.
May 10 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C