Cycle the Alps – Day 2
Landeck to Malles Venosta
Distance
Total Ascent
Highest Point
Overview
Travelling South East out of Landeck on an elevated cycle path following the wonderfully turquoise mountain River Inn. At first the river seemed to be flowing towards us much too fast, but it wasn’t long before my legs started hurting and I realised we were climbing steadily.
Crossing the river a couple of times, sometimes on wooden bridges, was a unique experience and most of the tracks from now onwards had really nice surfaces.
It seemed like the white caps of the Alps were getting closer and closer to us. As we neared the Switzerland border you could tell the big hills were just about to happen.
Crossing the actual border into Switzerland was strange, like it didn’t really happen, but when we got to the ‘official’ crossing about 7 kilometres down the road, it seemed a bit more formal. So we crossed over the river again and back into Austria this was the start of the zig zag climb that we had all been dreading.
There were 11 hairpin bends all of which were numbered so we knew what was to come; this was a tough ride. From about half way we stopped at every hairpin, to catch our breath and drink.
Although the next hill wasn’t as steep as earlier in the day it was tough on our legs as we went up towards the lakes at Resia. We passed a few ski lifts on the way, and wondered what these places would be like in winter.
Cycle paths were good, and the scenery was spectacular as we carried on up and over the boarder to Italy. Seeing the lakes, for me, marked the highest point of our trip and that it was ‘all down hill from here’.
We saw the church spire coming out of Lake Resia, which pointed out where the old village used to be, before it was flooded to create this reservoir. The next lake, a smaller one called Lake Haidersee let me know it was time to descend.
At the end of the lakes it was steep downhill into Malles, where we received a very warm welcome at Bar Garni Sonne. Somebody had mentioned that 3 of the stars had somehow fallen off the hotel wall, because we found the accommodation first class.
Dinner was at a fantastic restaurant called Restaurant Pizzeria Lampl, and we went to bed early knowing we had achieved something quite big, and for some of us, well outside our normal comfort zone.
