Eurobike Tour: Day 6: Imst to Innsbruck

I’ve taken a lot more photos of tractors than I anticipated. I didn’t even mean to take this one, it just rolled into the shot.

Today was going to be our longest day yet (65km) and initially I’d been dreading it as the road surfaces of the first few days had been steep and gravel. However, yesterday was mostly asphalt and it seemed like the closer we got to Innsbruck, the better the road would be. Being well stocked with medication to combat itchy eyes made me feel more confident too. If I can be indelicate, the previous day had also not been quite as torturous in the seat, so that was a bonus too.

After a massive ten hours of sleep (for me anyway) we got down to breakfast at about 7am. Breakfast at this hotel started at 6:30am, the previous hotel was 8am. There really should be a standardisation of breakfast hours in hotels and when I am elected president of the world it will be one of my first ten new laws*.

Jane and Rutherford sat next to us at breakfast and I am proud to say I won the wordle challenge for the day (fastest *and* fewest guesses). I forgot to post the photo I took of the four of us the previous day so here it is.

Right after our guardian angels pointed us to the nearest pharmacy.

This hotel had champagne on offer with the breakfast buffet but since 90% of the clientele were about to mount up for a day of cycling, I can’t imagine much of it was drunk.

Farewell, Hotel Neuner, your meals were excellent and not eye-wateringly priced.

Our hotel was right by the bike trail and so it was a matter of moments to be on our bikes and heading out of town. There were a few short, steep hills to begin with, then a lovely section of dappled forest riding.

The majority of the day was spent going between 20 and 35kph and so we made it to Innsbruck a bit before 3pm. Here’s a few sights from the trail.

We rode alongside this river most of the day.

A small herd of cows blocked the road and we looked at them for a short while until a guy on a bike came towards them from the other direction and shouted at them and pushed them out of the way. Not a tactic I would’ve tried!

The valley floor was very flat and mostly farmland.

While he loved the forest sections and some of the farmland with all its vegetation, Luke said it was the most boring day, scenery-wise. I felt it was a relief not to have a sheer drop right next to me at any point.

Luke stopped by Innsbruck airport but sadly no planes flew low overhead. Behind us was the local beach – giant pebbles and freezing cold water.

We stopped in Innsbruck to check how far away our hotel was and it just so happened to be right across the road from the point at which we’d stopped. The tour app directs you to the middle of town and we hadn’t thought about precisely where the hotel was. Lucky we checked!

The hotel is called ‘Rufi’s’ which doesn’t translate well into English. The guy at the front desk was lovely and we put away our bikes then availed ourselves of our complementary drinks.

So there you go, we finished our bike tour from St Moritz to Innsbruck. Approximately 250km across two countries. The route had been rated ‘moderate’ but we’d thought that having e-bikes would compensate for our lack of fitness or experience. Although we made it, I wouldn’t recommend this strategy to anyone else! It was more mentally draining than physically problematic for me, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so scary – although the worst part was the detour on day 3.

In summary!

The best bits were:

The views

The weather

The public pool/spa at Zernez

The local food

The very polite and patient drivers in Austria and Switzerland

The decent route signage

The excellent roadside amenities, in particular the frequent public fountains with pure spring drinking water

The worst aspects were:

The bikes were for city riding, not gravel, the tyres were awful for the conditions

The complete lack of support from Eurobikes and the fact that ‘the natural adventure company’ was just another name for a company we’d actively been trying to avoid

The way hotels did not cater for warm nights by offering a sheet or light blanket, let alone a fan or aircon

The flies – they are everywhere, including indoors

The atrocious smell of manure for about 50% of the ride

The poor performance of the two apps and that day 5 on the app did not allow any route guidance

So, how much did it cost? The seven nights of accommodation plus breakfast, e-bike hire and bag transfers was $5,422K AUD for both of us. Most of the hotels were around $300 to $400 a night ($350×7 = $2450). We paid extra for electric bikes but I shudder to think what the trip would’ve been like without them.

While it is a lot for a week’s travel, this is a very expensive part of the world and the views are tremendous. The entire route has views of snow-capped jagged mountains and fields of flowers. The most scenic part was day 4, between Ardez and Ftan. A cheaper and easier way to enjoy the sights would be to use the local bus system to get about and walk between some of the most picturesque places.

We saved a bit of money by eating large breakfasts, skipping lunch and buying most of our snacks from the supermarket.

We ate our way through several packets of these biscuits over the course of the week.

Anyhow, on to a relaxing day in Innsbruck before catching the train to Hallstatt!

* I’m having a really hard time deciding on my other nine but they will definitely include a standardisation of electrical sockets and better pillows for Europeans.

13Jun2023

Euro Bike Tour: Day 4: Scuol to Prutz (Crossing to Austria)

by Miss Penny Black

We left the hotel at about 10 after a bit of drama with my phone and Three, the company I got my phone SIM from. Danny, my friend in Northern Ireland (with whom I did the Camino) had been very kindly helping me out with renewing my phone plan (the money has to be paid from a UK account) but the credit he’d added had somehow disappeared while I’d been asleep – Luke thought maybe the hotel wifi had dropped out and apps had been updating. Luke used their online chat to fix it and the company renewed the plan for a month with unlimited data.

You just don’t realise how important internet access is until you don’t have it. We only have one UK phone number between us and it’s on my phone – something to rectify for next time. The delay made me feel a bit anxious as this was our longest day of cycling yet.

On the way out of Scuol was a very scenic bridge and no cars allowed, which makes any path more pleasant to ride!

So picturesque.

Snow melt makes the rivers such an unusual colour with all the minerals washed down from the mountains.

I didn’t take a lot of photos today. Switzerland has experienced really bad storms and some landslides. Trails that were probably fairly smooth a couple of weeks ago were very potholed and rough. Or maybe they were always like that. The day before we had been detoured due to a big landslide.

There were several parts of the ride early on where railings seemed to be missing or edges were more precipitous than they should be. I really don’t like coming down steep and winding gravel roads that have a sharp turn at the bottom and no railing or fence. It made me very tense and I’m surprised, after so much white-knuckled riding today that my arms and shoulders aren’t sore.

The other thing that was making me worried was that my most powerful and fast-acting hayfever medication is getting very low as the bottle has leaked a bit. I’d tried taking it in two half doses the day before with middling success but today I thought I’d wait until I felt the symptoms before I took it. With the wind in my face and a great deal of pollen in the air it didn’t take long for my eyes to become extremely itchy and feel swollen.

We stopped in a tiny hamlet and I felt really overwhelmed by the terrain and how my face felt. It was hard to see with such itchy red eyes and I had a bit of a cry. Luke tried calling the Eurobike help line to see if the bag transport vehicle was anywhere near us. It took them half an hour to get back to us and then they said no, the driver’s van was too full to pick us up.

We had deliberately booked through a company called Natural Adventures in order to avoid Eurobikes as their reviews weren’t good. It turned out that Natural Adventures use Eurobikes anyhow and that their promises of support to riders did not extend to picking us up, knowing anything about local transport services, connecting us to taxis etc or offering any help whatsoever.

After being the very definition of useless, the person at the other end had the temerity to say ‘have a nice day,’ and I replied with ‘unlikely,’ and hung up in a rage.

Since there was nothing for it, I took some of the remaining fast-acting hayfever meds, waited a bit and then kept going.

The next part of the path was pretty dreadful (short, steep, very rocky climbs and narrow paths next to steep edges) but eventually became a decent road which then turned into us riding on the side of a highway.

Initially we were on a bike path next to the highway but after some roadworks the bike lane disappeared and it was just us and cars and trucks all using the same lane. Fortunately due to the roadworks the traffic was slow and Swiss/Austrian drivers all moved over and were very polite. I didn’t feel in any danger and there were other cyclists on the road.

We had to ride through several tunnels. Partway through one I could see what I initially thought was my hair curling around the front of my hat, which was weird because I had put my hair in braids that morning. No, it dawned on me, it wasn’t hair, it was the legs of a huge beetle reaching under the brim of my hat right in front of my face. It was big enough for me to hear the thump as it hit the road when I brushed it off. Ick.

The highway riding was very fast (for us) – we rode between 30 and 40 kph for quite a while and made up for all the time wasted by the call to Eurobikes (world’s worst bike company?). After the highway the rest of the ride was along pretty quiet and well-sealed country roads through small villages until we reached our hotel.

Today’s ride was about 50km. Tomorrow is more like 35km and hopefully the high quality roads continue as we get closer to Innsbruck. The final day is 65km but if my hayfever is worse there’s a train line along that stretch so we can cut some of it out if needed.

Luke has been really supportive and kind about all my suffering and lets me set the pace and take rests when I need them. Technically I guess this is our honeymoon holiday since we’re on our own for a stretch and, even though it hasn’t been perfect, having Luke be so considerate with my challenges and severe discomfort at points has really reminded me what a wonderful human being he is and how lucky I am to have him.

Our hotel for the evening was on a busy road and didn’t look super fancy but the staff were really lovely and our room was a good size as well as having an enclosed balcony.

We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, where the food was easily half the price it would’ve been in St Moritz. We had pork schnitzels with cranberry sauce (a great combination) and they served wine in a 240ml carafe for 6€, which cheered me up even more.

We finished the evening drinking our duty free gin and watching from our balcony as the clouds changed colour and listening to music inspired by the restaurant’s playlist of 20 year old trance classics.

12Jun2023

Eurobike Tour: Day 3: Zernez to Scoul

by Miss Penny Black

I’d like to say we slept well but for no good reason that I can think of, the church in Zernez rings the bells on the hour 24 hours a day. I definitely heard the 11pm, midnight, 2am and 4am bells. Also the pillows were terrible, which we are coming to expect. Complain complain! I know, but travel isn’t all fun and I think the bad bits are often more memorable or notable.

Anyhow, breakfast was not newsworthy at all (basic Scandinavian breakfast of cold meats, cheeses, yogurt etc), apart from seeing Jane and Rutherford in the breakfast room and learning that they too are Wordle players.

Goodbye Zernez, with your excellent pool and your terrible church.

The church bells rang for 9am just as we cycled out of Zernez.

The morning’s ride began with gravel, some steep ups and downs that were made much easier with the e-bikes. Rutherford had pointed out that all the gravel would be much easier going if we’d had better tyres and I couldn’t help thinking about this as I juddered along. It was nowhere near as bad as the previous day though.

We saw our first covered bridges, which were difficult to photograph in the bright sunlight.

Initially our ride was fairly low in the valley and close to the river.

We rode through very picturesque little villages and along quiet roads. Usually I have to angle my camera to get shots without people, but that hasn’t been a problem since we left Zürich – the Engardin valley seems almost deserted. There’s the Swiss version of the Tour de France next weekend – for those who find the original too easy perhaps? So it will no doubt get busier soon. We’re very lucky to have the paths and tracks almost to ourselves.

Halfway through the morning we were very much not on the valley floor but halfway up the side. In most places there were no rails or fences and having to ride on the right side and close to the edge made me quite anxious. It’s very strange to be somewhere so beautiful and dramatic but not be able to look at it without stopping.

Of course we did stop quite frequently to take photos, and only having to travel 30km meant we didn’t have far to go. I was glad of the early start though as my hayfever wasn’t great and my eyes were watering quite a bit.

The third last village we went through, Ardez, was so beautiful! The houses were very traditional and had some amazing art painted on them that seemed very Gaelic to me.

The whole town was lovely, if completely silent. Switzerland has frequently reminded me of Japan and the quietness is another of those attributes. The others are the proliferation of natural springs, wood-based architecture and high prices. Both also suffer from frequent and devastating natural disasters (earthquakes and avalanches) as well as warmongering neighbours. Also both are places where you’ll regularly see everyday people in traditional costume. The more I think about it, the more similarities there are!

The church was perhaps the most plain building in the place.

The best part of the day was between the third and second last villages. It was a pristine stretch of asphalt that didn’t allow motorised vehicles. Only bikes and hikers! It also had a barrier between us and the vertical drop down the side most of the time so I could relax a little.

We stopped at a cafe at the second last village and had a drink, trying to delay our arrival at the hotel until a reasonable hour.

Cafe in Ftan and no, I do not know how to pronounce it.

The last stretch was great quality road but steep hairpin bends and more traffic, including a number of trucks. I sat on my brakes the whole way down – sitting on the right again meant being on the edge of a drop. I didn’t love it (I hated it) but the hotel wasn’t far from the end of the descent.

The hotel was lovely, the staff were friendly, the immediate surrounds smelled like a mound of freshly-produced cow manure. Not a small amount of manure either, like a herd of a thousand cows had all gathered here to poop for a month. Still, the place did have an indoor pool.

But first, our room. It was magnificent.

If you’ve been to my house or followed our renovations, you’ll know how much I love wood panelling.

The quilts (you always get one each) were in a heart shape! Aww!

We even had a little lounge area. The views from the windows were excellent too.

It was delightful. Also we had places to plug in all our devices, which we hadn’t in the last hotel. We did some hand washing of undies then headed to the hotel’s pool.

We had it to ourselves for most of the time and it was 27 degrees, very nice!

I wasn’t keen to go outside in the late afternoon and reignite my hayfever (also… manure smell) so Luke went for a walk while I had a rest. He discovered that everything was downhill from the hotel, which made walking back a bit exhausting.

We had dinner booked in the hotel at 7. I had carbonara but Luke had schnitzel, which he’d been looking forward to since we got to Switzerland. And it was only $70 AUD (ouch) but cheaper than Zürich prices and a very generous serve.

Not pictured: a bowl of chips. Which I ate half of because I like to help Luke out when I can. Yes, I’m a Samaritan, guilty as charged!

I splashed out on TWO glasses (100ml each, wtf) of wine that at $12 each were almost at Melbourne prices.

Now we’re lying in bed watching YouTube videos and sending thoughts and prayers to our washing so it dries by morning.

A few more photos of the day to finish.

Beautiful buildings with charming detail.

I’m hoping tomorrow will be less hectic than the last few days… it’s a 51km day so fingers crossed for us and our sore hindquarters!

Goodnight!

10Jun2023

Eurobike Tour: Day 1: St Moritz

by Miss Penny Black

Let’s talk pillows. In the hostel in Zurich we had square (‘European’ in Australia.. do they call them that here?) feather pillows that, when you lay your head on them, squashed completely flat. Even doubled over they barely had the thickness of a sandwich, and not a decent salad sandwich either.

In our current hotel the pillows are marginally better but seem to be stuffed with marshmallow-sized chunks of foam that gradually migrate to the corners, once again leaving the head unsupported. Have Europeans not heard of polyester filling or memory foam? In the words of an irate London bus driver, it’s 2023!

Anyhow, rant temporarily over, let’s talk about our first cycling day!

To say Luke and I were filled with trepidation would be putting it precisely. Neither of us had cycled in the last few years and we had booked e-bikes which are are a little trickier to use and heavier to push. Still, we had the hotel breakfast to enjoy first.

Back to the restaurant room which was much quieter and cooler than the previous night. Would the hotel redeem itself with the breakfast on offer? Yes, yes it would.

There was excellent coffee, a selection of cheeses, cold meats, salmon, fresh fruit, Bircher muesli, and also omelettes and pancakes could be ordered at no extra cost. Marvellous!

We stuffed ourselves to the gills in anticipation of skipping lunch and managed to not be hungry until dinner.

Next was setting up the bikes. Now, before I go into anything else I will say that we did not have helmets as we were supposed to bring them and forgot. There is nowhere in St Moritz to buy a reasonably priced helmet and so we decided to go without. Don’t bother commenting that we should get them, we ride at a snail’s pace and tomorrow’s Sunday so we literally can’t. Just be aware that we both feel bad about it and know that we should be wearing them.

We wheeled the bikes to an empty (and, more importantly, level) car park and rode around in circles practicing changing gears and using the power assist functions.

Marginally more confident, we walked the bikes down to the lake and set off.

The sun was out but thankfully it wasn’t too busy on the track. The route we were supposed to go followed the valley and wound around four lakes. There were some small hills, some steep enough for us to get off our bikes and push, but all in all we managed well enough.

The problem with riding is you can’t take photos on the fly. We had to stop, which was fine but I probably would’ve taken many more if I’d been walking.

The fields were filled with flowers and the mountains felt almost close enough to touch.

We rode through a few tiny villages too.

Of course, the mountains make everything look small.

The trail was about 12km in one direction then a return back the same way. We got almost to the end when my hayfever really flared up. I’ve brought six kinds of medication with me – three nasal sprays and three kinds of tablets. I had fortified myself well for the morning but by early afternoon it was all wearing off so I took more and we sat in a cafe for over an hour to let my symptoms calm down and medication take effect.

This is what a $9.82 hot chocolate looks like. To be fair, it was excellent.

I felt a bit anxious about the hay fever when we left the cafe but it subsided. My hay fever is not so much a runny nose as my eyes itching and swelling. It’s properly debilitating and I’ll be better prepared tomorrow.

The only other annoyance of the day was the hoards of bugs. No biters or stingers but lots of ones the size of flying ants. Not terrible when standing still but to avoid inhaling any while riding I wrapped my scarf around my face. Luke used the band given to us by eurobikes but it was too small for my gargantuan cranium.

Looking stupid is worth it, many bugs bounced off my face.

Oh I guess we were an annoyance of the day – Luke got told off by the police for riding on the footpath on our way back into St Moritz.

We got back to the hotel at about 6 after a trip to Lidl for cheese and bread. Now we’re doing holiday homework – the blog and recording expenses. Fun!