Today we started out from Mieming with our small group and took on our first mountain pass the „Kühtai“ which brought us up to 2000 meters above sea level. After enjoying an applestrudel we followed a very small forest road to Imst and up the mountains again to the „Gacherblick“ viewpoint. In the afternoon we went up all the way through the Kaunertal valley to 2750 meters, before we ended up in the small ski resort Fiss. What a great day to start an Alps tour!

Our second riding day started with a small detour into Switzerland (Samnaun valley) before we crossed the border into Italy to see the famous churchtower in lake Reschen. After having a coffee in Glurns and coincidentally running into another Edelweiss tourgroup, we took on the 48 switchbacks of the Stelvio passroad in perfect weather and almost no traffic. On top we had a Bratwurst at Bruno‘s sausage stand and continued to Bormio. In the afternoon we crossed another mountain using the small roads of the Mortirolo passroad, before we reached the main apple growing region of Italy. Tonight we stay on top of mount Penegal from where we will continue to Bozen tomorrow.

Today we were facing some rain. So we put on our raingear and rode down the Mendel passroad into Bozen. We continued to Meran and up the Gampenjoch passroad and rode through Italy‘s most famous apple and wine growing region. After lunch the rain had stopped and roads were sowly drying up, which was perfect timing as we took on the twisties on mount Bondone. In the afternoon we reach our hotel located at the lake Levico.

Of course we decided to ride on our restday as well as the wheather was perfect. We started out on the Kaiserjäger road in the morning. Over the Bordala passroad we reached lake Garda and we continued through the long tunnels on the west coast of the lake until we reached a little canyon that brought us up to Tremosine. After having a pizza we crossed over the mountain range to lake Idro and back again to lake Ledro. In the afternoon we arrived back at the hotel in Levico and enjoyed a very nice birthday dinner at a restaurant close by. Great day!

Riding day 5 of our tour was pretty cold (temperatures down to 6 degree centigrade) but dry and partly sunny. This was our Dolomites day with nothing less than 7 passroads. Despite several „road closed“ signs we started out on the Manghen road and eventhough there was heavy roadworks equipment blocking the road at the very end we managed to get through by taking a small deviation. After warming up on Passo di Rolle, we continued on Passo Cereda and had lunch on Passo Duran. In the afternoon we went up Passo Staulanza and Passo Giau, which were giving us beautiful roads and amazing views. There was so little traffic that most of the other vehicles we saw were motorbikes. After riding through the famous ski resort Cortina, we went up the Tre Croci pass to lake Misurina and ended up on Ratsberg overlooking the most northern peaks of the Dolomites. After that nice but cold day we enjoyed the hotel pool ans spa.

Our group

Unfortunately the last day of the tour has come already, but there is still some nice riding to be done and some beautiful scenery to be seen. In the morning it was pretty cold but dry and we took on the Furkel passroad followed by the Würzjoch, where we enjoyed the last Dolomite peaks of this tour and warmed ourselves up having a Latte Machiato. After going over the Jaufen passroad we hat lunch in St. Leonhard and could actully enjoy the sun at 14 degree centigrade, until we went up the famous Timmelsjoch, which was very windy, wet and cold. There we ran into another Edelweiss tourgroup and had a look at the many bikes of the top of the mountain motorbike museum. We closed the day with heading back to Mieming where we all arrived safely. What a great tour: The nice and empty roads, mostly good wheather and a great group all came together to a very enjoyable experience!

Snow on the Timmelsjoch! Luckily the roads were clear