HAT 2401- HIGH ALPINE TOUR
Welcome to the first High Alpine Tour of Edelweissbike travel for 2024.
What an absolute great riding day it was! Very gentle weather with a nice sun and a bit of clouds we started our tour in Erding near Munich in Germany. Since it was a holiday the traffic piles up quickly but we were luckily ahead of the dense traffic. A nice and relaxed coffee at the banks of the Chiemsee and then to our surprise we red the message that the Grossglockner pass just opened for two wheel traffic so we decided to ride there as quick as we could. And that was a good choice since the scenery was breathtaking and the roads wer in excellent condition. Arriving in Lienz and a concluding dinner in a very chic restaurant made the first riding day of this tour fantastic !!
From the beautiful Hotel ‘Traube’ in Lienz, our route takes us along the Pustertal high road and on over the Passo di Falzarego, Pordoi Joch and Sella Joch to the next hotel in Klobenstein. It's a fantastic group of good motorcyclists. The giro d'italia crossed our path in Ortisei. We had a lot of fun!
This morning we woke up in the small village of Collalbo (klobenstein) in the Dolomites. And what a beautiful view: no rain or mist in the mountains in front of us. So after a bit sleeping in we got quickly on the bikes to enjoy the sunshine and majestic views in this very green area. So riding some nice passes around the valley near Merano. A gorgeous coffee stop at Monte Penigal with a splendid view over Bolzano and the valley. Back in Collalbo it was time to treat ourselves with a couple of hours wellness and after again a great dinner we called it a day!
After two nights in our very comfortable and nice hotel up on the higher grounds of the mountains above the Bolzano valley, we had to saddle up the ponies again and move westbound. with the ever present threat of rain above us, we rode into the direction of the Stelvio pass. But unfortunately some passes got a lot of snow and were still closed. But the alternative road took us also over beautiful places and roads towards the smallest Italian city : Glorenzo. From there as we said, we couldn't take the Stelvio road but rode an alternative towards the Swiss border. Passing that we enjoyed the route very much and on top of the Ofenpass we enjoyed some typical Swiss dishes like for example the Rösti ! very tasteful. The following our way down to Pontresina, the temperature dropped and we began to face some rain. But even with rain the nature looks fantastic here. A relaxed dinner with our group concluded the day. Tomorrow a last part in Switzerland, then via Liechtenstein back into Austria
The nice thing is, when some passes are not used, you get to know completely ‘new’ passes! We had to take an alternative to the Alula Pass and got to know the super beautiful ‘Julier Pass’ in the Swiss Alps. Sensational pass road with very good conditions - and fantastic views at 2284 metres. We got a real ‘flow’ on the harmonious bends. At the ‘Heidihof’ shortly after crossing ‘Liechtenstein’, we had our well-deserved typical Swiss lunch and, reenergised, rode on to the relatively unknown ‘Faschina Joch’ pass in Austria. This pass also put a big grin on our faces. We all had great fun. A really nice mix of pretty little villages and beautiful bends. At the end of the day's riding, we headed over the Hochtannberg to our cosy hotel ‘Dorfstube’ in Holzgau. Everyone was pleasantly exhausted and had a head full of impressive views and lots of riding fun.
And suddenly it is there: the final riding day. Time flies when you're having fun! After a nice breakfast with our very hospitable and funny owner of our hotel, we rode in a good mood through the Lech valley up to the German border to visit the castle of Neuschwanstein. Still in the early morning there was not much traffic and so we had a relaxed ride up there. We took some nice pictures and had a good coffee with a full view on the castle. From there back to Austria and just over the border at the Plan see tourguide Thomas prepared his very first edelweiss picknick. And he did a good job!. And then from there we started to ride the last part of the track in north-eastern direction back to Erding , where we arrived safe and sound with a nice 20 degrees and sunshine. Thank you all tour participants for this very nice week and your great company. Although we were not able to do all the high passes due to late snowfall , we toured over very nice alternative roads and passes. Hope to see you all at another Edelweiss tour, sometime, somewhere ! All the best!