After having a few ''rest'' days in Berlin after the Rhine ride we took the I.C.E. train to Augsburg for the start of the Via Claudia Augusta ride. This really is a very special ride, it is not the easiest one that we have done in Europe but the route, towns, cities and scenery make it the best so far. The route follows much of the original route of the Roman road, it includes two mountain passes over the alps but the tour company provides shuttle services to the top of both passes. This is not a group ride, you ride independently, the tour company books the hotels, provides the bikes and carries the luggage between hotels.
Starting in Augsburg where we had two nights we then had overnight stays in Landsberg am Lech, Schongau, Fussen, Imst, Burgeis, Meran or Merano depending on your choice of language and then finishing in Bozen or Bolzano.
The two passes are the Fernpass and the Reschenpass. We were fortunate to have near perfect weather for most of the ride, the first day was overcast and day five we had a headwind for much of that days riding, this was frustrating as we had expected to just roll from Burgeis to Merano, even though it was a gentle downhill we had to pedal for most of the way.
You do need a reasonable level of fitness to enjoy this ride, there is no rest day and even the downhill sections contain a lot of ''ups'' but the scenery makes up for any minor discomfort. There are a few kilometres of gravel trails on the descent from the top of the Fernpass, fun if you like mountain biking but not a big issue if you usually ride on paved paths or roads.
Landsberg am Lech
Untermeitingen
Burggen
Langenwald
Langenwald
Fussen is a beautiful town, surrounded by lakes, mountains and even Mad King Ludwigs weekender, Neuschwanstein. Our hotel was in the old part of town so we had a great choice of good and inexpensive [by Sydney standards] restaurants nearby.
Fussen
Ober-Pinswang
Zugspitze on the way up Fernpass
Lermoos
Early morning from our balcony in Imst
The shuttle that takes you to the Reschenpass stops at Nauders so you do have a few kilometres of gentle climbing before you get to the top of the pass, we had perfect weather except for a strong headwind on that section. We were thinking that the ride from the top to that nights destination would be a fun downhill but it was many kilometres of up and down, the scenery was fantastic but it was a tiring end to the day. We did get about 5 kilometres of reasonable downhill before Burgeis but got stuck behind a farmer on his tractor for half of it.
Reschenpass
Reschen
St. Valentin
Burgeis is a farming village but with a large good quality hotel, cold beers and a very good five course dinner for €16 finished a memorable day off very nicely. The following day was almost entirely downhill but we had a headwind for more than half of it, endless apple orchards with mountains on either side before finally riding into Merano.
Glurns
What do they do with so many apples, millions of them.
Solar panels everywhere in Germany and Italy while Australia with almost unlimited sun burns coal, not the lucky country, the stupid country.
The last day from Merano to Bolzano was on a brand new 50 km. stretch of cycleway. All of the towns along these European bike paths are prosperous because of the huge numbers of bike riders using the hotels, restaurants and shops along the way, while in Australia, building bike paths in the cities is under attack and long distance cycleways in the countryside are almost non existent. Very sad. So many country towns in Australia could really benefit if there were just a few progressive politicians willing to give it a go.
We rode approximately 320 kms. most of the ride was on dedicated cycle paths with just a few kilometres of gravel, signposting was OK but sometimes became confusing when we were trying to find our hotels. A phone with Navfree installed is a good option as that app doesn't need a mobile or wifi signal. The hotels were good apart from the City Hotel in Merano, it was brand new but was next to a busy intersection, no air conditioning, motor scooters and warm weather made for an uncomfortable night.
Bolzano
Bolzano
Bolzano was having a city party when we were there, they do this every two years. It was a great atmosphere with food, beer, music and thousands of happy people having a good time.
Our Strauben chef
This was a superb ride, if you are planning to do a ride in Europe check this one out, just make sure you are reasonably fit and you will have one of the rides of your life.
