September 1, 2021
Day 14
Brixen to Bruneck
Today was another shorter ride, but it sure didn’t feel short. In fact it took nearly five hours. The following explains why.
I stayed at the youth Hostel in Brixen last night. The building is old and has character, though my room only had two power outlets. The view out the window was great. However, the breakfast room did not have a patio meaning no outdoor eating location. Given that no one in Italy has asked for my vaccination card yet, I’m not keen to eat indoors and certainly not in a hostel. I acquired a nice sandwich at a bakery on the way out of Brixen. It had vegetables, something I have yet to see at any breakfasts. I ate it gratefully and was on my way out of Brixen by 9:45am.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Having ridden the section between Brixen and Franzensfest previously, I knew the pain I was in for. The path passes through what I call a cycle touring obstacle course, in common parlance, hell. First it warms you up thinking that it will be fine. There’s even that one trail side outhouse, the only one I’ve ever seen in Europe. There are some brief nice views along the river. And then it kicks in around Varna. Up and over hill and dale, usually steeply, and on gravel. Very loose gravel. At some point the route out of Varna was altered. I forgot about that and dutifully followed my gps up a hill with a path so overgrown and washed out that it was a struggle to push my bike. Then it takes you through a wildlife refuge on terrible dirt track that goes up and down and throws in some super loose small gravel just to mix it up. I have to push through those spots too because my tires sink into that stuff or can’t get traction and then boom, you become one with the ground. It was tedious and not at all fun. Then after the Varner See, which I never have ended up seeing, the path is closed. Sort of. There is a sign saying take the detour on the very busy road, but there is no path barricade. Last time I took the detour and it was awful. This time I saw people ride past so I went for it. As I was riding along uphill (because isn’t everything uphill right now) a German couple came riding up from behind and told me the path was closed. They said they had come through here a couple weeks ago in the other direction and had hopped the fence. They said they would help me get my stuff over the fence as well. So that’s what we did. When Italians close a path they do it properly and clearly mean it. We definitely had to work to hoist our stuff over, but we made it. The Steinschlaggefahr was really rather a joke. They’ve nearly finished securing the wire mesh that somehow holds the stones in place. They were working on a section when we road by. No one yelled at us and when we reached the second fence we just hoisted our stuff back over. Their ebikes are a whole lot heavier than my slow plodding mule of a recumbent. This ended the obstacle course section. I’ll hop a fence any day to avoid riding on a very busy road and I’m incredibly grateful to the German couple who helped me get my bike over. They are headed back home to Erding which is near the airport in München.
Beyond Franzenafest everything was new territory. I was hoping for a less heavily trafficked area than what I had to contend with west of Bozen. The München-Venezia Radfernweg passes through this area and, in fact, I’ll have ended up riding the entire section from Brenner to Cortina d’Ampezzo by the end of the trip. It was honestly a mixed bag of a route. The first few miles are mainly uphill with the path going all over the place. It rather felt like this region put the minimum amount of investment possible into creating the Radweg. The route goes way up into the hills while the main road and train get to be down by the Puster river. That was actually the case the whole day. There are very few towns along this part of the path as well and by Mühlbach I was pretty hungry. I finally found a place with Eis and had to order 3 scoops to give me the energy to ride the rest of the way to Bruneck.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
As for scenery, it’s not the kind of breathtaking beauty of the areas I’ve been in so far. The mountains here are more gentle and there’s considerably more agriculture, particularly corn. There are occasional vineyards and I saw a bit of Apple orchards, but mostly corn and hay. Speaking of which, for awhile i pedaled uphill behind two free ranging cows. They were moving faster than I was for part of the time. One looked like it needed a butt washing and I was afraid if I got too close I’d be the victim of a volcanic butt end eruption. When I got my window to sprint by, I made use of it and left the two cows to moo at their penned up buddies. This was actually my second animal encounter of the day, having interrupted a cat sunbathing convention right before the washed out steep uphill trail bit. In a crushing moment of defeat, non of the barn cats would permit me to pet them.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
For awhile I thought I’d never get to Bruneck, but the path finally picked a side of the river and sort of stuck with it. It even got a bit flatter for awhile. Around Ehrenburg I contacted my accommodations for the night to let them know I’d be there in around 45 minutes (they’re technically closed today, hence calling to report my arrival time.) I figured 45 minutes for 6km would be easy. Nope. First I had to ride up over a big hill. On bad pavement. Like I said, it appears not much money has been invested in this section of Radweg. I’ve ridden cobblestones smoother than this. And that uphill nearly did me in. I saw 13% register on my gps and I believe it. I like riding in the mountains, but not ON or UP the mountains. I thought the Bodensee-Königsee Radweg was tough, but man. That was a picnic compared to today. The route to Toblach is all uphill as well, but it may be gentler hills. I need to check that. If it’s too mean and nasty I might just chicken out and take the train instead.
Anyway, I did finally make it to St Lorenz outside Bruneck where I’m staying the next two nights. The room is fantastic and by far the most posh of the whole trip. It does help dull the torture of today. I have a huge bed, a big porch with a divider between me and whoever may be next door, a couch, a nice desk, and a massive bathroom with an actual bathtub that I might just have to soak in tonight (spoiler, I did soak in the bath tonight and it was really nice.). I was originally going to take the lift up to the top of the Kronplatz mountain, but I arrived two hours later than I expected and it closes at 6pm. I wasn’t keen to ride my bike uphill to the closest lift and there is no direct bus connection from St Lorenz. Maybe tomorrow I’ll work out a way there, but for now I’m sitting on the side of a hill across from St Lorenz writing this summary and enjoying a view down towards Bruneck.
Tomorrow I was planning to ride up the Ahrntal. Looking at the elevation profile, I may only ride partway and then go up to the Kronplatz. I need a day off from hills. Plus I have that mean uphill to Toblach the day after. I think next year I’ll plan a ride somewhere flatter. Oh, and doing those hills 2,000ft higher in elevation than you’re used to probably doesn’t help either. You may be saying to yourself, what did you expect riding in the mountains? Well, most of my trips have been in the mountains and this is by far the most uphill I’ve done. I should also add that originally I was planning to ride this route in only the downhill directions, but due to covid, I decided to avoid public transit as much as possible. I’m starting to regret that decision. I think going the other direction I would have enjoyed this more.
As a postscript to what I wrote earlier, I had a super supper. The first restaurant I tried did not have any available patio seating. The locals here seem rather uninterested in masking so I’d rather not eat indoors. Instead I wandered down the street to the Sonnenhof, one of the hotels I had considered staying at. They offered some local type fare. I ended up with a nice mixed salad and some sort of pastry thing with some potato filling that was lightly fried on a bed of the most amazing sauerkraut I’ve ever eaten. There was also a small glass of some sort of berries that tasted like cranberries but were really small. Best meal of the trip by a long ways and much better than the pizza last night with the soft boiled egg in the middle of it. That was just a weird pizza.
One other last thought for the day. Whenever I ride a route through the mountains I mentally compare it to riding the Tauern Radweg. The section from Krimml to Salzburg along with the back way that passes through Bad Reichenhall, is still my absolute favorite mountain riding. Great surface, minimal hills, varied scenery, good accommodations, just all-around perfect. I’ve ridden twice now and I imagine there will be a third time in the future.
Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 424 miles (682 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 4 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |