South Tirol - Dolomites

By Deborah and Johan - So we’re about halfway right now - that means about 2,350kms along the road (or up the road, I should say). This is northern Italy as the mid-point and to celebrate we’ll take a day off! This place has a pool and a very cool vibe - called Merano in southern Tirol. Johan has found a 10+ km walk to do tomorrow so that could mean rest (to some). I thought I’d look back on some of the stats from the trip so far... where to start? 

Things wrong with the bikes - here’s the score - 

*new brake pads 1 each - Johan and Deborah

*new spokes for the wheel x 2 - Deborah

*broken handlebar extension - Deborah (may have gripped that baby too tight on some downhills)

*flat tyre x 1 - Deborah

Sickness - Johan x 1, diarrhoea and vomiting 🤮

Total kilometres travelled 2399km (approx because we deserted Croatia in Dubrovnik and headed for the hills to Bosnia. The drivers were definitely freaking crazy in those parts)

Total metres in elevation climbed- 19,269m (my legs have definitely developed some shape 🤣)

Total metres descent - 20,460m down - not sure - as we’re currently about 300m above sea level and due to climb to 1500m+ day after tomorrow 🥴.

What we think of each other right now.... the same haha. What annoys me most about Johan right now - his appetite! He’s a freaking machine, constantly eating whether it’s conscious or not - I’m carrying the food, you see.  What annoys him about me  - my ‘go slow’ times. He reckons there’s times I slow from 18-20kms an hour to about 7kms. I’ll be in a daydream somewhere. But hey let’s be honest, who doesn’t want to escape now and then?

The good stuff - I’m so impressed with his planning of this trip. He can tell me up front how the path will go by each hour which helps the mind game for me. There’s also the great photographic spots we have passed through which he’s added as a sweetener to the deal - im still not a dyed in the wool biker!   What Johan’s happy with me about - I’m nailing the sometimes hard technical cycling paths that demonstrates biking skill (🤣I laughed too!)

We’ve camped maybe two thirds of the time, rented apartments the rest - some countries it costs exactly the same so why not sleep in a bed?

Since Venice we’ve been in the Dolomites and southern Tirol (looked up some movies about Tirol but they were all porn so that’s no travel advice).

First morning out heading for the hills - along a dedicated cycle way, something the Italians do very very well 😎 - We went north from Venice along the Venice to Munich cycle route. Mostly dedicated paved cycleways with the odd road and gravel sections. Awesome to have this cycle infrastructure. 

An old rail trail that huggedthe cliffs. 

 What can you say? This is beautiful travelling. A lot of the route through the Dolomites follows old railway lines which is awesome - it means a nice steady 1 to 2 degree gradient while you enjoy the scenic mountain views. 

From Cortina we took a local bus to Misurina and Tre Cime di Lavaredo for the day- it’s a ssteep climb into the higher peaks of the Dolomites with an awesome hike around the Lavaredo mountain range. Highly recommended but if you bring your own car, go very early to avoid the traffic jam going up. 

 

From Cortina we continued around the rail trail up to the pass. It made the climb very cruisy- I love those rail trails. Especially because you got to enjoy the benefit of some of those old rail way tunnels too!

Chimabanche Pass (1530) - time for a “dead” shot for sure 😁

From the pass we travelled a bit further north into the Puster Valley and then turn west towards Brunec and Brixen; then South to Bolzano followed by a turn to the North to Merano. What can I say; approximately 160 km of slow gradient down hill or flat dedicated paved cycleways taking us back down from 1500m to 300m. An absolute biking dream route. 

We were surprised to find that although we are in Italy - the people speak predominantly German here. All the signs are both in Italian and German. The Tirol heritage here means that many people see them selves as Tirolers (with a strong bond to Northern Tirol in Austria) first and Italian second. 

Instead of taking the Brenner Pass north of Brixen, we turned south towards Bolzano and then north again to Merano to set ourselves up for the Reachnen Pass into Austria. 


Now we are taking a rest day in Merano before we start final climb to the Reschnn Pass - 80 km of cycle way climbing from 300 meters back up to 1500 meters once more.  We will use The Via Claude Augusta; another awesome cycleway the Italians are dishing up for us. I must say, I am very impressed with the cycling infrastructure in Italy!