Day 1 (Zurich to) Oberalppass to Disentis

When my panniers were stuffed to capacity in the first place, why did I have to buy a fancy (bulky) red Swiss drink bottle in Zurich? This, Anne asks whilst refusing to put it her pannier. It's so unfair. Her shoes and clothes are so much smaller than mine and she's not carrying 3.1/2kg of tools, spares and techie gadgets! Anyway, for those interested: I'm carrying 15.5kg ; Anne 11.0kg ; and Anne considers this as it should be as I'm bigger than her, so there!
So, we left the youth hostel at 07:55 in the dry despite the rain pounding down until at least 4am. Departing Zurich on plan, we were a little in awe of the amount of snow (and cloud!) on the distant mountains. The 3-train journey was a beautifully scenic and efficient trip and we successfully made both tight connections without a hitch which meant we avoided two 1-hour waits and got to Oberalppass 2 hours earlier than expected. We alighted above the snow line and walked round, avoiding piles of slushy snow melting in the sun, to the adjacent restaurant for a soup and beer lunch. Appetites sated, we cycled the 21 km to the hotel in Disentis. Or, more accurately, we sat on the bikes whilst they free-wheeled the 21 km down stupendous hairpins descending from 2050m to 1230m. The only break in the rhythm was to don rain gear for a heavy shower that came out of nowhere and stopped just as quickly. The distance passed so quickly that we overshot the hotel and had to retrace 1/2km. After changing we walked down to explore Disentis and get a coffee before returning to the hotel for a beer in the sun and food.
25.3km; 20.0kph avg; 01:15 moving time; 30m ascent (mainly because we overshot the hotel)