A LONELY MOUNTAIN PASS

My goal in the driving aspect of my trip was to find passes and roads that were not well traveled.  And, going from Chur to St. Moritz, I totally succeeded.  I found a pass that the road was not colored at all on the map, which means that it is not a major route by any means. 

The navigation system’s female voice, (Hey, if it is a German car, we would call her Helga, but this is Switzerland, so why not Heidi?) kept telling me nervously that my route over the Albula Pass was on a seasonally closed road, but, sorry Heidi, it was still open.

Most of it was not fully two lanes, (randomly varied from 1 to 1.5 to 2 lanes)  but it was paved and I did pass a great old castle, went through a one lane covered bridge and was able to stop wherever I could find a turn out as there was no one on the road.

This stretch over the pass was all above tree line and very windswept, empty of other cars, and cold that day.  Just tundra and rock until the actual pass, where, of course,  there was a restaurant, and gift shop.  (If you have not been to Switzerland, you would not know that they have facilities everywhere, some fully developed when the only access is by trail.)  

After a coffee break to warm up, I continued only to be stopped by a herd of cattle being moved down to the lower elevations for winter.  This is so special here as all of the cattle have giant cow bells, (the steel bell itself is about 12” by 24”. Can’t be much fun lugging it around all day.)  so the whole experience of watching the movement is very loud.  The Swiss walk them, with no use of horses as we do, but they do use sheep dogs to keep everybody in formation.  So what do we call a sheep dog when they are herding cattle, 
anyway? 

It was a classic Swiss scene.

Typical view of a Swiss village.

The fort, 12th century I think.  The sign board was totally in German, so I am guessing.

No, it is not a full two lanes wide, and yes, the drop off is very far.

Autumn color in the tundra.

Two things you see everywhere. Cow signs,and electric transmission towers.

Yes, it is cold.

7,595′ is what it says.

When you know you have gotten to the pass, you will see the restaurant/hotel/gift shop.

Heidi’s car.  She is resting from the stress of her constant warnings about the possibly closed pass.

Note the sheep dog upper left.

Getting the rest of the herd across the road is tiring work.  Upper left again.

So what else would a good dog do when  the  mission is accomplished other than go for a good petting?.