Tour de (Western) Balkans 2023

Theme of the final leg of the trip: rain. There aren’t many photos as it was just too wet.

We cross into Austria at the well named Naßfeld pass (“wet field”) and join the excellent Austrian cycle network and head back towards Italy. It is an exceptionally wet day. All ideas of camping evaporate and we book into rooms on the final few days. The nice lady just before the Italian border dries all our stuff overnight in her drying room (her son and husband both work in forestry and she was delighted that we were just WET not wet and filthy, though I thought we were pretty filthy as well).

Into Italy the next morning though this is the Süd Tirol and everyone speaks German. It’s lovely. The cycle route takes us along a river in and out of postcard picture towns and hot chocolates become our obsession. Two fading skibum types sitting quaffing the white wine at 11 am in one café ask how we met as they had a bet that we met as students and had us pegged for having studied sociology or environmental studies and we have a good laugh with them.

A few good picnic stops and through the amazing fortress at Fortezza and that is us heading up towards the Brenner pass as the most direct route to Munich (our return train tickets booked from Munich) on the Venice – Munich cycle route. This is a long long day and we start the climb with 70km already in the legs. It’s getting late in the day and a few kicker slopes really conk me out. Jon, as ever, gallantly takes the headwind. We hit an old railway line that is eventually belts us to the pass when the wind changes to tail.

The Brenner isn’t a particularly stunning pass and the motorway isn’t far away nor is the train line but it does the job of getting us over the Alps in this bad weather spell. The motorway is head to tail trucks. It’s actually really depressing. They are building another rail tunnel but that won’t be ready for ages.

Two motorcyclists we chat to a few days later show us photos of thick snow at the pass two days after we cross it so it was a good shout to end up this way rather than a higher more scenic pass.

Back in Austria after a dismal summit along the discount factory shop outlets we got the empty main road for a zooming descent. Just before we turn off it suddenly gets busy and there is some Bad Driving that has us hurrying off this nice downhill tarmac. We clock into a friendly motelly kind of place in Mattrei (very OTT amazing high street – fancy painted facades) and have Austrian food delights (v meaty) in the very golden Krone complete with dangled golden crown outside and dirndled waitresses.

The run into Innsbruck is not as downhill as anticipated but involves climbing and climbing and climbing before a brake-juddering descent on the cycle route B roads. I’m sure the views would be stunning on a fine weather day but we don’t really see much at all. We leave puddles in the fancy kaffee kuchen establishment and head back into the rain.

Then it’s along the very full and filling up Inn River next to the motorway and we turn off for our final and killer climb out of Wiesing. Hell’s bells. It’s a bad one. It starts off not too bad straight up through a village, huff puff panting away, but then it just dials up the gradient and I’m getting front wheel liftoff left right and centre. I get off and push. Jon keeps at it. Eventually we pop out to the flat (and a random steam engine). Then it’s along the beautiful Achensee until hot chocolate obsession recurs but gets sidelined by novelty Austrian soups. One sort has chopped up pancakes in it. The other has “mini profiteroles” in it. Both savoury. It’s in an echte Stube cosy place.

Back into the rain, along beautiful beech woodland, and into Germany. More stunning lake glimpses though by this time we are both really really cold so it’s a relief to arrive in Lenggries and our Bavarian stop off for the night.

We end up in another friendly restaurant for food where the owner cautions us that we’ve ordered too many carbs. We persist and indeed he was right. We’re defeated by the gigantic portions that arrive and leave with most of my Käsespätzle in a take away tin. The dunkles Hefeweize beer goes down a treat and we both feel sozzled.

The last cycling day of the trip for our run into Munich. It’s really really really wet still. Bad Tölz sees us leaving puddles in a yummy-mummy café that does a good vegetarian panini. A quick wander round town then it’s along the increasingly swollen river Isar, threatening to flood, in and out of lovely beech woodland, where we bump into David and Debby from Yorkshire, who are Hardcore (over 100 km per day) and very friendly and heading for Greece.

Our final mechanical of the trip: my chain breaks again. Jon removes two links and off we head with fingers crossed.

Rolling into Munich is really pretty grim especially with my navigational mischief but eventually we make it to the Hauptbahnhof where we find a quiet corner to strip off our sodden gear and put on dry warm clothes.

A brewery bar visit and a Vietnamese meal later and we are slowly warming up and we get on the night train nearing normal temperature.

We wake up in Hannover, for an uneventful journey back through Amsterdam, Ijmuiden, the overnight ferry to Newcastle, and we somehow manage to get all our train connections despite rail strikes.

The oaks are only just coming out in the Highlands, the sheep are tiny, a final spring, all over again. Lovely lovely lovely to be in Scotland again. It’s all looking very bonnie from the train. Excited to get home.