Featured Touring Hairpin Bends And Curves

This time I am riding with my wife through the western and south alpine area of Austria and the neighboring countries, Italy and Switzerland.

Day 1 (of seven):
On the first day we started in the south-eastern part of Austria and did a 520 km highway tour via Salzburg, rushing through a small part of Germany back Austria and to Innsbruck, the capital city of the Tyrol. After our arrival in our accomodations for the next nights we walked to the old town. Innsbruck is marvelous. In the north and south part the city is surrounded by high mountains. Nearly at every corner of the old town you can find wonderful sights and of course lots of delicious delicacies.
Of course we also visited the "Goldenes Dachl" (Golden Roof), the well known point of interest of Innsbruck. The Golden Roof is a late-Gothic magnificent dungeon at the New Court in the Herzog-Friedrich-Straße in Innsbruck's old town and is considered the city's landmark. The roof of the oriel was covered with 2657 fire-gilded copper shingles. The house was built in 1420.
But you can find many more interesting sights there.
After our short city tour we had dinner and prepared our bikes for the next day.
In the following some impressions.















The famous "Golden Roof/Goldenes Dachl"

 

Day 2:
You may miss the hairpin bends and curves till now.

On day two we started at 0630 and rode over the "Brenner Pass" to Italy and started there with our real bike experience.
The start was at the "Grödner Joch" with the highest rideable point at the altitude of 2.221 m. Then to the "Campolongopass" at 1.875 m. From there we switched to the "Pordoijoch" at 2.239 m. At last we passed the "Sellajoch" with its 2.218 m. From there we rode back to Innsbruck where we arrived at 1400.
In total we "managed" 134 uphill hairpins and an uncountable amount of curves on our 314 km tour today. A bit exhausted but very happy we enjoy our evening today.
Beware of the local used "green" busses! Their drives think they are driving with an F1-car and additionally need the whole street up- and downhill!!

In the following again some impressions.





















To be continued!

 

Day 3/Part 1:
Today we started our ride again at 0630. You may ask why we start so early in the morning.. It's because there is much less traffic and the international guests with campers and caravans are still in their beds.

We crossed the border from Austria to Italy over the "Brenner Pass". From there we went via Sterzing to the "Jaufenpass", 2.094 m and had there two Espressi and a delicious strawberry cake at 0800. After this break we rode to the "Timmelsjoch", 2.474 m. The italian alpine streets are interesting. They are all asphalted, but they do not change the broken parts very often. Therefore you ride an "asphalt rodeo" nearly the whole time.

At the "Timmelsjoch" you can find the highest motorbike museum of Europe. After a catastrophic fire in 2021 it was rebuilt and reopened with "new" old bikes again. You can spend lots of time there. I never saw so many and so interesting bikes before.
After about two hours in the museum and another refreshments we rode back to Austria and to our accomodations in Innsbruck.
Today we did 77 uphill hairpin bends and 240 km. In Innsbruck we enjoyed one of the great restaurants for dinner.
In the following some impressions of our todays ride and some of the bike museum.

Our first stop for a great coffee and a cake at the "Jaufenpass"


















The bike museum at the "Timmelsjoch"

 

Day 3/Part 2:
Bikes, bikes, bikes, ...





















To be continued.

 

Day 4:
Today we started again at 0630 with our tour. This time we rode on the highway directly to the most western part of the Tyrol. We crossed the border to Italy at the "Reschenpass". At 0800 we had two Espressi and some bakery at the "Reschensee". This lake is a big reservoir lake which was built in 1950. The tower of the church in the former village Alt-Graun is still remaining. It was built in 1420.
After this little refreshment we started the way up the well known alpine road to the "Stilfser Joch". 50 extreme steep hairpin bends lead up to the altitude of 2.758 m. If you want to ride there you should be experienced in such conditions. Otherwise it can be very dangerous when other road users like the yesterday mentioned local green bus or a caravan occurs in your way. Our "climbing" up the mountain took about one hour. At the top we enjoyed a great local street food, a sort of Burger called "Vinschgerl" with a fried deer sausage, sauerkraut, ketchup and mustard. I tasted delicious! After this snack we rode up to the highest rideable point, the "Tibet Hütte" at 2.800 m where we had two more Espressi. After some phototaking we went down to the "Umbrailpass" which is at the border to Switzerland. We rode the next hour through some wonderful landscapes of Switzerland. At "Taufers" we came back to Italy and stopped again at the "Reschensee" for the next coffein break.
From there we took the same way back to Austria and our accomodation in Innsbruck.
Today we did about 90 uphill hairpin bends, more then 30 km through tunnels on the highway through the "Inntal" in Austria and rode 365 km with our bikes. We are glad that everything went well till now!

In the following some impressions of today. Especially from the "Queen of all mountain roads in Europe" up to the "Stilfser Joch".





















To be continued.

 

@joe mc donald: Many thanks to you for this compliment!

 

Day 5:
Today we made a "rest day". We started our short tour only at 0800. We headed in eastern direction through the "Inntal" till the small town "Jenbach". In this little town we got surprised because you have to manage two extreme steep hairpin bends near the centre of the town. The rest of the roads are narrow and most of them are steep. From "Jenbach" it is a few minutes ride to the town "Maurach". However, the road there is also very steep and has a gradient of 17 percent. I thought it would be a cozy ride to our planned destination. At "Maurach" we reached a big plateau and a few kilometers later we came to "Pertisau" and to the "Achensee". The lake is situated in the altitude of 940 m. We stopped at the local lido and started after a short coffee break and a plum cake with our wellness program, sunbathing and swimming. Swimming in the lake was a real challenge. The temperature of the lake was 17 degrees Celsius. But nothing could stop a penguin (my wife) and an ice bear (me)! We jumped in and had lots of fun with some other freezing swimmers there.
The next two hours we were enjoying the warm sun.

At lunch time we left the lake and headed back to Innsbruck. There we did another walk into the nearby surroundings of our accomodation and found a wonderful park where we spent some hours.

Now we are waiting for the forecasted bad weather with storm and hard rain for the evening.

In the following some impressions of today.

The "Achensee" in the morning at 0900.








The lake at lunch time.


The local lido of the lake in "Pertisau".


On our way to a park in Innsbruck.


The wonderful park near the centre of Innsbruck.






To be continued.

 

Thanks Joe!

 

Thanks Helmut!

 

Thanks Crispey!

 

Day 6:
Today we had our "off day". Beside a short technical check and some chain lubrication after the yesterday's bad weather we didn't move our bikes today. Instead we did some cultural exploration in the area of Innsbruck. We went/hiked through the city and reached at the south-eastern part of Innsbruck a castle, "Schloss Ambras", about 90 minutes later. It was originally built in the 10th century, destroyed in 1133, rebuilt in 1280 and was since 1380 part of the Habsburg monarchy. It's today's look is based on some changes by Ferdinand II. in the 16th century.
You can reach it by bus, or as we did, you can climb up all the way through the wonderful park to the castle.
The castle is the oldest museum of the world. Since 450 years it is used as a museum with different exhibitions.
After this historic highlight we refreshed ourselves in the local castle restaurant.
On our way home to our accommodation we had some delicious ice cream.
Back "home" we started to prepare our luggage for our nearly 600 km ride via Germany back home tomorrow.
In the following some historical impressions.







Some special information about the inner courtyard.








Two peacocks live in the park and the castle. They think that they are the lords of the castle.


One of the uncountable bees in the park.


One of the nicest view over the city of Innsbruck.


To be continued.