BMW motorrad days & Edelweiss 45th anniversary ride
Welcome to Seefeld! Our guests arrived in the late afternoon, in the beautiful hotel Alpenpark Resort, all of them excited for the motorcycling that starts on Sunday. After our Welcome briefing we headed down to the dinner room for a nice 5-course meal and get to know everybody. The motorcycling will have to wait a liltle bit as we go check out the BMW days in Garmisch tomorrow.
After hearing about the yearly Strudelfestival that goes on in Seefeld our guests we're already salivating to try some Apfelstrudel. They went off to the center of town enjoyed the good weather while having some Strudels and then get on the train to Garmisch to go look at bikes and other attractions at the famous BMW-Days. In the evening we had a gala diner in real Bavarian style with another 150 Edelweiss guests!
After yesterday's visit to BMW Days in Garmisch, today is our first day of riding. After the daily briefing and bike handover, we set off a little later than usual. After 1.5 hours of riding, we reach the highlight of the day, the 2,474-meter-high Timmelsjoch Pass! We enjoy the breathtaking view and spend an hour strolling through the motorcycle museum, which is really worth seeing. Then we descend the spectacular south side of the Timmelsjoch Pass road for lunch at St. Leonhard. After a truly exceptional lunch, we embark on a series of curves, first over the Jaufen Pass, followed by the Penserjoch, two passes that make every motorcyclist cheer under their helmet. Another hour later, we enjoyed coffee and cake at the last coffee stop of the day before reaching our beautiful hotel in Selva di Val Gardena after the final leg of the journey. Over dinner together, we review the day and our guests' unanimous conclusion is: a great day of riding!
Contrary to the poor weather forecast, the day greeted us with sunshine, which we were not unhappy about. Today's menu was called “Dolomites Feast” and there was a choice between a short route with 5 passes covering just under 105 miles or a long route with 9 passes covering approx. 155 miles. Due to roadworks, the drive to our first pass was a bit tedious and boring, but nevertheless, half an hour later we were already parked at the Sella Pass at 7200 feet. The humid air from the night's rain and the clouds hanging between the mountains were worth a photo. Then we went to the Fedaia reservoir, where we stopped for a quick coffee break and then took a great group photo with all the bikes on the dam. Then we descended via the Passo Fedaia, past the beautiful Lake Alleghe to Cencenighe Agordino, where our guests had to make a decision: some of the group took the short route with Michel, while the others were guided by Kurt on the long route. There were still seven more passes to conquer. Passo Forcella Aurine, Passo Cereda, Passo Rolle, Passo di Valles, Passo San Pellegrino, the Niger Pass, and finally the Panider Saddle. We swung our bikes through the breathtaking Dolomite landscape over endless combinations of curves back to our hotel in Wolkenstein. This impressive day, which was rounded off with a delicious dinner, will remain a fond memory for a long time to come.
A pretty big day ahead today, 235km on the menu consisting of a 5-course meal, like we are getting used to here on this tour. As a starter we have the Passo di Pinei, we already did it yesterday in one direction but today in the other one, it's a totally different experience doing a mountain pass in the other direction, the corners change and so does the scenery. The weather was really nice to start off the day. After a coffee just before Bolzano with a view on the vineyards, we move through the city on our way to the second course of our meal, the Passo della Mendola, perfect asphalt and curves lead us to the top, we make an extra to the Penegal as a special highlight, a beautiful view of the dolomites greets us here on top. Then it's down to Lago di Santa Giustina through the apple orchards where we are surprised by the Giro Donne, the female giro d'Italia, Suzanne knows one of the team managers in the race so she's quite excited. We have a nice lunch just before our third course just before the Passo del Tonale, we are greeted by some melting snow and rain but luckily it was only a few minutes and the road we're dry again very fast, time for the main course, course number 4, the mythical Passo di Gavia, many times the highest point on the Giro d'Italia, a pass our guest Daniel hasn't done yet, and he's been coming over to Europe and northern Italy for 20 years. Stelvio's little sister doesn't disappoint, the thin windy roads leads up to the pass where we still have some snow on the side of the road. Almost there, still a desert left. We make our way down to Bormio and on the way to Livigno, Passo di Foscagno and Passo D'Eire are awaiting us to get eaten. We conquer these and get to our Hotel Lac Salin were we get a well deserved beer. What a day!
Guests greatly appreciate not having to pack their suitcases in the morning, but instead enjoying a leisurely breakfast and then setting off on a relaxed day trip. Today was our rest day ride with the theme “A Taste of Switzerland,” and it was a special day because “Sophie,” a professional photographer and filmmaker, rode with us on her motorcycle and photographed and filmed us in all kinds of situations. We had checked the weather on the passes we would be riding the night before and again in the morning, and I promised the customers that it wouldn't rain all day today. First, we rode over the Forcola di Livigno Pass (7595 ft), where we also crossed the border into Switzerland. Just 10 minutes later, we reached the top of the Bernina Pass at an altitude of 7644 ft. We made a short stop there to finally take our obligatory group photo, which had to include all the guests and tour guides. It was quite windy and, at 3 degrees, really freezing up there. Afterwards, we made a short detour off the route to St. Moritz. Our guests wanted to see where the “rich” from all over the world spend their vacations in Switzerland. Then it was time for our first highlight of the day and one of my favorite passes, the Albula (7585 ft), where we stopped for coffee and photos. Halfway there, it actually started to snow. We drove to the top of the pass in strong winds and light snowfall and treated ourselves to a hot chocolate to warm up. But I didn't lie at the briefing this morning: it din't rain... ;-) After a short break, the snow had stopped and we descended into the valley, driving about 50 km through beautiful countryside and small villages to the second highlight of the day, the Flüela Pass at 7818 ft. The Flüela restaurant was also our lunch stop. We then continued on to the entrance of the “Munt la Schera” tunnel. Here, my tour guide colleague Michel left us with three guests who preferred to return to the hotel. The others were happy to continue with me to the Ofen Pass (7070 ft), because I had told them that it looks like Canada there. Then we went back to this very special tunnel, which is only passable in one lane at a time and is ice-cold even in the hottest summer. After passing through the tunnel, we drove over the dam of Lake Livigno and crossed the border from Switzerland back into Italy. We drove through the duty-free town of Livigno for a few kilometers before returning to our hotel. In the evening, we took a leisurely stroll down to the village, where we reviewed the “Swiss tour” over a sensational dinner at a steakhouse.
This is the last time we change hotels on this tour as we are going to our final destination, Mösern where we will celebrate the Edelweiss anniversary with another 100 people. But before we get there we have to pass a few border and mountain passes. And it promises to be a good one today. The morning shows blue skies, some fog on the grass which disappears by the time we get to breakfast. Yesterday part of the group rode up to Ofenpass, we hope they weren't disappointed as they get to do it once more. The original plan to go down to Bormio and over the Stelvio pass had to be changed due to roadworks. Local intelligence reported the Bolzano side was also closed from 9:00 till 11:00. So it seemed like Stelvio was off the table. Ofenpass down to Val Mustair and then towards Reschenpass was the optional route. We were well on time and decided to take a right at Val Mustair up the beautiful Umbrailpass which is always super calm. This time is was no different, it was 10:30 when we got to the top of Stelvio where the Carabinieri said they would open at 11:00 as expected. Well great, we get the best hot dog at Bruno's and at 11:00 we start riding down the Bolzano side between the classic cars from the classix car rally that went on. We got to do part of the legendary Stelvio after all, then up to Reschensee for lunch and seeing the church tower, we didn't need much after Bruno's so for most it turned into coffee and gelato. After lunch we got over Reschenpass and up to Gacher blick, an awesome Viewing Platform overlooking the Oberinntal. 50 km left to go to the party in Mösern, we got there at 16:30 in time for the first toast and the start of the BBQ. Let's celebrate this great day and 45 years of Edelweiss Bike travel!