My Alps and Eastern European wander - July / August 2025

[Fluffmeister]

So Day 10 and 11 are local days around the Stelvio area, not that much else to say really, was good to get the panniers off and mooch. I did get to chat to the Kanyar photo guy, he snapped me on the Stelvio and I bought the pics, he is a really cool bloke, and I made it into the far right frame of a video, as just as I was walking away from him and hopping on my bike I heard "Oi Oi Oi..........no not the Goldwing" as someone dropped a wing on the apex, so we gave him a hand getting it back up and on their way.

This was one of the loops I rode while I was there, up over Stelvio, down into Bormio, picked up the tight twisty route up via Cancano to lake cancano, rode the gravel trails around to the dam and bride, while stopping for coffee and cake at the Ristoro Solero, which is kind of the middle of nowhere. Came out, back onto the gravel, picked up the Umbrail, and had a ride up to Curon to the flooded village and back to Franzenshohe for tea and medals

So, on with some pics from these couple of days









Heading over the dam at lake Cancano



And onto the gravel road that circumvents it.





Then coffee and cake stop at Ristroro Solena, to recharge, which is next to a quaint little church, in the middle of nowhere, I also got adopted by the restaurant dogs, must have known I was a soft touch







Tine to hit the gravel bit and have a ride over Umbrail and over to Curon, ahh, a fellow gentleman of taste has arrived





The route up / down to Cancano












The dam at Cancano I was heading back over to complete my loop of the lake.

More pictures to come from these two days, and you will be relieved to know we are halfway through the trip now

 

[Fluffmeister]

Fantastic, I can’t wait to retire

You never will........... I'm not, I'm just being more selective about working, and come right off the gas I can imagine you doing the same.

 

[Guru Gora]

No choice mate, at 60 I’m a washed up has been

 

[Fluffmeister]

No choice mate, at 60 I’m a washed up has been

They don't let you loose in commercial whirlybirds then? That's shocking, 60 is the new 40 without a doubt, I feel better and am enjoying life more at 60+ than I remember at any time in the recent past

 

[Guru Gora]

To be fair, I’ve been a washed up has been for about 18 years now

Back on thread, I do like that bike a lot …….

 

[Fluffmeister]

To be fair, I’ve been a washed up has been for about 18 years now

Back on thread, I do like that bike a lot …….

It's been great for me, in reality I would say it's a slightly more polished V85TT with bags more grunt, so far it's been pretty much perfect and something different to look back it in the car park. Whether that's a good thing though, is all down to personal choice. Was in it's element on the roads I was using, great suspension once I had got it dialled in properly borrowing some settings from another forum and tweaking. Comfortable and weather protection was great to when the rain did hit.

 

[Fluffmeister]

And more snaps from the 2 day stopover at Stelvio

My hotel in the background, really is a great place to stay if you are wanting to cover that area.

 

[GTMorgan]

What a perfectly placed hotel!

 

[Von Stolberg]

Quality write up and piccies Fluff.

Love the Slovenia & Dolomites best of all.

Everyone needs to 'Warsaw Pact' territory at least once or twice, you certainly had a thorough mooch round there.

Stelvio Ltd looks gorgeous

write more stuff!



PS rFog Kleber! - Hi Roomie

 

[Guru Gora]

Fantastic..

Thanks for taking the trouble to write it up.

Get your sphincter on my June tour

 

[Smartbazza]

Great to read and look at the pics plus I’m intrigued with the Stelvio having rented one recently.

Barry

 

[siddo]

And more snaps from the 2 day stopover at Stelvio

My hotel in the background, really is a great place to stay if you are wanting to cover that area.

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We passed that church on our way to ride Stelvio pass. Was a lot less water then.
Good pictures.

 

[HGS]

Really enjoyed that

 

[Fluffmeister]

Back again

Riding day 11 - Heading from Stelvio to Obergoms in Switzerland, for a 2 night stop over riding some of the Swiss passes. Had a cross country distance of about 205 miles to cover, that would take me via the Abula, Oberalp and the Furka to my hotel, the Hotel Astoria on Furkastrasse, so pretty convenient for alpine pass action. Hotel was booked via AirBnB and Iwasn't in the main hotel building, but in a separate house, 5 minutes walk away with private parking, and I had the house to myself for a couple of days, not bad for Switzerland at the equivalent of about £70 per night including breakfast.

Here is the route I took

Link to the Astoria site if anyone wants a reasonable hotel, with great food and secure parking. It's opposite a self service fuel station, and at the Intersection with the Furka and Nufenen.

Your Motorbikehotel Swizerland - Wallis - | Hotel Astoria im Obergoms in Ulrichen - Langlaufen im Goms - Motorrad Hotel Goms - Wandern im Goms - Aktivhotel Wallis

Das Hotel - Restaurant mit stilvollen Panorama Räumlichkeiten, familiärem Ambiente und herzhaften Köstlichkeiten

www.astoria-obergoms.ch

I headed back up the Stelvio, turned onto the Umbrail and headed back past through Curon and the Resia pass to Nauders, and then headed west tracking the Inn River to La Punt Chamues, where I swung North West over the Albula pass, stopping for a lunch break on the Albula. From there on to Tamins, west out to Flims and the Oberalp pass into Andermatt. From there out over Furka and land in Obergoms, filled the bike up ready for the next days activities, checked in, grabbed a beer and some food, and then slept for NATO



Dropping down from the Umbrail into Santa Maria


Back through Curon and the flooded village


Lunch on the Albula, a posh sausage bap and .........salad. I think salad is overrated as I checked several hours after eating this, and it had not kicked in and trimmed any beef off


Top of the Albula


And down the other side


Site of some of the filming for Goldmember


On the way up Furka to James Bond Str


Cow jam, and that one in the middle has attitude, check it out.


Looking back up the Furka to the Belvedere hotel


My humble digs



Next couple of days are just wanders around the Swiss passes while based in Obergoms, after that, moving on back to Italy, where I will then finally swing Northbound to head home.

 

[Fluffmeister]

So a couple of days just chilling and riding a few loops around the passes, taking in the likes of Grimsel, Furka again, Nufenen, Susten and the old Tremola, complete with cobbles

I'd plotted a figure of 8 loop to make the most of it and rode it in both directions, as reversing course opens up a whole new experience on the same roads.

Here's my loop for anyone interested

And some snaps.



On the Grimsel looking back at the Furka



Heading up over Sustenpass


On the way up Nufenenpass


The Tremola, should have been called the Trembler Glad it was dry, cobbles not much fun in the wet.


More on the Tremola

 

[Fluffmeister]

Some more snaps from the 2 days wandering around the Swiss passes




From the Furka looking over Grimsel on the right


The original Tremola



From these two days of chilled wandering, I was heading off, back to Italy and Sernio, but via a rambling route that would take me to Como and Mandello del Lario, to a certain factory with a big red door.

Only a couple more posts to come folks, thanks for reading my ramblings and sticking with it

 

[Guru Gora]

Outstanding

 

[Von Stolberg]

Grimsel looked grim!

(Them Tremola cobbles pose no threat to Wurzen pass frequent-flyer's )

Still a fair old chunk of Tour Report to come.. Got any deranged Italian drivers encountered?

 

[Fluffmeister]

Grimsel looked grim!

(Them Tremola cobbles pose no threat to Wurzen pass frequent-flyer's )

Still a fair old chunk of Tour Report to come.. Got any deranged Italian drivers encountered?

There were a few errant Fiat Panda's in places you'd never expect them

The French where the worst as there was some kind of classic Renault 5 rally taking place with them loaded to the gunnels

 

[Fluffmeister]

Soooooooooo nearly there folks

"Travel" day 13,

Heading from Obergoms to Sernio in a very very roundabout route, southeast to Bellinzona, around the top of Lake Lugano, around Lake Como, into Mandello del Lario, then back out again to a hotel I'd found in Sernio. The Hotel was the Hotel Valamerica, which was quirky, in so much that on the outside it just looked like a big old slab of a building, but inside it had been recently refurbed, so all the rooms were pristine, and all themed on American states. Had a fantastic espresso at breakfast, which was made by Claudia I was up a bit earlier, so breakfast I was one of the first down and it wasn't busy, Claudia was waiting on, and I went to the coffee machine first, and pressed the espresso button, a grind and a gurgle later, Claudia's hand grabbed the cup, took it away and chucked it in the sink. Very Italian, I was having a WTF moment, when she beckons me over, and there on the bar they've got a La Pavoni hand espresso machine, she speaks pigeon English, I speak zero Italian, so we have fun working out basically, it's quiet, she's bored, and life's to short for shite coffee, so she gets to work and shows me how to use the La Pavoni, she keeps her espresso cups in the freezer, which was bloody bizarre, but then the English speaking lass on reception basically says, "Don't mess with Claudia and her coffee, she's serious " Have to say the hot espresso going into a thick cold cup, cooled it to instantly drinkable temperature and brought out all the flavours of the coffee.

I can't find the damn photos of the coffee porn, but I will

Here's the link if anyone is interested in the hotel, they've got secure parking for the steeds to

HOME - Hotel ValAmerica

hotelvalamerica.com

Here's the link to the route, which was about 200 miles in total.

Here we go with the pics (again )



We are on the home stretch now as after the next couple of days, it's time to head home