Alpbach to Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Simply one of the best rides I’ve ever done.

Today’s stats at a glance:

• distance: 93.45 kms
• total elevation: 1122 metres

The route profile does a much better job than the basic stats of telling the tale of today’s ride. A wonderful descent to the valley floor, a bit of rolling along that flat, a hard climb and a gradual descent for the rest of the day through drop-dead gorgeous country. Quite wonderful really.

After the descent, these great views along the valley floor presented themselves …

We only had a short six or so kilometres along the flat to get our climbing muscles warmed up before starting up the hill to Maurach am Achensee. This graphic shows our route going down, briefly across the valley and then up  …

The hill itself isn’t that long (just on 5 kilometres) but the thing was it just kept getting harder, and harder and harder until we were dealing with gradients of 17% plus just before the top. I thought we were going to be finished with such gradients for a while after the past few days. Let’s just say I found it pretty hard going and hope that there will now be a bit of respite from the steeps for at least a few days!

After just about falling off my bike at the top through sheer exhaustion I paused and took photos of others being released from their torture …

Tony and I had arrived pretty much simultaneously as did “Tony’s Riding Partner”, and then – after giving us all a good head start – Jose and Bruno came steaming up. I was still gasping and trying to compose myself so didn’t get a photo of any of them arriving.

We all found the climb pretty taxing but taken in the context of the ride as a whole I am sure we’d all agree we are delighted to have done it. What followed was no less than nirvana on two wheels. I hope the photos that follow will show at least a little bit of that bliss.

Initially the road we were on had a bit of traffic which detracted a little from the great views unfolding in from of us …

I for one was quite struck with how large of a lake Achensee was. Here is a photo of it …

… and here’s another. The resort you can see is Pertisau. If you look closely you might be able to make out a large cruising vessel to the right of the resort …

I was gobsmacked at the size of this vessel and even more so when I saw another. I think that maybe they were brought up to the plateau by train (we crossed a train line just after cresting the hill) and then perhaps delivered to the lake by truck.

Once alongside the lake we were on a dedicated bike path with a beautiful surface and teeming with cyclists.

Towards the end of the bike path we passed this little water feature …

Just before the end of the lake l took this photo of a small church in a paddock  …

Francesca had stopped at the end of Achensee and aided by Bruno and Jose – who had roared past everyone else at a rate of knots so they could be there before the hungry punters arrived – set up a fantastic spread for our morning munchies …

Here’s a snap of Francesca and Bruno our two guides for the second half of the tour …

There was a coffee shop just across the road where the van was set up and we all strolled over there for a cuppa and a bit of a break. I got a photo of Chris in all his cycling finery – which also illustrates why he is so keen on that hat (which is, in fact, a helmet accessory) …

Between Achensee and the next lake on the plateau ran a river the road was just wonderful. It ran alongside a river for a time …

Often when we weren’t riding along dedicated bike paths we were on minor roads with few vehicles. The riding was so sublime I found it hard to disrupt the flow and stop for photos but this view forced my hand (sorry about the slight tilt) …

… as did this one just a little further down the track …

Just outside our lunch stop in the town of Wallgau one of the riders took this photo …

It gave a bit of a int of what the town itself was going to be like, with buildings looking like this  …

… and this …

It was pretty flat riding between coffee and lunch so the group didn’t get spread out too much. I took this photo of some of our bikes leaning up against a wall …

Michael snapped this photo of Jose and me having a natter …

… and here’s another of Tony looking very cool indeed as he surveys the lie of the land …

It was only 17 kilometres of mostly downhill riding from Wallgau to our destination here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, mostly on bike paths so we did not pause for photos – wanting to get to our hotel, shower, get our washing done and other housekeeping – like getting this blog done! And of course have a cold bevvy with our fellow riders. While we were sipping refreshments I took this photo of the street where our hostel is situated …

And that capped off another great day on tour. Now it’s time to go food hunting …