Ultimate Alps: heavenly mountains!
Finally the day has arrived that we're gonna start our beautiful tour thrue the hard of the Alps. it will all start, and finish, in Seefeld. A town well known for it's cross country skiing and hiking. But today we'll start here with the welcome brieving and getting to know all the members of our group. we've got people from the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, Austria, Brazil and Slovenia. So get ready to enjoy 10 days of the best there is: riding motorcycle!
Everybody is ready to start and what a start of the tour! Sunny weather and blue skies! Our first stop is at Gacher blick, a great view point that overlooks the Inns valley. Second stop, with an excellent coffee at the Italian boarder. Bienvenuti a Italia! The steeple sticking out of the lake stands as a reminder that there were villages in the valley before the dam got flooded. Passo Stelvio, probably "the highlight" of the tour showed us our limits allreafdy on the first day, Bruno's sussage was the well earned award for the efforts.
With 330km/206mi ahead of us we'll have a long day to enjoy a lot of the Swiss and Italian Alps. 5 mountain passes and hundreds of switchbacks, what a joy! Again the weather is perfect and so are the views. A short stop at the Cascate dell'Acquafraggia (waterfalls) and a great lunch (great Pizza!) At another waterfall. And of we go to next pass, and the next and the next. Warm and satisfied we arrive at Vierwaltstättersee (lake) for cold beers.
This day got a special start! after an early start and a 15 minute ride we lined up at the jetty of the ferry across Vierwaldstätter Lake. While waiting for the boat Juri told us about today's plan. It was suposed to be a long day with including a picnic high up in the mountains, but sometimes plans are made to be changed. The ferry ride across the lake was a very smooth one and then we headed towards Brüning, a first pass to start out with. But then, due do an accident on the pass road, Susten Pass was closed, we had to detour and to give up on the picnic. But instead we climbed Grimsel Pass, another spectacular road, leading up to approx. 6000 feet The weather had changed in the meantime and the clouds were promissing rain. At the bottom of Grimsel Pass we got to see the Furka Steamtrain, a trainline of 18 kilometers climbing up to almost 6000 feet and connecting the valleys on both side of Furka Pass by a short tunnnel. The locomotive and most of the wagons are over 100 years old. From Furka on we followed the valley west until we turned off direction Zermatt.
As the motorcycles were kind a out of reach in Täsch and staying in Zermatt is probably a "once in the lifetime" thing, everybody made the day a restday. Which does not necessarily mean, that everybody took arest. Some of the group took the cog railway up to Gorner Grat, the final staion on 10.100 ft sealevel. The surrounding view, the big glacier coming down and the more than 13.000 ft high mountainpeaks in the distance are just overwhelming. Some others were just wandering through the town or looking for the best Swiss chocolate.
Yes! We're reunited with our beloved motorcycles again! And it's off into the Swiss mountains. Exiting Switzerland, entering Italy and entering Switzerland again. A cool ferry ride across lake Maggiore and back into the hills and mountains. The scenery changes constantly so tired of all the impressions we arrive in beautiful Lugano for a cold beer.
Lugano must be one of the most italian cities in Switzerland and with regret we leave it behind us. Along lake Lugano towards lake Como and the ferry takes us to the other side. One group takes the short route along lake Como, the other group travels more inland, crossing several beautiful passes. In the evening we had a reason to celebrate: Rebecca and David are on their 10th tour, so they got awarded with a special Edelweiss shirt
Pretty soon after the takeoff we left the valley towards Bolzano annd turned south. Madonna di Campillio is well known as a skiing resort, amazing, how many skilifts there are. Unfortunately Passo Daone was closed due to road constraction and so we had to go with the flow and follow the main road. Stoping at Lago di Molvena we learned abbout the gigantic landslide which created the lake long time ago. Jan surprised us with a picnic at Duelago and towards the end of the day we enjoyed the curvy road coming down from Passo Mendola towards Bolzano
Restday? No way! Despite the predictions for rain a group called the sexy six go for a spectacular ride into the Dolomites. And spectacular is exactly the word that describes this mountain range. We witness the limestone and granite pointy rocks, glaciers, dense forest and wild flowing rivers. Can you say this is the most beautiful riding day of the tour? It's at least a great one! While the others were out there the other half of the group explored Bolzano. The old city center, exsisting since the 12th century, impresses with old architecture, behind every corner you can find history. A great walk through town, which ended in having dinner in a restaurant, which was opened originaly in 1895.
The weather has cleared and it's off to the last stretch of the tour. With the Timmelsjoch pass it's a worthy finish of an excellent tour! The impressive motorcycle museum has a wonderful collection from all over the world. A final riding day means a warm goodbye to the people who became friends and who, we hope, will see again.