4 days Southtirol, Dolomites, Italy

Monday 12.05.2008



All except Heike, Franz, Petra and I drove back home this day. We said goodbye to the others and started off to what would become a comfortable day. At first we drove back up to Truden, where I wanted to take a few pictures which was impossible the previous day with 12 motorcycles behind me.
Then down we went towards Auer and further south to Salurn. Here a road turns off the left, up to Gfrill. It is a dead-end, but still a nice, quick side trip.





We drove back into the valley on the otherside and continued on to Kurtasch. From there up the Fennberg, also a worthwhile side trip.
Also highly recommended is the Gasthof Plattenhof, famous for its pork hock! The road up was deserted, but the top was a hive of activity. The inn was very busy.



After lunch we allowed ourselves a break at the nearby small lake.



Then we headed back down to Kurtasch and over Truden and Altenburg (partially very steep climb) to Kaltern, where we already last Friday enjoyed some fantastic ice cream! We wanted to go to Maniggler Lake, but because of the crowds of people we turned around and drove back to Montan. An enjoyable evening at the Gasthof Rose ended the day.

Tuesday 13.05.2008

At 09:00 we headed towards home! Through Kaltern we drove to Eppan and then on the highway towards Meran. Going up towards Vinschgau the heavy traffic in the area caught up with us again. In Schlanders we left the main route and turned right towards Kortsch. From there we drove, a sometimes very narrow road, through Tannas towards Schluderns.



Then undistrurbed we drive up the Reschenpass and up to Samnaun. The cheapest gas (on this day €1.01/Liter), and duty free shopping always make this detour worthwhile.



Continuing on the detour we decided to tackle the Piller-Höhe from Prutz and then hot footed it to the Fernpass (Hahntennjoch was unfortunately still closed). On the Fernpass there was a lot of traffic again and some of the large trucks arduously made their way up the hill, because of this we did too!
At a rest stop we said our goodbyes to Heike and Franz (they wanted to drive home via Füssen) and we headed home via Reutte and the Tannheimer Tal back to Sonthofen.

Conclusion:

Altogether we clocked a good 1500km in six days. Even though we did not know some of the participants personally everything went smoothly. It was a great group and it was a lot of fun! The weather cooperated, with exception of the descent from Passo Manghen. We had a lot of sun, great roads, little traffic and lots and lots of joy!

All pics from the whole tour: http://www.motorradrudi.info/Suedtirol-Montan-2008-Fotos.214.0.html

Best greatings from Germany
Rudi

Those closed gates... here in Australia we have a habit to carry a portable chainsaw in the luggage, just in case... Photo proofs are here:
"Just where is Adamsfield anyhow?"

On a serious note - thanks for sharing the beauty!

Eugene

I can feel the hardship of riding these beautiful roads and gawking at those fantastic views, Rudi! I think, I must come over and give you a hand, what do you think?.......

Anyway, regarding the Vinschgau - is that always so busy with traffic? Last time we were there it was walking pace for us. We thought, we might have caught it at the wrong time of the day, but it seems you didn't have much luck there either.
The detour to Samnaun is indeed a very worthwhile detour. Pete especially has very fond memories of it as he was stopped by the customs police!:guff
And the Kaiserjaegerstrasse? Yes! in 6 months we'll have the pleasure!

When is the next ride on, Rudi? Any plans for Easter - or even before?

mock said:

Anyway, regarding the Vinschgau - is that always so busy with traffic?

Click to expand...

Yes it is!
Because it's the only way from Meran to Reschenpass.
All the traffic has only this road.

mock said:

When is the next ride on, Rudi? Any plans for Easter - or even before?

Click to expand...

The next "big" tour is the forum-ride of the alpenbikers on Pentecost (http://www.alpenbiker.eu/thread,Suedtirol-Pfingsten-2009,5156,,,.html).
Else? - Nothing special.
Normaly only daytrips.

See you in september! (Hope so!)

Best greatings from good old Germany
Rudi

Hey Rudi

Thanks for the write-up ....and the pics of course.
Man, you know how to make the mouth water....can't wait for September !!

Hey G'Day and Guten arben Rudi!

Those shots of the Grodner joch and Passo de Giau brought back instant memories.
They look different to the last time I saw them without snow across the slopes to the peaks. You have found some great little roads like that detour around Bozen, that is the last place you want to have to cross with the amount of traffic it has for the narrow streets. Thanks for reminding me why I need to get back there this year - looking forward to seeing the Pordoi again too. Stay safe mate.
Cheers
TimTim

Hi Pete, hi TimTim,

thank you very much!

Yeah, that is a great scenery and beautiful roads.
One of the dreams for motorbiking.

But at the moment this roads will have to wait, because - it's springtime! - we have 15 cm new snow on the ground this morning and most of the passes are still closed since the beginning of winter.

Best greatings from good old Germany
Rudi