We had an overnight deer barking at us, but were otherwise undisturbed. This was good, because I was feeling a little trepidation about the steepness of today’s ride. We got away as soon as it was light, as it’s always nicer to not be sharing the road with cars and motorbikes. And that plan actually worked really well, often we’d be cycling along for 15 minutes without a vehicle passing, it didn’t start getting busier until after 9am, and even then it wasn’t too bad. Unlike the Großglockner, this road had no toll, and no picnic benches, but it was still a really nice ride. And, as we discovered, it was no steeper than the Großglockner! Our legs were perhaps a little more used to the mountains now, but it even felt a bit less steep. So slowly, hairpin by hairpin, we climbed up out of the valley and into another sunny day. The numbered hairpins pleased my stat-tracking brain, and counting down to the last one was kind of satisfying.
We cycled past the rustling of a deer, but don’t see it. Right by the road wall I passed the ears of a hare, which stayed determinedly still. Then a Least Weasel (at least that’s what I think it was) poinged across the road to safety, where it peered out at me from a crack in the wall. We cycled underneath a couple of Hoary Marmots who then start peeping in alarm when we reappeared above them, sending hoards of Marmots scurrying in the few hairpins below us.
Finally we reached the summit – Stilfser Joch/Passo dello Stelvio (2757m) is just a ski resorty touristy mess without much of a view, so after pausing for a coffee (and some thumbs up from motorcyclists that had passed us on the way up) we rolled onwards. After a short downhill, there’s barely a few hundred metres of slight uphill before you reach the border with Switzerland at Umbrail Pass (2501m).
The descent from here was slightly hair raising – there’s lots of hurtling towards hairpin bends that seem to have unprotected cliff drops on their edges. In reality there are no cliffs, but it’s still a bit steep and spooky. Actually descending steep hairpin roads in general tends to be a bit spooky on a fully loaded touring bike with nothing but V-brakes to hold it back. We stopped a lot to help prevent the brakes from overheating, and to enjoy the views. And to have lunch before we descended too far into the valley (there be dragons).
After lunch we continued the downhill rolling (on gravel road for a few kilometers too) to arrive in Santa Maria: where everything was closed for lunch/siesta. So we continued up the valley and onwards, heading uphill again (much more steeply than we’d expected when we looked down on the valley from above). We hit a few supermarkets that would open in an hour… then an hour later… then finally reached the steep switchbacks to Ofenpass/Pass dal Fuorn (2149m). It’s much steeper than Stilfser Joch, and a busy road to boot. And it was getting nice and warm; I’d long ago stripped off to a singlet.
Finally that is over too though, and we descended again before climbing to Ova Spin, and then had an even steeper drop into Zernez (1473m) where we finally found some groceries (ow my wallet) and a campsite. With cowbells. Now to sit and work out where we’re going to go next. Because the Alps are fun, but can this good weather possibly hold?
Distance cycled: 66km
Days of rain: 0/1 (wooo! the sunny spell continues)
Public toilets: Available
Bike friendliness: Reasonable – we were cycling on the road the whole time, the main thing was to be careful on blind hairpins on the descent, as motorbikes and cars could appear behind you unexpectedly and going much faster.
Total ascent for the day: 2019m