Austrian alps Italy and the Stelvio pass
Saturday, June 13th, 2009After leaving our last campsite in Austria just near the boarder we crossed yet another beautiful mountain pass and came to our into our 7th country on our route… Italy.. Wow what a remarkable difference between Italy and Austria.
Heather just after arriving from Austria.
The roads and towns in Austria all seemed so picture postcard perfect. As soon as we arrived in Italy there was a difference in the quality of the road surface, the towns all seemed to be a little more run-down.. Although it had more character and the mountiain passes that we had gone over in Austria all seemed small by comparison.. We call it practise mountain passes for what was to come. After about an hour and a half of riding we got to our planned destination.. The start of the Stelvio Pass what an amazing mecca for motorcyclists and car enthuthiests.
South side stelvio pass
The road was so busy being a German bank holiday that it was almost a traffic Jam going up and to a lesser extent down the other side. Being so busy it was creating some very dangerous situations where crazy German bikers would overtake going around the inside of the many hairpins on the wrong side of the road with clearly no visibility of what was coming. Absolutely stupid moves by not one but many tens of riders. I was shocked at some of the idiots riding up the moutainand what they would do to get passed people going slightly slower. It has to be said that it was just the start of what would become the norm in the Italian Alps.. Stupid motorcyclists going wayy to fast on the wrong side of the road around blind corners.. And they say the Germans are “smart”.. ha ha ha.. I call it survival of the fitest.
After a long day riding we completed only about 170km but in that time we did 6 very amazing mountain passes the biggest of which was Stelvio. However the others seemed to be much better.
Passa Gavia 2652 meters
The top of one had at least 3 meters of snow still on the ground at 2600+ meters above sea level. The glaciers that we saw up there really amazed Heather and I. The big problem we discovered about these mountain passes was that the concentration required to go up and down was immense. Let alone the physical side where we have to wrestle the bikes with all the luggage up and down. It really took it out of us.. While crossing one more mountain pass we saw a nice little area that we could camp in the forest. It was a nice little spot at around 1800 meters above sea level.. The mosquito problem was immense but that just meant we had an early night so we could rise early and do yet more mountain passes. The alps has been a real highlight for us so far on this trip. Having been several times before, but never on motorcycles its really come into its own. I would highly recommend anyone with a motorcycle to ride the alps. Its roads and scenery keep the mind going at 110% the entire time.
Another major shock to the system was that the tunnels down the southern side of Stelvio don’t have lights on and have close to hair pin corners in them. Which is very dangerous especially with cars and other motorcyclists going the other direction.. Not to mention wearing sun glasses.. Its crazy.. but then that’s what this adventure is all about.. living to tell the tale.
