Day 8 - Santa Maria Val Mustair (CH) to Landeck (A) to Bregenz (Lake Constance) - (A)

Day 8 - Santa Maria Val Mustair (CH) to Landeck (A) to Bregenz (Lake Constance) - (A)


Friday 21/06/2023

---------------------------------

High Passes and Hidden Valleys

We were woken by heavy rain and a spectacular thunder and lightning show. We waited for this to pass which delayed our departure but we didn't really have a choice.

After the morning rain, the weather improved as we headed to Zernez, Susch and beyond. The Swiss side was calm and we did a couple of pretty passes before crossing into Austria where we fuelled-up, went to a café for lunch and bought some provisions for the evening. 

We then headed for the Silvreta Strasse High Alpine road for which we again had to pay €17 each. Lovely road and views but we again hit a massive thunder storm just before so we had to seek shelter and put our waterproofs on. By the time we hit the top of the pass (lovely lake / dam and views) it stopped raining and the sun came out so we got warm riding slowly down the pass which was full of cows casually blocking the road.

The serpantine road going down the mountain was beautiful but we are short of data so I haven't posted all the photos. It was like the Stelvio only prettier. On our way down we took off our waterproofs as we were too hot, but soon after it started raining heavily again.

Progress was slow through a number of other smaller mountain passes - from Galtur through Bielerhohe and on to Bludenz. I had a scary two-wheel slide on one of the bends -  I  wasn't even going quickly but obviously some of the roads are very slippery when wet..

We did more more passes, lots of tunnels but it was a pretty wet day overall. We eventually made it to Bregenz where everything went dark and the mother of all thunder and lightning storms started (and never finished). We found a 10 minute lull in the rain and checked into an expensive mosquito ridden campsite on the shorts of Lake Constance where we put the tents up in the rain and then just cooked our food in the dishwashing area.

The storm looks set to continue until the morning so Konrad had an early night whilst Leon and I attempted to dry our things and went to bed soon after. Not convinced we will stay dry tonight or if tomorrow will be any better weather wise. We have a long day tomorrow but if it's still raining heavily then we will just have to head north on quicker roads and save the suffering.


Mileage: 1480
Beers / Drinks: 50 beers + 7 bottles/boxes of white/red + Konrad's mountain tally
Fines: 0 (me and Konrad may have fines in post)
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 4/10
Mechanical issues: 2 - puncture and my heated grips have broken (long start, flat battery and overheating excluded)
Accidents: 0
Wetness: 8/10 
Coldness: 4/10 (generally warm when not raining or at altitude)
Theft count: 0
Country Count: 7


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 5 - Canazei (I) to Canazei (I)

Image
  Day 5 - Canazei (I) to Canazei (I) Tuesday 18/06/2023 ----------------------------------- Rest Day / Mountain Hiking / Passo Pordoi After a long sleep we finally got up and gave Konrad and his gear a lift to the cable car station on the Passo Pordoi. From there Leon and I continued up the road to Arabba where we had coffee, brunch and nice ice-cream whilst taking-in the views. The road to Arabba was stunning but very busy with processions of motorbikes and supercars. Riding back afforded a new set of views and we soaked it all up. Where Konrad was heading looked spectacular, I look forward to his update. I seem to have picked up a cold so I'm not feeling the best but despite the cool night it's been 27C here today back in Canazei. Leon and I explored Canazei, had a beer and did some shopping including testing the bottom wine bracket offerings. According to Leon's restaurateur friend, 2023 was a good year for the box wine. It was actually pretty good! Update from Konrad: -...
Read more

Day 6 - Canazei (I) to Canazei (I)

Image
Day 6 - Canazei (I) to Canazei (I) Wednesday 19/06/2023 --------------------------------------- Today's plan was riding the Marmolada Loop. Before we could crack-on and discover this treasure, we had to wait for Konrad to come back down from the mountains. Konrad - I left the hut with a Kiwi I met the night before after breakfast, having enjoyed a beautiful sunrise at 5am. The ice was more solid today rather than slush which made things easier to hike on. We hiked down to another rifugio and had a coffee, before taking the cable car down from Sass Pordoi. After a short walk and two more cable cars , I got back to camp and got ready to join in on an epic ride. 3152m to 1500m was a bit of a temperature shock but it was pleasant to be back out of the snow.  Once reunited, we jumped back on the bikes and headed back up Passo Sella. We then rode to Pian de Selva which was busy but very beautiful (more traffic made up of supercars and campervans). We then rode to Corvara which is a very ...
Read more

Day 4 - Fussen (D) to Timmelsjoch (A) to Canazei (I)

Image
Day 4 - Fussen (German Alps) - (D) to Timmelsjoch - (A) to Canazei (I) Monday 17/06/2023 ----------------------------------- A Very Long Day of multiple Large Mountain Passes We left nice and early as we knew that we had a very good but challenging day ahead of us. We rode into Fussen and saw more nice scenery but it was a busy Monday morning with more traffic than  expected as we crossed into Austria. We first hit the Fern Pass, again more traffic but good alpine views and a sign of what we had to come. We stopped in Imst to check that the Timmelsjoch pass was reopened after an earlier rockfall, luckily it was so we stuck to the original route. We paid the €17 toll for the pass and drove through some incredibly snowy roads and threw snowballs at each other at 2500m. It was busy but a great ride up. Coming down we crossed into Italy, free-flowing roads, sunshine and some of the best riding I have ever done. Coming down we immediately went back up the Passo Geovo which was incredibl...
Read more