Alpine Adventure 2019 – Gav's Cycling Adventures

Alpine Adventures – Day Five (Austria)

Our last day of cycling in Austria started with a drive of just over an hour to the all year round resort of Solden – skiing in winter (it regularly hosts a round of the Downhill World Cup) as well as cycling & hiking in the summer. The Ice Q restaurant was used as a location in the James Bond film Spectre & there’s also a ‘007 Elements’ cinematic experience way above the town.

Solden is a bustling tourist resort, with all the usual trappings – hotels, bars, restaurants, outdoor adventure clothing shops & gift shops which may have robbed the town of some of its original charm. However, we were only parking the car here, so would soon be heading upwards on the main road which serves as a link between Austria & Italy.

Our plan was to tackle a 15 mile ascent of the Timmelsjoch & drop 6 miles or so into Italy. At which point we would ascent the Passo del Rombo (same mountain, but now climbing the Italian side) & then drop back into Solden – an out & back route.

There were quite a few lorries & coaches on the lower slopes, serving a couple of ski resorts slightly higher up the mountain. The first mile or so rose steeply, but then the gradient evened out to a fairly consistent 6% – 8% for about 6 miles. As we reached the resort of Obergurgl, we crossed the valley floor & started climbing in earnest, as the next 2 miles zig-zagged their way through forest, up towards Hochgurgl – at this point there’s a toll booth (similar to our ride up to Kaunertal), so the traffic would thin out after this point.

Hochgurgl is also home to a motorcycle museum & it has over 230 motorbikes from 100 plus manufacturers, including some early Harleys. Our reason for stopping was that it also does great food & coffee, so after about 90 minutes of riding we were ready for some refreshments – today’s treat was cherry tart & cappuccino!

After a brief stop were on our way again & although we weren’t anywhere near the summit of the Timmelsjoch, the road descended for a mile & we gave away 450 feet of hard earned altitude! The final 3 miles to the summit were the most wild & rugged, as the only vegetation was grass which was being grazed by wild cows & sheep. They roam freely & as we were climbing, a convoy of Porsches were forced to stop their descent as the cows chose that moment to cross the road.

By now, the weather was closing in, the sun was a distant memory & cold rain was starting to fall. We were also above the snow line & the final couple of corners still had decent sized snow walls on them.

After a brief stop at the summit for a few photos & to don our rain jackets, we headed down the Italian side, where the Timmelsjoch becomes the Passo del Rombo.

The first mile of the descent is a very gentle gradient, as the road follows a cliff face before passing through a long tunnel & exiting to an enormous view of the valley below. We would descend 6 miles in total & the road took hairpin after hairpin as it hugged a valley wall on the way down. It took us less than 15 minutes to plummet 2,000 feet in just under 5 miles, so we were in from a long climb back to the summit!

The ascent to the summit took about 90 minutes & was superb – the sun had come out again & we were just a few feet from a cliff edge with drops of over 2,500 feet to the valley floor below. There hadn’t really been time to take this in as we descended – there were too many tight turns to keep us focussed.

We stopped for a warming minestrone soup at a restaurant on the Italian / Austrian border, before descending back to Solden. It was raining again at the summit, so once we’d put our rain jackets on, we set off back down the Timmelsjoch – after a few hairpins near the summit, the road opened out & in no time I had hit 43mph & was still accelerating when I remembered the cattle & sheep crossing the road earlier, so I started to reduce my speed, just as well as there were now sheep where the cattle had been!!!

After negotiating our way around the sheep, we had a small descent left, before that nasty climb back up to the Motorbike Museum. My legs were so cold from the rapid descent, that it was quite a struggle to get them turning again for the short, sharp climb. Once we reached the plateau at Hochgurgl, the final 9 miles was a fast & flowing descent & before we knew it, we were back to Solden.

This was another epic day in the high mountains & although this was our last day of cycling in Austria, the adventure isn’t yet over. After taking in a final view from my hotel window, we spent the evening carb loading in preparation for 5 more days of riding, this time in the high Italian Alps above Bormio!

Austrian Alps – Day 4, 2019.

After yesterday’s epic day in the saddle, today was a far more sedate affair, but fun on every level. We’d planned a 72 mile loop that would start & finish in Telfs, a 25 minute drive from our hotel in Mutters.

The first 2 miles took us out of town on a long, straight road which was reminiscent of a French avenue with tall trees on either side, providing some protection from the overhead sun. Unlike the first 3 days of riding, there was no need of arm warmers or rain jackets – the only protection we required was sun tan lotion.

After our warm up, we were introduced to our first climb of the day, a 4 mile effort at a fairly steady 8% to 9% through a pine forest as the road rose ever higher above the alpine valley below. As I stopped to take a photo, what I think was an eagle flew across the shot & it’s ended up in my first picture.

Mosern marked the summit of the first climb – we’d ascended 1,932 feet over 4.17 miles & it had only taken us 45 minutes. For the next 9 miles the road twisted & turned as we descended into Seefeld, where we stopped for the best banana cake & a cappuccino!

We took a slight left & picked up a tail wind as we followed a verdant valley where we saw groups of workers picking strawberries & raspberries in the adjacent fields.

The road continued to drop slowly towards the Austrian/German border & before we knew it, we were in Germany & heading through the ancient town of Mittenwald, which was gearing up for a garden festival this coming weekend.

Up to this point, we’d been on quiet back roads, however, for the next part of the loop to Garmisch-Partenkirchen we were following a fairly main road, with occasional stretches of bike path – I’m sure that if I’d done a bit more research before the trip, I could have found a better way of navigating this section. We had plenty of big views up to the surrounding mountains to take our minds off the traffic – we also had the excitement of stopping at a level crossing & seeing one of the local trains go past.

We skirted around Garmisch & joined a slightly quieter road as we spent the next 13 miles gradually gaining height as we headed towards the day’s next categorised climb.

The Fernpass is only about 5 miles long & gains about 1,000 feet from it’s start point in Lermoos. As we approached the summit we saw signs for a panoramic rest stop, so decided to pull in just to see what it was all about. Way below us between the pine trees was a lake of aquamarine with huge mountains in the background – it was well worth stopping for.

As we swooped down the other side of the mountain, we passed the equally scenic lake at Fernstein, where holiday makers were sunning themselves on the beach below. We continued to descent to Nassereith, before picking up the main road again for the day’s final climb (it didn’t appear to have a name, but as we ascended more than 1,000 feet, it definitely counted as a climb!

All that remained was to descend the final 10 miles from Holzleiten back to Telfs. On a scale of 1 to 10, this loop would score a 7 (it loses 2 points for the stretches of main road where articulated trucks thundered past us – they always gave us plenty of room & it wasn’t ever dangerous, however it did detract slightly from the whole experience. I’m probably being a little harsh, as we’ve had 4 brilliant days of cycling in Austria so far, with another big day planned for Day 5.