HAT 2405 - HIGH ALPINE TOUR
Some of our guests arrived earlier, walked around Erding a bit and got a small impression of the state of Bavaria and its inhabitants and of course what the typical Bavarian beer tastes like. As the day progressed, all the other tour participants gradually arrived and were very punctual for the welcome briefing, to which we had invited them at 5.00 pm. As a welcome, we - Felix, Kurt & Marco - briefly introduced ourselves and then immediately started to introduce the tour. We showed the places and areas that we would be plowing through on our bikes on a beautiful, self-drawn graphic. Our guests followed every word with rapt attention and you could see that they wanted to start the tour straight away. After the welcome briefing, we all piled into the hotel garage for the bike handover and then for our first dinner together in the hotel restaurant. Visit our blog again tomorrow to follow our day 2 and first day on the bike. Kurt, Felix and Marco
What a beautiful day to start our ride. The parking lot was packed with riders and their bikes, all roaring to go on this amazing trip. We had to split up into two groups, as its easier to handle. Kurt left with the first group, in which Andre, who has already done a couple Edelweiss Tours, acted as the experienced sweeper. Felix took care of the second group, in which all the Canadiens found themselves in. For this group the decision on who had to act as a sweeper was decided by the amount of wheels. Nancy on her Tribike was still outbeaten by the Stieglmayrs on this point, as they were chasing the group in their rental Mercedes. The ride started smoothly and we used the morning to get used to our bikes, before the real challenge began. After a lovely lunch at the Pillerlake, the Großglocker High Alpine Road was on our agenda. A couple days ago this road was still closed due to the massive amounts of snow that came down during the last week. But fortunately for us, the road was opened up again, it was dry and ready to be ridden. And that we did. We even went up to the Edelweissspitze, to enjoy the amazing view from around 8500 feet. Although for one guy from Florida the temperature up there, that comes along with this altitude was so freezingly cold, that it seemed like his helmet froze to his body and he couldn´t or didn´t want to take it off anymore although having heated equipment. Yes, the temperature on these Austrian mountains definitely cannot be compared to the ones at a beach in Miami. The downhill ride definitely was fun too and we still had to get over the comparatively small Iselspass before getting back to the hotel. To finish off this wonderful day, we walked around half a mile to a marvelous restaurant, which was definitely worth the effort of getting there. But tomorrow morning we will skip the walking part again and get onto our bikes again. Italy, here we come!
The Dolomites! Simply amazing. No more words necessary to describe this wonderful day. We started our day in the little Austrian town Lienz and made our way into the next country on our agenda, namely Italy, Bella Italia. Thanks to the local knowledge of our guides, we could enjoy the nicest roads in this amazing landscape. We did a coffee stop at Lago Misurina in the morning. What a breathtaking view we had on the lake with the Dolomites rising up in the background. We continued going up to the Passo di Falzarego, where the next surprise was waiting for us. We went on a cable car ride to the top of the mountain, where we could enjoy our lunch while having a perfect view. The weather was really great on this day, at least for most of the time. In the afternoon more mountain roads where on our agenda. Traffic got a little bit busier, but the Italians might drive like maniacs sometimes, however they can be really polite as well. So they always respected that the motorcycle group had to stick together - unfortunately we also had a car in our group, who acted as sweepers. Maybe we should rebrand the car and paint Edelweiss on it in big letters. At one point, not that far from the hotel, the Stieglmayrs, who were in the sweeper car, lost contact to the group and then decided on going straight to the hotel. Marco was already waiting there and once the whole group arrived, he had another surprise in stock for us. Whats better than an ice cold drink (mainly beer obviously) right in the garage after getting off from the bike? We had a marry time and while drinking and discussing the ride, we could listen to some Austrian and Italian Music in the background as Klobenstein can be described as the place where the cultural border among those two countries actually is. Afterwards we could enjoy a several course dinner at the magnificent hotel we will stay in for two nights now. We got stuffed.
As we can spend two days at the same hotel, everyone could decide on what he wanted to do on this day. Obviously we offered some riding as well, though this time we let the youngsters lead the way. The little boy who passed by the garage was extremly fascinated by all those bikes and maybe in a couple years he will become your next Edelweiss tour guide. Kurt led the first group out of the garage. The guys that tagged along wanted to go for a long ride. Felix on the other hand offered a shorter riding option, so that the guys that tagged along with him, still had enough time left on this day to enjoy the beautiful spa area of this hotel or get onto a train & cable car ride with Marco in the afternoon to have a look at downtown Bolzano. A few also stayed back at the hotel to relax and enjoy a wonderful day at the hotel with a wonderful view.
Today should be the The Hairpin Galore!!! But sometimes some things do not work as planned - especially when you are on the road in the heart of the alps! To make a long story short: The whole group was a bit disappointed to hear that the Passo di Stelvio/Stilfserjoch was closed for the next three days due to roadwork. But - nevertheless good news - only on the Southtyrolean side. So we decided for a detour via the ultracool Umbrailpass with its also challenging hairpins climbing up the rocks. Reaching worldfamous Stelvio-Pass-Summit the also famous Stelvio-Hot-Dog at Bruno's was well earned! After lunch we drove down to direction Bormio, then took the winding roads up to Europes taxfree Eldorado Livigno and afterwards crossing the border to Switzerland. Via Bernina Pass we reached our hotel destination in beautyful Pontresina, where this day endend with a nice dinner, good drinks and wonderful talks.
Have you ever been to Heidi-Land? After the morning briefing, we were able to cross one of the most beautiful Swiss Alpine passes - the Albula Pass - after just half an hour, which awaited us with a series of bends and a feast for the eyes. As the subsequent road through Lenzerheide was closed, we drove via Davos - which is mainly known for the annual WEF - with its beautiful lake. We had lunch today at the Heidihof restaurant in Maienfeld. Parts of the movie of the famous Heidi story were filmed here. We then took a short, leisurely drive through the land of the Prince of Liechtenstein before crossing the border into Austria at Feldkirch. Soon we were heading uphill again through the Laternser valley on a narrow road - only 2m wide at some places - up to the Furkajoch. Unfortunately, my friend Charly had already closed his gates for the winter. After a few pictures of the incredibly beautiful landscape, we curved down into the valley to Au for a refueling stop. Then we headed back up over the Hochtannberg Pass and 10 minutes later we were already at our beautiful Hotel Jägeralpe in the middle of nowhere. As usual, the rooms, food and hospitality were sensational.
Just as every story comes to an end at some point, the last day of our Alpine adventures on two wheels also (unfortunately) dawned for us. Sadness spread among the guests when the tour guides announced that we would have to leave the mountains and head for the flatlands. But the two tour guides Felix & Kurt conjured up a few last aces up their sleeves: First, we rode from Warth over 40 km with endless loooong bends to Stanzach, where the ascent to one of the most beautiful Tyrolean passes - the Namlos Pass - began. The two groups then pursued different destinations: Felix's group made a cultural stop and strolled through the beautiful park of Linderhof Castle - one of the three castles built by King Ludwig II, who lived in his own world and is also known as the “Fairytale King”. Kurt and his group made an action-packed stop near Reutte: the boys ventured over the “Highline179”, the 114 m high and 406 m long Tibetan-style suspension bridge, the longest in the world. Afterwards, lunch was on the agenda and once again the guests were pleasantly surprised when they suddenly saw the Edelweiss van at the end of the Plansee, where Marco had already prepared a great picnic in a professional apron. But not just any picnic, no: Marco presented culinary delicacies from all the countries we had driven through. A successful last highlight of our tour. As the forecast was for continuous rain after lunch, we only made the scheduled stop at a typical Bavarian inn in Sauerlach and then headed back to Erding, the final destination of the whole tour, where the motorcycles were taken back by the tour guides. Our last evening was spent in high spirits with excellent food and was peppered with stories about the impressions our guests had gathered throughout the week. The unanimous tenor was: Europe, the Alps, Edelweiss - we'll be back!
We enjoyed our last breakfast together - some of our guests had a few more days of vacation for a bit of sightseeing. Dear guests: we are grateful that we were able to guide you through “our” Alps, show you our culture and landscape and are proud to have brought everyone back safe and sound and without incident. You were great! Many thanks, big hugs and we hope to see you again!