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The Alps, Slovenia & Croatia
DAY 10 : Campitello, Italy to Lienz, Austria
Out of all the wonderful places we got to visit on this trip, today was the day I was most looking forward to.
The Dolomites.
The forecast was for afternoon thunderstorms so we skipped breakfast and hit the road early in an effort to squeeze as much in before the weather turned. Walking out the b'n'b we were greeted by this sight
Before we could go anywhere though, I had to break free of the attentions of the farmhouse cat.
We were doing a large loop of the Dolomites, hitting some of the major passes in the area.
Note the cable car on top of the left most mountain in the above pictures.
The Dolomites were everything I'd hoped for and more. I would gladly have spent another week there as it seemed every road was a motorcyclists dream. Sadly time was marching on and we made our way back into Austria via Passo Stalle. I knew this pass had a timed gate that's only open for 15 minutes out of a hour. As luck would have it we got there about 5 minutes after it closed so we had a 40 minute wait in the rain for the next opening.
Then we were back where it all began, in Austria. This was a sad border crossing as it meant the trip was nearing the end. One more night on the road though and this night we were in Leinz. We had a bit of trouble finding the place as it turned out it was above a tourist trinket shop and the landlord was the shopkeeper. Walking through that shop carrying helmet and bags trying not to send the displays flying was as much an adventure as anything we'd done yet. I was silently cursing Daphne wondering what the hell kind of place she'd booked for us here. Then I got to see the place.
Sadly I didn't take any more pictures of the place but it was huge and very well appointed. Probably the best stay of the trip. Then it was off for a walk around town.
Only one more day to go but it promised to be a good one. Tomorrow we cross over Großglockner.
DAY 11 : Lienz to Innsbruck, Austria
Breakfast options were limited around our accomodation and we chose getting on the road sooner over lingering around. This was a great choice as for the first hour or so it felt we were on the only ones on the road. We were heading north towards Großglockner which we knew to be a tourist attraction so the solitude of this first hour was completely unexpected. For me it was one of those zen like moments where you are at one with the bike and your surroundings and you remember why exactly you spend so much money to do this.
Soon we left the foothills behind and started climbing. And climbing. At 8,400 ft it is Austria's highest road. It is also the 2nd busiest tourist attraction with 270,000 vehicles annually but for now at least, we still had it almost to ourselves. We hung a left along the Glacier Road where we got to see the mountain itself.
I had actually hoped to spend our last night on the road up here. I thought that would have been a fitting way to end the trip, but logistically it didn't work out. Still kind of wish I'd managed that though.
And so ended the trip. No accidents, no crashes, not even a puncture. Plenty of wrong turns but the best moto trip I've done yet by quite some distance. All that was left now was to fly home where we got one last look at the Alps.
Moving Pictures
I also put together longer videos of the major passes we went over. Probably pretty boring to watch unless you are considering riding over them.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlGAH6BEqatrbGCZAJHH70U6azGkKOQ4D
I do like the Dolomites one though, but maybe cause I want to go back!
And that's it. Hope this was of some use or enjoyment to you.
Great report and videos ! I live in Marseille and rode through the Alps and Dolomites to attend a conference in Cricvenica, Croatia. Near the end of October, we had a warm Fall and the roads were deserted. Would do it all again. Yes, the Dolomites are wonderful !! Thanks for posting.
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Sounds like you had quite a trip yourself. One of the things about my trip that I didn't talk about was how the driving culture changes whenever you cross one of those dotted lines on a map. I had heard about Switzerland having almost zero tolerance for anyone going over the posted limit (and the steep fines) so I made sure not to speed there. Yet in Italy it was the exact opposite. At one point going through a small village we were doing 60 in a 30 zone, and a local couldn't stand going so slow and overtook both of us. He must have been doing 80 when he passed me. Each time I went into a new country I would take my time and watch how the locals behaved, but mostly it was Switzerland (nobody speeds) and Italy (everybody speeds) that stick out.
I also had to take a toll road in Italy and I had been worried about that. I dreaded pulling up to a machine that only displayed instructions in Italian but I think the booths were manned. All I remember now is that I had no problems.
I was laughing at your kill switch problem as I've done the same thing myself. In my case I was riding off road and fell off, so used the kill switch to stop the engine. Of course I forgot about that when I went to get going again. Bike was kick start only so I worked up quite a sweat trying to get it going. Rolled about 2 miles down a mountain, bump starting it about 5 times only for it to die as soon as I touched the throttle. Was about to send out an SOS to my friends to come rescue me with a truck when I finally noticed the kill switch. Oops... Hope I never make that mistake again 🙂