evilmoose

It seemed a bit chilly on waking up this morning – and on sticking our heads out of the tent we discovered there’d been a frost! Well, we were camping at 1472 metres, so it wasn’t such a surprise, but it made it much harder to leave the sleeping bags. In the end we bought a voucher for 2 hours internet from the campground, and lazed around in our sleeping bags looking at the weather and possible cycle routes, and trying to decide where to go from here. To follow the Alps west, or to head north? We came to the sensible conclusion that the good weather probably wasn’t going to last forever, that the forecast held precipitation, and over any alpine passes that was going to be falling as snow (a good idea, as a few days later it was snowing on at least one of the passes we’d crossed).

 

Coming into Zuoz (I think), one of many little Alp towns along our route today

 

After a morning of lazing around we headed into town then uphill to Albula Pass/Pass d’Alvra (2321m). It was a rest day so we only did one 2000m+ pass. We mostly followed the road – largely on one of the Swiss national cycle routes, although I forget which number. There were lovely views, and a clear blue sky, and I stripped down to a singlet once again as it warmed up. We cycled through a series of little towns with cobbled streets, and passed lots of other cyclists, both on the road and mountain-biking.

 

La-Punt Chamues

 

 

Turning off to climb over Albula Pass (Pass d’Alvra)

 

 

Albula Pass

 

 

Albula Pass

 

We wound up a series of hairpins then to a more gradual ascent through an open valley, and then descended without putting enough clothes on. It was shady and cold and we both ended up freezing cold with numb fingers. 1321 metres of descent (past cliffs and railway line and under bridges) later we found a campground under some electrical wires. They ask us “Isn’t it too cold for camping? Are you sure you want to camp?” Yes we’re sure.

 

Descending alongside the railway

 

Another freezing cold morning the next day leaves us lurking in our sleeping bags in the warm for some time before we summon up our courage to exit into the frosty world outside. Even with all our warm layers on, the cycling is very cold until after 10am when the air starts to warm and we leave the valley and stop descending.

 

At the Herbstfest

 

We passed a Herbstfest (Autumn festival) some time after Thusis, which had tractors and donkeys to ride, as well as piglets and goats and rabbits and Swiss music, and some sort of cattle show and sale, with all the cows wearing their best enormous show bells. Some of them seemed fairly uncooperative on the whole showing front, and stubbornly dug their hooves in, then just sat down on the spot – meanwhile the handler was busy trying to drag them around by the bell collar.

 

The valleys start to widen, and crops appear again

 

Lots of cyclists and horses shared the path with us as we passed near Chur. Then we were heading north again, and passing through the Heidi Alps! I get very excited and Alex looked at me as if I’m a bit odd. Heidi was the first book I remember reading though. In Maienfeld we hit another festival, with piano accordions and wine flooding the streets.

 

Vineyards outside of Maienfeld, by the Heidi Alps

 

After dallying a while, we climbed the hill past Maienfeld, through vineyards, and descended through a Swiss Army base (with cliff bunkers and everything) to reach Liechtenstein. It seems strangely similar to Switzerland, and we found a campground in Balzers – that unsurprisingly had cow bells sounding through it.

 

Into Liechtenstein

 

Distance cycled: 135km
Days of rain: 0/2 (wooo! the sunny spell continues)
Public toilets: Available
Bike friendliness: Reasonable – We followed the Swiss cycle routes. Route 6 took us through some unpleasant tunnels and road on the section between Thusis and Tiefencastel (I think the route description suggests you’re better off taking the bus or train for this section, the riding isn’t that nice anyway). It improved after that though, with lots of hills and cows and fields, and more crops again.

Our time in Italy was all spent in South Tyrol, which is an autonomous region with more German than Italian speakers, and so wasn’t really a true Italian experience.

 

Sunny alpine valley

 

 

Austrian Autumn colours

 

We crossed into Italy after a rest day in Lienz, camping out by the Lienzer Dolomites. Well, it wasn’t a total rest day, we had to cycle 33km to get there, and somehow that managed to include a little pass with a 12% gradient and a 300m altitude gain. But most of the day was spent in Lienz wandering around in town then lazing about in camp and listening to the cowbells (and a loud, friendly and slightly tipsy Texan man).

 

Climbing up over Iselsberg Pass, looking back on the valley we came from

 

 

Descending into Lienz and the Lienzer Dolomites

 

So it was the next day that we snuck into Italy, cycling along a gradual uphill by the Drau River. Gradual uphills always seem much more demoralizing than a good steep road, but this one was leading us through the Dolomites and further into the mountains, so we didn’t mind too much. Cycling through Brunico then onwards, we ended up camping in St Lorenzen, setting up just by a conker tree that kept trying to drop conkers on us. A little old lady came round selling fresh milk, eggs and cheese (in German), so we bought some cheese, then sat back and enjoyed the view. While listening to the church bell in town – it was one of the more excitable ones, that felt the need to let you know every time 15 minutes had passed.

 

Dolomite cows

 

 

The Italian countryside

 

The following morning brought another heavy dew, and the bike path we continued on was full of constant steep up and down sections. We were heading to Brixen/Bressanone for lunch – most of the towns in South Tyrol have both a German and Italian name, you would usually see both on roadsigns, but sometimes only one would be referenced, and it could get very confusing, especially with all the towns starting with B in the area. After lunch we were headed towards Bozen/Bolzano, which proved to be a hectic Italian sort of town with bikes and traffic everywhere, and hoards of tourists.

 

Apples all day

 

All day we’d been cycling past apple orchards and vineyards – it’s harvest time at the moment, and the smell of apples and wine is everywhere. Tiny little tractors were busy zooming around with crates of grapes on the back, and people were swarming all over apple trees filling box upon box of apples. We cycled past an apple factory outside of Brixen, with enormous stacks of apple crates, and the sweet apple smell lingers for kilometers.

We spent the night in Nals, a little town surrounded by orchards and vineyards, then continued along the bikepath, and past more apples. When we cycled past a thermometer in Meran it was already 16oC – much warmer than it has been recently! Meran was another hectic place, with lots of cobbled streets and bikes, and it took us a while to track down a grocery store and some stove fuel (we decide on unleaded petrol again). After finally escaping the city the bike path had a series of steep hair pins to gain us some elevation as we cycled up the valley. After that it seemed surprisingly flat and fast most of the day, with lots of apples and grapes to cycle past.

 

Out of Meran, past more apples

 

We get people yelling out and asking us why we’re going the wrong way (the uphill way that is) – it seems to be a bit of a theme on our trip. An Austrian couple reassured us that we can catch the bus up ahead so we don’t have to cycle over the pass. At that point we still hadn’t decided which way to go; there were three different passes to choose from to get into Switzerland. Reschen Pass would probably be the easiest and most sensible. Stilfser Joch would be the most interesting, and difficult.

 

Rocky hillsides, orchards, and houses in unlikely places

 

Of course we ended up deciding to go for Stilfser Joch (aka Passo dello Stelvio). With a name like that, how could you not? And it has all those hairpins! It’s reported as having 15% gradients though, so we’re hoping it’s not too steep for too long. After making the decision we stopped to grab a few more groceries (as there would be a long stretch without a supermarket ahead). Turning off through Prad, and suddenly we were climbing. It was nice and constant though, and not too bad. No worse than Großglockner. There’s not a huge shoulder, but the road isn’t too busy, and it felt like there was enough space for us. We reached the first few of the hairpins (each numbered, we start at No. 48) and then Trafoi (about 1550m a.s.l.), where the campground was closed for the season, but we managed to find a spot in the forest nearby.

Distance cycled: 305km
Sleeping arrangements: Campgrounds/wild camping
Days of rain: 0/4 (wooo! the sunny spell continues)
Public toilets: Available
Bike friendliness: Pretty good, lots of signed bike trails, or roads that are fine to cycle on
Free wifi availability: Poor

Waking in Slovakia, we decided not to bother cycling into Bratislava, instead we plan to backtrack and cross into Austria up north. A snapped tent pole and a flat tyre later, and we’re over the border and into Austria. Finally, success! We meandered along through rolling hills and open farmland towards Vienna, running into more and more lycra-clad families out for a Saturday cycle.

 

Into Austria

 

That afternoon we reached Vienna, where we had a mediocre Wiener Schnitzel and some Apfel Strudel, and failed to find any open bike stores. There were however lots of large and impressive buildings. A city to be explored another day though, we cycled out of town along the Danube to find camping.

 

Unexpected Viennese architecture

 

The next morning we realised that as we didn’t find any inner tube patches yesterday, and we had no good spare tubes, so if either of us flatted before we could find a bike shop we’d have to test the theory that inner tubes can be used to patch other inner tubes. Of course I got a flat within 5 minutes of cycling away from camp. Luckily the inner tube patch idea works pretty well (just cut out a circle from a no-good tube, glue it on as per a normal patch, works a treat), and we didn’t have to beg patches from passing cyclists.

 

Along the Danube River near Vienna – wide open and peaceful

 

The next few days were spent cycling along the Danube – flowing wide and fast, it’s more of a green than blue. The cycle path is good though, and it’s obviously a popular tour, there are hoards of cyclists following the river, and the average age seemed to be about three decades older than us. All along there were cafes, and lovely scenery – especially after Krems and Melk, where the land beside the river started to rise up and become hilly and picturesque. We cycled past wineries clinging to terraced hillsides, orchards of stone fruit, huge cliffs, castles, churches and jungle-like forest. It was the best scenery cycling we’d been through since Norway. Although unlike our last week in the Czech Republic, there was a bit of a shortage of wildlife. High-water marks on buildings acted as reminders of the tendency of the river to flood, and we’d often be cycling along the bike path, realising that the river was much higher than the land on the other side of us.

 

The Danube as the scenery steepens

 

 

The light of the setting sun over the Danube in Schönbühel

 

We spent our evenings camped by the river and watching the sun set over the Danube (while listening to the sweet music of trees trying to drop pears or acorns on us). There were no spectacular river sunrises though, as it was foggy every single morning, often until noon. The mornings were beginning to get a lot colder at this point too – damp and clammy, they didn’t do much for early morning enthusiasm.

 

The last wisps of fog clearing along the Danube

 

After a couple of days cycling we reached Linz, another nice little Austrian city, with some super tasty icecream (there were probably some relevant architectural and historical points as well, but for some reason the food is always more memorable). It’s there that we finally managed to find a new front tyre for Alex, and get the first bike shop opinion of Alex’s chain/cluster/chain rings – they’re thoroughly worn out.

 

Accessing the internet in random locations – in the middle of Linz just outside the tourist info centre, currently done up to look like a room in one of the hotels in Linz.

 

 

Morning fogginess by camp

 

The following morning we found another bike shop where the mechanic confirms this verdict: “Kaput!” So we headed on to Passau where we hoped the bike stores would have the necessary replacement parts. A few hours later I snapped my gear cable, and so we hobbled into Passau and found a fantastic little bike shop just across the river by the roundabout (Fahrrad Klinik). Thankfully they had the parts we needed (gear cable, front tyre, chain, chain rings, cluster, bottom bracket), and were very helpful, lending us the tools we didn’t have. So we set up on the roundabout in the middle of Passau and spent an hour or two getting ourselves covered in dirt and grease, and our bikes in full working order again.

 

The view from our roundabout in Passau

 

 

Post bike-fixing

 

After our pleasant afternoon in Passau, we parted ways with the Danube and left town along the River Inn, which we were planning to follow at least part of the way towards Munich. The Inn forms the border between Germany and Austria at this point, so we did a lot of crossing back and forth from country to country as we cycled west – although the best cycling infrastructure was definitely found in Austria.

 

Alex cycling through the steep and narrow streets of Passau

 

 

Passau

 

At one point we ended up doing an inadvertent Papal pilgrimage as we followed the Benediktweg through Marktl (where I resisted buying Vatikan Brot or Benedikt Torte) and various other sites of importance to the life of the young Pope Benedikt. In general though, this section of the Inn proved to be far less scenic than the Danube, and the bike path spent much of its time traveling only vaguely near the river, and on gravel and mud, and over un-scenic hills.

 

The moon rises over the Inn River

 

 

Obernberg town square, Germany. Typical town square – brightly coloured buildings surround the square, lots of overflowing planters, cobbles, and problematical traffic flow

 

At our closest point to Munich, we suddenly realised that we should probably make use of the good weather while we had it – the Alps were beckoning. So we turned from our course and dropped down south, trying to follow the Salzach River, but ending by the Waginger See (441m a.s.l.) where we fell asleep listening to the clanging of cow bells.

 

Alex finds that mud makes a great bike stand – our attempt to find a bike path along the Salzach River

 

 

Reaching the foothills of the Alps in Bavaria

 

 

 

 

The view from our campsite by the Waginger See

 

Distance cycled: 604km
Average cycled per day: 93km
Rest days: None
Flagginess: Low
Sleeping arrangements: Campgrounds
Days of rain: 0/7 (wooo! the sunny spell begins)
Public toilets: Available
Bike friendliness: Riverside bike trails were great
Free wifi availability: Bad