Granted, there are faster ways from Scuol in Graubunden to Aigle in Canton Vaud. But none more spectacular. On this tour from the most eastern corner of Switzerland to the south west, you experience the result of millions of years of geological thrust. The tour from the Graubunden Alps, through the Bernese Oberland Alps to the Vaud Alps is never-ending up and down effort. Mountain chain follows mountain chain, and it seems you are always pushing your feet down in front of your studded tyres to add only a few stamina-sapping metres of altitude.

But who wants to think about such effort in the face of so much beauty? On old Roman trails, forest and alp roads, you bike through imposing high mountains with panoramic views of snow-covered 4000-metre summits, over flower-filled Alpine pastures down into remote valleys, alongside shimmering lakes and streams, past idyllic chapels and villages, now on technically demanding trails, now on wide unsurfaced roads, always with the ring of cowbells in your ears and the scent of meadow flowers or hay in your nose.

A fantastic tour with countless biking highlights, taking around 16 days and demanding a certain degree of fitness and technique.