September 16th, 2015
The new tent made it through the night and I even got a decent night’s sleep. After breakfast I’m going south towards the Timmelsjoch pass. In Sölden I turn west, toward the Ötztal Glacier Road.
It’s the second highest paved road in Europe (2,830 m. a.s.l.). It leads towards the Innere Schwarze Schneid mountain (3,369 m. a.s.l.) and two glaciers: Tiefenbachferner and Rettenbach.
The road was built in 1972; in 2014, the mountain car chase scene of Daniel Craig’s Spectre (2015) was filmed here.
There’s a real downpour on the pass. The fog is so thick, you can’t see the turns or the cars coming from the opposite direction. Most people decide to pull over and wait out the weather. My gloves and boots are sodden as I reach the town of San Leonardo in Italy. I didn’t get to see the pass this time, so I’ll need to come back here.
In San Leonardo, I turn south towards Merano, then west, towards the Reschen pass. A few kilometers later I see the sign for the “Passo Stelvio” – the highest drivable pass in the Italian Alps, something I’ve always wanted to see. It’s only 60 kilometers away, so I don’t ponder it much; I change my plans and follow the signs to my new destination.
A biker’s promised land: it’s one of the most famous – and most demanding – mountain roads.
It was built between 1820 and 1825 at the order of the Austrian Emperor. As you come in from the north east, it takes you through a wood at first, then you pass the Berghotel Franzenshöhe at 2,188 m. a.s.l., then follow a series of sharp turns all the way up to 2,757 m. a.s.l.
The turns are really steep, and the grade of the road reaches 14%. The turns can only be taken by one vehicle at a time, so you need to watch for anything coming on from the other side. As I follow one car, it suddenly stops at one of the turns, and its engine dies. The driver tries to start it up, but I think he takes his foot off the brake too early, and the car starts rolling down towards me. He doesn’t seem to hear me honking, so I quickly back up on the slippery road, to avoid being hit. I barely manage to keep my balance. The driver eventually manages to regain control, stops the car, starts the engine and goes up again.
I reach the summit around 5 p.m. It’s raining cats and dogs at the top. I stop at the parking lot and wait for the rain to pass, under the roof of a kiosk. I’m joined by a group of English bikers and we talk for a while. One of them mentions he fell over just a while earlier, at a turn, because someone stopped suddenly in front of him. I order something to eat at the parking lot’s restaurant to make the wait easier. The accommodation is priced at 35 euros – that’s out of my budget range, so I’ll be sleeping at a campsite or in the wild. As soon as it stops raining, everyone rides and drives off, and I have the entire pass to myself.
I go back the same way around 8 p.m. On the way, I’m on the lookout for a spot to camp, but I don’t manage to find anything worthwhile. It’s still raining, and it’s cold, so I could use a warm shower. I pass Prato allo Stelvio – in the ACSI app, I can see there’s a campsite there, but I need to go to Oris first, to fill up the tank. Italy has mostly self-service stations, and I haven’t used one before. After a few failed attempts of deciphering the Italian instructions, I give up and ask someone to show me how it works. Once the tank’s full, I go to the campsite and finish setting up my tent mere seconds before the rain starts again. A quick supper of two bananas, an apple and a few cookies, and it’s time to sleep.
September 17th, 2015
I pack up my tent after breakfast and head back to the Stelvio pass. I’m at the top around 11. The weather is better than the day before, and you can see the area really well.
The wind is unbearable on the other side of the pass. It’s hard to hold the handlebars straight, and when I stop to take a photo I’m afraid to leave the bike on its stand. I reach Bormio, turn back and head up one more time.
I turn north towards the Umbrail pass; the gusts of wind are so strong that one of them knocks me off balance and I veer off the road. The end of the trip flashes before my eyes, along with a broken bike and broken ribs, but I somehow manage to stay vertical until I pull to a halt in the field, a dozen meters to the side of the road, parallel to the wind. I’m lucky this was a stretch of fields, and not a chasm. I wait a bit for the wind to blow off, and turn back, in case it gets worse the further I go.
I go back to Stelvio. There must have been a hurricane over the pass: there are many broken branches on the road, and one lane is blocked by a fallen tree.
The lake, 40 kilometers north, is famous for the submerged steeple of a 14th c. church that sticks out above the surface. I stop only for a little while to eat lunch, and keep going north the moment the rain lets off.
I pass the Austrian border and find a camp site in Ried im Oberinntal, near Landeck. I put up my tent, do some laundry, and hit the hay.
September 18th, 2015
View day 12 route on Google maps
As I make breakfast at the camp site, my neighbors offer me a cup of coffee – a very nice gesture. After I back up, I go south towards Lake Gepatschspeicher.
The fog-swaddled Kaunertal Glacier Road goes around the lake. There’s supposed to be a glacier at the end of the road, but I don’t think I’ll see much in this weather.
A set of steep hairpins begin past the lake and it gets colder with each turn I pass. At one point I go above the fog and I get to feast my eyes on the beautiful landscape, the mountains around, and the sun.
I get to the parking lot at the foot of the Weißseespitze (3,526 m. a.s.l.). By the glacier, there’s a ski lift and several ski trails. The Austrians’ preparations for the ski season are already underway. Snow canons are set by the ski trails and diggers are fixing up the slopes.
On my way back, I stop by a stream and fill up on drinking water.
The fog is gone and you can now see all of the lake.
In the afternoon I reach the town of Imst, and I head north west from there, towards Bschlabs and the Hahntennjoch pass. I like the strip of the mountain road near the turn of Habichegg so much that I go over it back and forth, at least three times.
Some 80 kilometers later I reach Wiesberg Castle, sitting high over the Trisanna River. The castle was built in the 13th century. It’s private property now and it’s not open to visitors.
Around 6 p.m. I get to lake Stausee Kops. Next to it is the Zeinissee camp site where I stay for the night. The camp site is at an altitude of 1,820 m. a.s.l., so I’m in for a really cold night. A long hot shower is mandatory before going to bed.
September 19th, 2015
View day 13 route on Google maps
The road is over 22 km long and its highest point is at 2,032 m. a.s.l. I make my first stop next to the Silvretta Reservoir.
The construction of the dam on Vermunt Lake.
The stretch of the road beyond the lake is really studded with hairpins and on one of the turns my front wheel slides on the sand, but luckily I regain my balance quickly and don’t fall over.
Going north-west I pass Bludenz, then veer north in Feldkirch, and continue towards Bregenz; I reach it later in the afternoon. I refill my bike, do some shopping, and consider my sleeping options. The nearby camp sites are pretty expensive, but a few kilometers north, just past the border with Germany, there’s the Park-Camping Lindau am Bodensee. I pay for two nights and set my tent among other bikers. It doesn’t take long before we get to know each other, talk about our machines, and share travel stories.
There’s a hailstorm at night. The ground at the camp site turns into sticky mud. The hail pellets hit the tent loudly, making it hard to sleep. The storm passes after midnight, and I finally manage to get some sleep.
If you liked the story, please click the Enjoy button below. Next part will be released soon. Stay tuned!
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