Despite having toured in Bavaria and Austria a number of times now, I still have managed not to ride every idyllic bike route. This is the beauty of Germany and Austria for cycling. There are such a plethora of routes to pick from. One of the relatively flat and scenic routes I’ve not ridden yet is the Inntal Radweg. Ive crossed it a few times, and technically ridden the boring part from the confluence with the Salzach to Passau, but not the really scenic part. 

My route will take me in relatively short order from west of München down through Bad Tölz along the Isar to the Sylvenstein Stausee, along the Achensee, and down the mountain to Jenbach and the Inn River. I then follow the Inn upstream through Innsbruck and Landeck, and skirt the border with Switzerland to Martina and the beginning of the Reschen Pass to Nauders. The pass actually continues beyond Nauders, but Norbert’s Höhe outside Nauders is where everyone takes their celebratory selfies.

From Nauders it’s on to the Reschen See. This part of the ride will be largely a rerun from a couple years ago when I spent three weeks in Südtirol in northern Italy. I swore I’d never come back, but as I mentioned in my previous entry, the cycle paths in this area do seem ideal for a velomobile. I do plan to add a spur in down to the Gardasee and back up through Trento. I didn’t make it that far south last time and the Gardasee is quite scenic. 

From Trento it’s north back to Bozen with no intention to visit Bozen itself, having had quite enough of it last trip, and then north along the Eisacktal Radweg all the way north to Sterzing and the fearsome Brenner Pass. I am not looking forward to the Brenner Pass. I actually don’t plan to do it all in one day. I have a hotel booked 2/3 or so the way up. I’ll finish it the following morning, zip down the mountain to Innsbruck, photograph the famous golden roofed building, and enjoy a slightly downhill gradient to somewhere beyond Rosenheim where I cut across back to the airport. 

If I’m lucky, I’ll find a buyer for the velomobile I’m riding there in the München area and can hand it off. If not, then I will have to ride it back to the pickup location to leave it with a friend until it sells. Anybody want to buy a velomobile fresh off an epic adventure?