We really enjoyed and would recommend Pension Posthansl - the same family has run this Pension for 25 years and their expertise shows in their service and quality they offer for a reasonable price. A really good breakfast, a good sleep, beautiful views from our room - and already the pains of yesterday are forgotten. After all, we are in the Alps, and challenges are part of the experience.
The Tirolean Blues continued however as we cycled out of Heiterwang. Barry was having troulbe putting his left cleat in to the pedal and we both heard an ominous metallic sound on the road. Well, his Bebop cleat had split in two. Thank goodness we had an extra one as his Bebop pedal/cleats are not readily available. He loves these pedals as the 20% float allows him to move his heel out of the way of the wheel when he makes tight corners. As well, the float has eliminated knee pain for him.
The ride undulated through the beautiful Tirol countryside. Grrr..we still encountered deep large stone gravel over climbs and descents, but this disappeared by the time we reached Lermoos, the place where we are scheduled to meet the shuttle that will take us over Fern Pass. We had considered riding on the road to avoid the gravel, but construction on the road had created a several km long backlog of traffic. It was nice to be faster than cars as we rode along our trail.
Arrived in Lermoos in record time and had time to have lunch before our shuttle. We had forgotten that Austrian businesses close for lunch - most from 12-2 or 3. Thankfully one cafe was still open.
We recommend highly the shuttle company we dealt with - Patis Taxi (or Shuttle and More) - particularly for those travellers with a unique oversized tandem like ours. We were surprised to hear that we were only the second tandem that they had transported in their 15 years of service. Perhaps we are the crazy ones! Crossing Fern Pass, we were surprised at how narrow and dangerous the road is for cyclists. This is a truck route for freight trucks going from Germany to Italy and there were many of them. There is no shoulder and the traffic is unrelenting. Our driver despaired that he often saw families with young children on their own bikes riding the pass. In his opinion, this pass is not suitable for cyclists - particularly children.
It is indeed a luxury to have a personal shuttle. Fed up with the gravel trails, and knowing that, due to the construction, we would have to ride the 14.5 km ride on the gravel trail to Imst, we asked our driver if he could take us to Imst instead. No problem! So for a reasonable surcharge, we avoided aggravation.
By this point in the day, the temperature had soared to 42 degrees celcius. It was indeed hot, but the ride along the Inn River to Landeck was a super ride (on pavement!) through extraordinary Tirolean countryside down a valley with soaring rock faces and mountains on either side. We saw evidence of Roman road building in the rocks where hand carved grooves allowed their cartwheels to proceed along Via Claudia Augusta.
It is exciting to be in Landeck as tomorrow we will be shuttled over the Reschen Pass - and then we will be in Italy.
The campground here is welcome as it is conveniently located in the city - but the steep charge of 22 euros was a surprise. The good thing is that we are situated well to take the shuttle tomorrow.
The balcony of our room at Pension Posthansl was a great place for a morning coffee.
We have been plagued with some bike problems, most notably with our disk brakes. But when Barry's cleat broke in half a km into our ride, we both thought, ok, that's enough. Luckily we had an extra cleat with us.
Road construction had delayed traffic for several km in each direction - it is nice to be faster than cars for a change. We had considered riding on the road in this section to avoid gravel - but not a good idea after all.
Patis Taxi (of Shuttles and More) found a creative way to mount our bike on the conventional bike trailer. The driver had just returned from Munich airport having dropped off cyclists who had also avoided the passes.
steve bartleyHay is stacked on these. We saw them cutting hay and putting it on these on my 1973 trip. One fellow’s pitchfork broke while he was doing it ! Reply to this comment 4 years ago
