The Alps west of Austria - looking for small roads

Zuckerbaron

Tour Pro
It was time to ride the KTM again. But where to go to?

Austrian friends will be in the north of Greece but that's quite a long ride from the north of Germany if you have only 10 days.

Then I remembered a RR of some Aussies riding the small roads of Switzerland. I looked it up again and found lots of tornantis - perfect!


The first 660 km the KTM was sailing on my trailer on the German Autobahn. I've often done it like this. Autobahn-riding on a bike is just not my cup of tea.
Parked car and trailer in Lörrach 10 km north of Basel, dressed up and started at 18:00. If possible I wanted to reach Meiringen.


The Katie ready to go, waiting for the rider.
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I had a Swiss maut sticker so Meiringen should be possible. Come on Garmin show me the way through Basels highways!

First mistake! The Garmin was still in the shortest distance mode. It took me some minutes until I recognized it. W-)


But then we "flew" to Meiringen. :thumbs:

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I found a hotel on the main street and of course something to eat. The plan was to start with the valley of Rosenlaui. Thunder and lightning late in the evening, no please no!


Next morning the roads were still wet, but weather looked promising. That is the track of the day. :D

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glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Oh yeah!!

Good move to maximize your actual ride-enjoyment by trailering the bike south!

Even better to see that one of the ride-reports has spawned a few ideas :chug:
Can't wait to see where this is going but certainly hope you spent some more time around the Valais/ Wallis, it's one of a kind for backroad-adventuring.
:clap:
 

Zuckerbaron

Tour Pro
Yes I spend some days in the Wallis and I found some backroads. Not much traffic on these roads, just the way I like it. :p

You probably know them all.
 

Zuckerbaron

Tour Pro
The first aim of the morning is the Rosenlaui valley. This valley has a perfect setting, everything looked as it was arranged to delight the stranger.


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First you pass some cattle and dairy alms and have a look on the mountains.
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Then all of a sudden you reach Hotel Rosenlaui.
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A hotel building of that kind I didn't expect up here. :wow:

Around there they have also some smaller places but still perfect.
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They even have their own hydroelectric powerplant.

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Not big but porbably enough for the valley.


Further up the one laner goes.

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In the end you reach the Schwarzwaldalp a hotel and restaurant. Nice people up there, I had a Capuccho.
https://www.schwarzwaldalp.ch/
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The road ends up here. If you like you hike for an hour and you will reach the famous skiing area of Grindelwald.


Up there is also an old saw mill. A remarkable place of long gone craftsmanship.:clap:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Rosenlaui


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The road ends up here. If you like you hike for an hour and you will reach the famous skiing area of Grindelwald.



What a beautiful spot...:slobb ...and right underneath the Wetterhorn North Wall.
There's a regular bus-service between Schwarzwaldalp and Grosse Scheidegg/ Grindelwald
No idea if it still applies, but if staying a night either at the Naturfreundehaus or the SAC (Swiss Alpine Club) Brochhuette in the Rosenlaui Valley (maybe others ?) a free day-pass was available to ride the single-laner across the top into Grindelwald and return later in the day.
What an incredible ride !!



Rosenlaui
Up there is also an old saw mill. A remarkable place of long gone craftsmanship.:clap:


Great piece of engineering, isn't it?
http://www.saege-schwarzwaldalp.ch/e/

Ohhh, keep going, this is rattling some sweet memories. :clap:
 

Zuckerbaron

Tour Pro
Let's have a look into the saw mill.
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Everything is open you just walk inside and look around. The smell of the wood is fantastic. :thumbs:

The confidence in a good behaviour of the visitor is what you rarely find . I hope the organizers will not be disappointed.

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This is the water reservoire, between the saw mill shacks you see Hotel Schwarzwaldalp.

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Now it's time to turn.
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that was Rosenlaui - fantastic :clap:


The next valley is up to the Engstlenalp it is on the way to the Sustenpass only a few km after Innertkirchen.



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The singlelaner ends up on the parking area of the Engstlenalp. You can hae a walk to the next Alm for something to eat,

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but I recommend to walk five minutes to the Engstlensee.
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Keys for the rowing boats you get in one of the restaurants. BBQ places or Brätelstellen as the Swiss say, are beside the the lake together with firewood and a toilet.

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Engstlenalp is different to Rosenlaui so it's worth to visit both. :D

But lets move, it's getting late. Back to Innertkirchen, next is Grimsel Pass.
 
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Zuckerbaron

Tour Pro
There's a regular bus-service between Schwarzwaldalp and Grosse Scheidegg/ Grindelwald
No idea if it still applies, but if staying a night either at the Naturfreundehaus or the SAC (Swiss Alpine Club) Brochhuette in the Rosenlaui Valley (maybe others ?) a free day-pass was available to ride the single-laner across the top into Grindelwald and return later in the day.
What an incredible ride !!



If it is still possible to get a ticket for going further than Schwarzwaldalp would be worth to stay in the Naturfreundehaus.
 

Hytram

<-- now went that way
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

great stuff, please keep them coming. IMHO its the most beautiful part of the world!
 
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