Have a great trip.
2026 Tour de l'Amour with Hatcho and Dub24
- Thread starter Hatcho
- Start date
+1
Apologies lads, it was an early start this morning and only now getting a chance to post...
Up at 3:15 (lie in for Doc) and out to the airport to catch our Ryanair red eye. Soon after landing we're with the bikes and sorting out gear and bits to bring. Mrs Hatcho is joining us in a few days so I have some of her gear loaded on the bike.
First stop is into the Louis.de shop in Kempten where we purchase a few trinkets. Back on the road and soon we're off the motorway and hit the Hantennjoch pass - savage as always. The views are beyond stunning, as is the tarmac. Temps reach 35 degC at one point so we stop often to refresh and recharge.
During lunch we get chatting to a lovely couple from Munich who are at the tail end of their own 12 day tour of Europe. She's a nurse and he's a carpenter and they both love biking. Proper form!
About 4pm we reach this spot:
which is where we stop to book a spot for the night. Everything further along is serious money, but we manage to find a one bed apartment about 10 mins back the way we came.
Turns out to be a cracking spot. Dub is on the sofa bed and I've the double in the bedroom. We have a balcony, two big tvs, full kitchen and all for a decent price.
We're in a town called Nauders, not far from Stelvio which is on the cards tomorrow morning. Dins is in a nice spot called Ibex restaurant - great grub, lovely beer and rather cute ladies serving food. Champion.
Obligatory food pic:
Dub's on the pizza and the pick and mix is mine. Plenty of nice draft beer sees us well filled.
Day 1 is a success in every regard. Love it!
Up at 3:15 (lie in for Doc) and out to the airport to catch our Ryanair red eye. Soon after landing we're with the bikes and sorting out gear and bits to bring. Mrs Hatcho is joining us in a few days so I have some of her gear loaded on the bike.
First stop is into the Louis.de shop in Kempten where we purchase a few trinkets. Back on the road and soon we're off the motorway and hit the Hantennjoch pass - savage as always. The views are beyond stunning, as is the tarmac. Temps reach 35 degC at one point so we stop often to refresh and recharge.
During lunch we get chatting to a lovely couple from Munich who are at the tail end of their own 12 day tour of Europe. She's a nurse and he's a carpenter and they both love biking. Proper form!
About 4pm we reach this spot:
which is where we stop to book a spot for the night. Everything further along is serious money, but we manage to find a one bed apartment about 10 mins back the way we came.
Turns out to be a cracking spot. Dub is on the sofa bed and I've the double in the bedroom. We have a balcony, two big tvs, full kitchen and all for a decent price.
We're in a town called Nauders, not far from Stelvio which is on the cards tomorrow morning. Dins is in a nice spot called Ibex restaurant - great grub, lovely beer and rather cute ladies serving food. Champion.
Obligatory food pic:
Dub's on the pizza and the pick and mix is mine. Plenty of nice draft beer sees us well filled.
Day 1 is a success in every regard. Love it!
View from the room...
I thought it was illegal everywhere except Ireland to put pineapple on a pizza
We're still inside Austria (just). In fairness, pineapple with ham is lovely. Don't tell a soul, else we'll be blacklisted in Italy!I thought it was illegal everywhere except Ireland to put pineapple on a pizza
It's a crime against food
You'll be blacklisted everywhere if you carry on like that
Looking forward to the rest of the trip
Awake early this morning, I put it down to the holiday buzz! Dub is still seismic next door - we'll be needing to check none of the delph is broken in the cupboard 
. Plan today is Stelvio but approach it from Mustair. Then it's onto Livigno, the Bernina Pass and Chiavenna. All is subject to change depending on weather, more so the heat than the rain. Being a bit more elevated the hope is the temps won't be quite as high today. My suspershirt performed really well yesterday, definitely a worthwhile investment.
Couple more pics from yesterday:
Definitely no hosepipe ban here as kids receive fire training. Great to see such important skills being taught at a young age.
Dub was almost beaten by his choice of desert. Almost.
I was so tempted to buy some of this and bring it back to Dub! The likeness is uncanny (see what I did there).
Cool mat in our digs...
Our choice of eating establishment yesterday evening...and it didn't disappoint.
. Plan today is Stelvio but approach it from Mustair. Then it's onto Livigno, the Bernina Pass and Chiavenna. All is subject to change depending on weather, more so the heat than the rain. Being a bit more elevated the hope is the temps won't be quite as high today. My suspershirt performed really well yesterday, definitely a worthwhile investment. Couple more pics from yesterday:
Definitely no hosepipe ban here as kids receive fire training. Great to see such important skills being taught at a young age.
Dub was almost beaten by his choice of desert. Almost.
I was so tempted to buy some of this and bring it back to Dub! The likeness is uncanny
(see what I did there). Cool mat in our digs...
Our choice of eating establishment yesterday evening...and it didn't disappoint.
We've just been over Stelvio and are now on the way towards Livigno. Another warm one today! I'll post up more natter later on when we find our digs for the evening.
What a day on the bike. Absolutely brillant. Did the Stelvio pass for the 1st time. I'll let Hatcho fill you in where we were.
For the moment this is our digs for the night. And the room furnishings are the same as the bar.
Steady Doc
For the moment this is our digs for the night. And the room furnishings are the same as the bar.
Steady Doc
no hope fer dub if he cant finish pud
I'd rather not let Hatcho fill me in.What a day on the bike. Absolutely brillant. Did the Stelvio pass for the 1st time. I'll let Hatcho fill you in where we were.
For the moment this is our digs for the night. And the room furnishings are the same as the bar.
Steady Doc
Keep that to yourselves filthy boys.
So Day 2 - Nauders to Prese via Stelvio Pass.
We were rolling by 9am with the plan to hit Stelvio before it was too busy. Lol, just lol. First stop was 500m down the road to buy supplies for our roadside tae and brekkie. Whilst I faffed about with camera mounts on the bike, dub returned with this lot (firelogs not included):
The plan was to approach Stelvio from Mustair and the Umbrail pass. I'd not taken this route before and the way time was passing, the switchbacks on the eastern side would be jammed by the time we got there. Along the way we found a nice wee spot beside the road for brekkie.
Dub had my brewmaster2000 in his luggage so we even got to enjoy a brew with our nom noms. Champion! Looking straight down from our brekkie spot, you could see the road we'd just taken. Twistier than a professional Chinese burn!
After brekkie we headed onto the top of Stelvio and it was jammers. I was in Mumbai last January and this brought me right back. People, bikes, cars, cyclists everywhere. We headed up to the viewing spot above the chaos and even here was pretty busy.
Cat among the pigeons
Obligatory twisty pic. And some chubby dude!
These lads were great craic - barely a word of English and us with barely a word of Italian. The chap beside me (2nd right) is an 86 year old priest, and he'd just cycled up Stelvio Pass! Think I need to find God to get rid of my developing waistline! After a few photos and a quick blessing from the padre, they headed off on their bikes.
Dub then hit the gift shops and he was like a pig in shite. Think he cleared a couple of them out with all the trinkets he purchased! His top box is now running at about 2.5bar.
On the way back to our bikes we spotted this wee global tourer,and had a chat with her 'dog mom'.
Fully laden down with trinkets and tat, we hit the road in the direction of Livigno. Down the western side of the Stelvio and then onto the SS301.
We were rolling by 9am with the plan to hit Stelvio before it was too busy. Lol, just lol. First stop was 500m down the road to buy supplies for our roadside tae and brekkie. Whilst I faffed about with camera mounts on the bike, dub returned with this lot (firelogs not included):
The plan was to approach Stelvio from Mustair and the Umbrail pass. I'd not taken this route before and the way time was passing, the switchbacks on the eastern side would be jammed by the time we got there. Along the way we found a nice wee spot beside the road for brekkie.
Dub had my brewmaster2000 in his luggage so we even got to enjoy a brew with our nom noms. Champion! Looking straight down from our brekkie spot, you could see the road we'd just taken. Twistier than a professional Chinese burn!
After brekkie we headed onto the top of Stelvio and it was jammers. I was in Mumbai last January and this brought me right back. People, bikes, cars, cyclists everywhere. We headed up to the viewing spot above the chaos and even here was pretty busy.
Cat among the pigeons
Obligatory twisty pic. And some chubby dude!
These lads were great craic - barely a word of English and us with barely a word of Italian. The chap beside me (2nd right) is an 86 year old priest, and he'd just cycled up Stelvio Pass! Think I need to find God to get rid of my developing waistline! After a few photos and a quick blessing from the padre, they headed off on their bikes.
Dub then hit the gift shops and he was like a pig in shite. Think he cleared a couple of them out with all the trinkets he purchased! His top box is now running at about 2.5bar.
On the way back to our bikes we spotted this wee global tourer,and had a chat with her 'dog mom'.
Fully laden down with trinkets and tat, we hit the road in the direction of Livigno. Down the western side of the Stelvio and then onto the SS301.
Despite the forecast being for a cooler day than yesterday, the temps were starting to rise. We'd spent more time off the bikes eating and shopping than we had rolling on tarmac! But f*ck it, we're on holidays and we've no agenda or place to be. This is exactly how a bike trip should be. From Livigno (which was crammed with holidaymakers) we continued south towards the Bernina Pass. For lunch we stopped at a wee roadside coffee (apologies, forgot to take pics) and toastie sambo.
Onward we went and we rolled into Samedan looking to have yet another coffee stop (can see a pattern emerging here
). A quick look at the map and we said we just had to go to the next town
Who in their right mind would ever turn down the opportunity to first enter and then dine in Bever? It would be rude not to...
That's my head right in the middle of Bever
Onward we went and we rolled into Samedan looking to have yet another coffee stop (can see a pattern emerging here
). A quick look at the map and we said we just had to go to the next town Who in their right mind would ever turn down the opportunity to first enter and then dine in Bever? It would be rude not to...
That's my head right in the middle of Bever
