Ultimate Alps 2018

Let me start with the tips in no particular order 1. Organised tours like to are a very good way to go. A good tour will take you places you may not have known about. Or would have missed on your own. A road a coffee shop or a lunch. All this things are researched and not left to chance. If we had traveled on our own we would have missed all of these.  2. They are expensive - well they are when you live in Australia and want to tour in Europe. On Edelweiss Tour they say this is what is covered and you pay for everything else. We paid for fuel, coffee and lunch stops except two days on this tour where they provided a very nice picnic. We paid for dinner on the rest night. Other evening meals were included as was a full breakfast. Your do have to pay for your drinks including water in some places. Accomdation for all nights was included, including the night before we start riding and the night after we finish. All the food was outstanding. I think food in Europe is outstandi...

This morning I sit on our hotel balcony in Mieming surrounded by mountains and the weather a little like I feel - dull with a little bit of drizzle. Yes, this, like all good things, is coming to an end. But the tour had a last day of adventure for us. Another 220 kms / 4hrs 30 of great riding.  I did not set the trip metre until 10 kilometres into the ride and the bike computer told me today was our fastest day at an adverage 51.5km/h.  We started out from Bolzano head along some narrow streets and onto the road up the Sarentino valley. A road lined with orchards and vineyards with a lot of tunnels and turns built so the people up in the high valleys town could access Bolzano to work replacing a 100 k journey with a 20/30 k one. The path lead us to the Pennes Pass.  We where in high country above the tree line again.  The road was of baring condition but there was an amount of road works. Road work can be a good thing. They force you to stop and, as long as you can b...

Today is the rest day. This means that we stay in the same hotel two nights in a row. The ride option was 350 kms in and around the Dolomites. Marly, Robyn and Anna had all decided that they could do with a day off the bikes. Ramon had plans to make a short ride and I opted to go with him. Our aim was to be back in Bozen for lunch. We had breakfast at 7 and were on the bikes and away by 8. It was old school touring using maps. Ramon had a good system of writing out the names of the towns we had to go through in order and then we needed to look for signs to those places and follow them. The instruction from Axel on how to get out of town work perfectly and we headed toward Brenner. We needed to turn off to Blumau. We stopped thinking we had missed the turn but after consulting the maps agreed we need to go a little farther. The turn off revealed its self and from here we simply followed the road, stopping a couple of times for photos and to put on a jersey as the temperature dropped as ...

The title is written as it is because there was one of each in today’s travels. Today was the shortest of our journeys, just 154kms from Madonna Di Campiglio to Bolzano. Jonas leaded today and we made our first stop for coffee at shop in Stenico. We sat on the sidewalk and conversation turned to other Edelweiss tours. Robyn mentioned that she had seen they had one called Castle and Breweries tour. Jonas responded to explain that that took in a chunk of Eastern Europe. Robyn replied I am not interested in the breweries much but I would like to see the Castles. Jonas then points up the hill across the road and says “There is one there.” So we made a impromptu decision to visit. The walk up the hill was good excerise and the view of the castle was interesting. We walked through the court yard but from there you had to pay and we did not really have the time or the inclination to do so on this visit. The morning had started off with a shower forcing us into our wets at a brief roadside sto...

As a group we are all starting to wear out. None of us want to admit it but these solid long days are taking there toll. While another 70 kms of the windy type track was an option, we opted for a shorter day. Our destination was Madonna Di Campiglio, a town focuses completely on skiing in the winter and hiking and mountain biking in the summer. To get there, we need to be away by 8.30 to catch the ferry across Lake Coma at 9.20. The ride along Lake Lugano was pretty casual with great views of the lake. The road dropped of the east end of the lake and wound through a hilly part with a few hairpin turns but never really left the populated area. We rolled down the hill and basically straight on to the ferry. We just made in - the next one is in an hour. Lake Coma is known for the holiday playground of the rich and famous. George Clooney, Madonna and Ben Spies own or have owned houses on the Lake. It is a beautiful spot, very large area of water it took about 30 minutes to cross on the fer...

We have now completed 4 day’s of riding, Today was shorter 224 kms but riding the hardest, at least I could, the best we could average was 44kms/hr. The morning started with a train ride down from Zermatt. In my feedback I will suggest Zermatt be the rest day. The problem is I am guessing it would be expensive and there would not be a ride from here option. The problem they have in planning these tours is that they have to convince people like me, who have before this never done a long ride and average less then 60km/hr, that we are getting good value. By the time we got in tonight the whole group is keen for the short ride tomorrow.  From the train, a short walk to pick up our bikes out of the lockup. We had to fuel first and then ride the same road out as we come in on 40k or 50k and then through a complex section of turns and out on the road up Simplonpass. This road was much more commercial with big trucks and buses but wide and over taking was pretty easy. Good fun as each of ...

This morning I am up early to get a shot of the sun rising on the Matterhorn. I had no idea when we signed up that a night in a hotel in view of the Matterhorn was part of it. The Matterhorn is the highest mountain in the Alps stands at over 4000 metres, only half the height of Everest but twice the height of Kosicosko. Our third day on the bike was 260 kms and a bit shorter but we took that time up during the ride with some additional stops. Again there were lots of winding roads = that is what we came for. The highlights was the stops. The first a ferry ride across the lake that our hotel overlooked.  The next, a cafe beside a river from which you could see the snow melt rush by about 30 metre below you into a gap in the mountain. Next, we had a picnic by a stream. The temperature was well into the 20s and I took the opportunity to take off my foot and cool my feet in the stream. It was so cold that after a while you got an icecream headache in your feet when paddling.  Our ...

This morning I am sitting on the balcony of our hotel with a cuppa looking out over Lake Vierwald (Vierwald stätter See the map says). It is going to be a good day because, for the first time on the trip, I am getting an early morning cuppa. Tea and coffee faculties in your hotel room has not been the normal in our Europe experience. Now to yesterday.  After our first day, we left in the morning knowing today will be a big day. The passes today are good fun. We took our turn at being the tail-end Charlie for today. This task involves make sure you bring up the rear and no one gets left behind. Not long in we made our first stop at a look out at the Maloja pass that is not really a pass - bit like going over Mt Mee near Brisbane but to be fair, the valleys are not as spectacular or deep there as they are here.  From here, we rode on the secondary road which ran along side the highway and through the small villages along the way. It reminded me of our Blue Ridge Parkway experien...

The morning started out drizzling with rain and reports the temperature at the top of Stelvio Pass, the highest point of the day and in fact the trip, would be 1 degree. So we rugged up and put our wets on, but as it turned out the lowest was 14 and the highest was close to 30. The new Explorer is great to ride the only issue with this one is the Arrow aftermarket exhaust is very loud - too loud for a touring bike you will be on all day. It has the adventure boxes on it two an they make it arkward to get one and off the bike. Anna is loving her Ducati 950 Multistrada.  Our riding guide for today was Jonas, an Italian. Trained as a engineer, he has become a teacher of maths and geography which became clear through his passion for his country.  We would travel in three countries, starting in Austria, then in Italy, before coming to a stop in Pontresina, Switzerland.   Today we rode three mountain passes. First Stelvio. Getting there was slow because we traveled the country ...

Very quick blog this morning. Robyn and I stayed up way to late last night excited about our first day of riding and sorting what we should take on the bike tomorrow and what we should send in the van. Not a big deal I know but it is something new.  The flight to Innsbruck was uneventful only to say the Vienna Airport was much busier than we had expected and, as Anna described it, disorganised. In Innsbruck we were met by transport that Anna had booked and so we had a person with an Anna Hopper sign waiting for Us as we came out. Felt very important. The drive to Mieming opened up the Alps feel that will be the next few days. Although is was drizzling rain and the tops of the mountain disappeared in to the cloud, the valleys we could see were filled with small communities with the regular church on a hill.  Our hotel is clearly a ski lodge most of the time. We booked in but our room was not ready and as we waited we started to meet the other members of our tour.  First wa...

Today we set out to sightsee in Vienna. We had some ideas but no plans. The main objective was to be rested and adjusted enough, ready to enjoy the main deal, our motorcycling tour.  After a great breakfast at the hotel, we headed out.  We are in agreement that the food in Europe, well Vienna anyway, is good and not bad value compared to home. It would. Be interesting to have an evaluation for our American friends, because while I imagine it is much better for them too, it would be lots more expensive for them. That said we are not ordering rump steak - that is more expensive. So while we are on food, they have great areas of alfresco dinner. I guess they don’t in winter, but now in summer with the long days, outside every eating place there are tables and chairs in tight groups filled with people eating and socialising. The blend between the vehicle and pedestrian traffic is interesting and yet feels safe as people over flow the narrow foot paths and the cars and motorcycles ...

I am writing this morning from a quaint little writing desk in the foyer of The Hotel Austria. This hotel is up a little narrow street a short walk from the city centre. It is unreal to be in a spot so full of history and history so much attached to their identity.  We were all pretty jet lagged by the time we arrived at our hotel about 3pm. It is amazing how good a shower and a change of clothes can make you feel. The big deal on for the last part of our trip was that it was in an Airbus 380-800.  I believe to be the worlds largest passenger plane. There are 2 levels so we were in row 78. For the biggest plane there was a bit more room in the seats too which was appreciated.  Once showered Robyn and I when for walk into the city. Anna was feeling a little travel sick and took a break. It is warm about 27 degrees C and full of tourists like us. There are lots of eating places inside and outside. The main feature of today’s walk was St Stephen’s Catheral. This massive orna...

So after a morning of a bit of running around, some final emails, a quick visit with Gerhardt and Carol. Lindy has us on our way to the airport. This is the longest day we get to Vienna about midday tomorrow after a 14hr flight to Dubai and another 6hrs to Vienna. But the hurry up and wait starts with a long wait in Brisbane at DFO we arrived in Brisbane about 2 and leave at 10.50pm my first time out of international in Brisbane.  Leaving Mackay Bikes look a bit sad they not coming this time.  In the plane ready to fill 13hrs in the air when we land it will be Day 2 Flight was good did not sleep as well as I had hoped but OK. Anna reckons she did alright. I watched Commuter and some movie with Morgan Freeman and Tommie Lee Jones about a retirement resort in California. Non demanding and fun.  Robyn and Anna watch some too. I managed to sort my school emails which feels pretty good to.  In Brisbane we acquired a travel companion Hop the Roo cause there are no kangaro...