Euro trip virgin

[Coneyhurst Blue]

Hi all - just lost a whole morning after stumbling across this forum.

So I’m after some advice if I may ? I am travelling to the Oktoberfest - Munich beer festival in a few weeks, bit of a motorway slog to get there over two days, two nights there and then no real plans but have to be back in Calais 5 maybe 6 days later.

I quite fancy a loop through Northern Italy, Austria, Switzerland and back through France. The Alpine passes look fantastic however I am not the most confident rider. In fact I am a bit of a wuss.

So are there any passes that don’t involve tight hair-pins and sheer drops that would have me filling my leathers at every corner ?

I’ll be on a st1100 as well which is a heavy bike and not known to be nimble (well not with me on it) . I'll be with a mate who has years of experience and is a much better rider, he loves riding and therefore has promised to put up with me slowing him down.

I wait with bated breath – feel free to suggest an alternative as well, just seemed like an excellent opportunity to get into several different countries in one hit.

Cheers all !

 

[Whele]

 

[Coneyhurst Blue]

Thanks for the warm welcome 'Whele'.

What did I do wrong ?

 

[Simon W]

Try heading down to Garmish Partenkirchen, then try the Fernpass out towards Austria – very benign - and head towards Nauders. From there, do not go to Stelvio: that is the kind of thing that will do your head in. Instead, head to St Morritz and then loop up to Churr and go west to Andermatt... keep going to take the Furka pass then turn right over Grimsel into Meiringen/Innertkirchen. That's probably two days' riding but all the passes are fairly benign. From there you can loop back across Grimsel, along the valley to Martigny and over the Grand St Bernard into Italy, which is a bit more challenging; over the Petit St Bernard to France, then take the Cormet Roselend to Annecy. After that you'd want to be heading for home across France anyway. You don't have to take motorway: head cross-country to Avallon in the Morvan, then keep going across Champagne.

 

[The Grey One]

depends on when you are in Munich-the fest is from 21st September to 6th October. Passes near us tend to be open until late October but in other areas they can close much earlier. Wherever you aim for check the weather and road conditions first- on the day not a week before! Don't try and do too much-there are plenty of great roads just a short distance from Munich. Instead of criss crossing the Alps concentrate on one area there are good roads per square kilometre than you can imagine.

Late September is one of my favourite times for biking here but that might just be that it's a less busy time at the hotel so I get more free time.

Enjoy

John

 

[Coneyhurst Blue]

Thanks to both Simon and John.

Found some YouTube footage of both the Fernpass and Furka - looks great. Goldfinger link as well !

Leaving Uk on Tues 24th midday tunnel, booked into Munich hotel Thursday and Friday night, leave Saturday 28th and have a return tunnel booked on Wednesday 2nd October 1600hrs, that could change however and I could push it to Thursday.
Black Forest has to be considered as well I have been told and I'd quite like to have a look at the Matterhorn.

I really like your idea Simon of stopping on the way home in Champagne might have to factor that in.

John - hotel looks lovely and if we came your way we could hear about the Croatian Adenture ?
Thanks guys.

 

[Rasher]

So are there any passes that don’t involve tight hair-pins and sheer drops that would have me filling my leathers at every corner

NO!

But you will come back eager for more

Most are pretty easy, few likely to have you plunging to your death, and most hairpins are OK, some passes (Stelvio being one of the more famous) have some bends with no inside radius - normally only on one slope and most folk find them easier going down.

The worst that is likely to happen is you topple if you have to stop "unexpectedly" - so expect to have to stop and plan to not meet something half way around such a bend - simples!

 

[The Grey One]

Thanks to both Simon and John.
....

John - hotel looks lovely and if we came your way we could hear about the Croatian Adenture ?
Thanks guys.

We are here until the morning of the 26th September when we all leave for Croatia. We will be back here for the evening of the 30th.September.

John

 

[Captain Black]

Go forth and ride through your fear.... For it will me replaced by unbridled joy and great expectations for your future on two wheels.

 

[luckylucian]

You could ride to Dusseldorf and catch train to under alps, miss out two nights in hotel and a day of motorway flatspotting tyres

 

[The Grey One]

You could ride to Dusseldorf and catch train to under alps, miss out two nights in hotel and a day of motorway flatspotting tyres

He could, but there are no trains to suit, the nearest is on the 22nd.( from 130 Euros at the moment) And they stop at the end of September so he can't go back on the train.

John

 

[Neil W]

If travelling from the channel and wanting to get to Munich reasonably quickly consider a route through Belgium, via Brugge, Brussels, Liege, Spa into Germany to Wittlich ,Trier,Landstuhl, Pirmasens cut across to Landau,Wurth, Karlsruhe to Stuttgart (that would be a 450 mile first day or stop short) from there it is straight along the E52 via Ulm and Augsburg to Munich (an easy morning ride 200 ish miles)
Rather than trying to bag as many passes on the way home from the Oktoberfest consider riding down to Innsbruck then via the Arlberg Pass into Switzerland and spend a day doing the Susten/Furka and Grimsel Passes then a run back up through the Black forest.
As the Grey One points out check the passes daily the web cams today showed snow on the Grossglockner/ Stelvio etc
Are you aware of the www.AlpineRoads.com website

 

[Coneyhurst Blue]

Thanks Lucky, hadn't thought of the train but to be honest I don't fancy
it, I want the trip to be the whole adventure if that makes sense.

Neil - route looks great, thank you. I'm coming round to the idea of less is more and can hit Black Forest on way home finally stoping in Champagne.

Had a quick look on YouTube and the passes look great.
I have seen Alpine Roads website but it needs more consideration I think.
Getting excited and a little nervous.
Will try and do a ride report once home.

 

[Paul Rochdale]

Simon was right not to recommend Stelvio if you are on a Pan. We rode that a few years ago, two up, and it was a blessed relief to reach the summit in one piece. It probably showed my 'average' riding ability or approaching old age. The hairpins, which are numbered from the bottom to the top, are so tight that there is no forward view through the righthand ones, just a shear rock face. Each right hander I took a little wider and a little wider, to keep my speed up. The eventual happened when I'd pinched too much road and an oncoming bus appeared. With my short, fat, hairy legs scrabbling for the road beneath me and the heavy bike coming to a halt, I made her jump off the back. I then got around the bend and we made it safely to the top. I just had to see the views and get the sticker I will return one day but on a much lighter bike.

 

[Neil W]

3 friends on bikes did the dusseldorf to munich train thing in July when going to Austria, wasted a day dicking around in dusseldorf waiting to leave then got stuck in a 5 or 6 berth cabin with unknown drunks who were on the piss all night and got no sleep.
Simliar on the return had to wait around for hours before leaving.
Took less time to ride the gs down from Zeebrugge with an overnighter on the way down and back.
Even with fuel and hotels it was still only 2/3 of the price they paid to ride down rather than go by train

 

[stolzy]

What's so good about the Stelvio? One unpleasantly tight hairpin after another, mostly cobbled, no opportunity to get into a rhythm, no chance to get a head of steam and its full of cyclists.

In fact the whole alps thing is overrated, Pyrenees is where it's at.

 

[Tusky]

What's so good about the Stelvio? One unpleasantly tight hairpin after another, mostly cobbled, no opportunity to get into a rhythm, no chance to get a head of steam and its full of cyclists.

In fact the whole alps thing is overrated, Pyrenees is where it's at.

I can't comment on the Pyrenees, as that is on the to do list but Cantabria and Picos has certainly opened my eyes to options other than my beloved Alps

I certainly think the Swiss passes are a lot more forgiving to a newbie rider to the mountains..... The majority of the passes in Italy seem to be much more narrow, with much tighter bends.

 

[Paul Rochdale]

Not so. No signs of cobbles on my ascent but those bloody hairpins......

 

[mcinlb]

Yes, this year I came up the East side in what was some sort of pushbike race/trial, thousands of them, not good. The West side is actually quite a good descent, not so extreme on the hairpins, but some dark narrow galleria. (Actually a bike /car rta in one when I went down, care required).
If you want to 'do the Stelvio' it's a better bet to just run up and down the West side.

 

[Paul Rochdale]

It was a few years ago but having ridden up it (I don't recall whether it was east or west) we went down the far side and found to my astonishment loose gravel for some of the road. Loose gravel, heavy Pan two up and short legs - oooooo.......