Via Claudia Augusta 2016
Highlights of my day by day journal of riding the Via Claudia Augusta from München to Venezia
This journal is also available ‑ with lot's more images & detail ‑ on the really interesting, if somewhat old‑school, idosyncratic Crazy Guy On a Bike collection of bike touring journals
München to Augsburg
Distance: 67 km
Total Distance: 67 km
Somewhat counter‑intuitively, today I rode in the 'wrong' direction, I rode away from, not towards Italy. To explain, the Via Claudia Augusta actually starts in Donauwörth, a really lovely town on the Romantische Straße (Romantic Road) but the closest city on the route to München is Augsburg, so to Augsburg I rode
My route took me via Dachau where I pondered whether to stop at the memorial ‑ the concentration camp ‑ but I opted not to and kept on riding thru what were sort of outer suburban areas of München (it's a big place, I'm told about 5 million live in the Greater München district) before coming into what seemed similarly endless suburbs of Augsburg. But, all in all, an easy day.
Augsburg is Germany's second oldest city, having been founded by ‑ well, have a guess. Yep, Claudius. It boasts an eclectic set of museums, a Brecht, a Mozart and a MAN museum. But probably the single most interesting thing about Augsburg is the Fuggeri, the oldest continuous social settlement in the world. Check out the website for the fascinating story of how 140 tenants pay 0.88€ a year in rent. The central Altstadt is just what you expect of a Romantische Straße town, lots of colourful, highly decorated buildings and winding cobblestone streets, it's very atmospheric. And for cyclists, something of a terminus, the Romantische Straße bike path, the Via Claudia Augusta bike path and the Via Julia bike path (which follows Roman road from Günzberg to Salzburg)
Augsburg to Landsberg am Lech
Distance: 55 km
Total Distance: 122 km
Another thunderstorm last night but this time the rain was more of a deluge than a mist, it was still raining steadily at 8 o'clock but less than an hour later the clouds had lifted and by the time I jumped on the bike, it was a quite pleasant morning. I'd been on the bike for less than 5 minutes before I saw the first sign, and from there on it really was just a matter of keeping an eye out for the next sign. Now having followed, or tried to follow, a number of European bike routes I know from (sometimes frustrating) experience that signs aren't always where you might expect and can very easily be missed so I took a minor detour in a forest when I wasn't paying attention, but otherwise navigation was straightforward.
Of course it helped that the Via Claudia Augusta seems to be incredibly popular, I saw a couple of very large groups and innumerable smaller groups, I rode partway with a couple of German guys (they thought 3 days should be sufficient!) and as they powered off into the distance I hooked up with a group of Russians for a short while. Everyone was really friendly and quite obviously enjoying themselves. The only downside to the ride was that being a Sunday, the mid-morning coffee and cake was hard to come by, ah, first world problems!
Landsberg am Lech isn't actually on the Via Claudia Augusta, a minor detour of about 5km is required, but it's worth the effort, it's a very picturesque place complete with medieval walls, ornately decorated buildings, huge public spaces and of course, lots of tourists. It's also very hilly. A bit of a nasty surprise after the flat ride so far.
Landsberg am Lech to Schongau
Distance: 51 km
Total Distance: 173 km
I'm now Schongau, a pretty little place, very atmospheric, complete with (intact) Stadtmauer ‑ defensive city walls. It has a couple of distinctions, it's billed as the Gate to the Pfaffenwinkel, which I'm told (over a beer or three which may render the veracity a bit doubtful) is 'the priests' corner' so called because of the wealth of medieval and baroque architecture of myriad monasteries set in idyllic rural landscape which straddles the regions of Bavaria and Swabia.
But, as so often, I'm getting ahead of myself and starting at the end instead of the beginning, so, let's start over!
Again more thunderstorms last night, rained really heavy and lasted all thru the night but by morning it was just intermittent showers, which unlike the past couple of days, didn't clear ‑ ah well, can't expect a bike tour where you don't get wet can you? The ride back to the Via Claudia Augusta was easy but wandered a bit, I was tempted to use the bike lane on the main road, until I saw the spray the traffic flicked up from the wet road. Once on the Via Claudia Augusta, apart from the rain showers and a sometimes sharpish headwind, the riding was again pretty easy going. For the most part the terrain was relatively flat and so the kms just flew by.
The route passed thru many small villages, just collections of farms, with colossal farmhouses and their even bigger barns. It seems that quite a lot of animals haven't been moved out to the pastures as yet, the morning air was redolent with wood smoke and animal dung as I rode thru these villages.
As the morning wore on, the clouds lifted a bit and the rain eased and during these clear spells I could see a largish dark splodge on the horizon. I told myself it was just clouds, but we all know it wasn't! The splodge was the so-called 'foothills' of the Alps. As the day became fine, the splodge became better defined, especially as I was getting a little bit closer and closer. Just before Schongau there were a couple of decent hills, nothing daunting, just enough to make you work a bit harder, just a taste of what the splodge has to offer, but the scenery was terrific, sure took the mind off the legs. I reckon this area can indeed be described as idyllic. Didn't see too many monasteries, but there were couple of over‑the‑top Rococo churches and the basilica in Altenstadt.
Swabians are the butt of jokes in Germany, they're said to be lazy, to be a brick short of a load and to value their cows more than each other. In short, not a very positive spin..:. I found the locals I interacted with in Schongau to be really nice, and with a good sense of humour, so, as they say, whatever!
Schongau to Füssen im Allgäu
Distance: 47 km
Total Distance: 220 km
Let's stay on trend and start with the weather, more thunderstorms forecast,at least this region has been spared the flooding and rain‑induced chaos that other parts of south western Germany are experiencing.
Another short day today, but it's looking like the flat, easy riding is coming to an end, even leaving Schongau before the legs were properly warm, there was a long, steep climb. There were quite a few climbs today, none were overly steep nor overly long tho. The only time I had trouble on a climb was where the path was gravel and had been freshly graded, the rain had, of course, turned the path into a soggy, slippery mess and I had real problems in getting traction on the climb. While quite a lot of today's route was on gravel, it was easy riding for the most part.
The scenery was fabulous! As the mountainous background came into focus as I rode nearer and nearer it was like riding into a film set, everything was just right, from the rolling meadows, the dun coloured cows with their jangling bells to the half-timbered houses replete with lace curtains, ornate carved balconies and red flowers. The run into Füssen was along the shore of the Foggensee ‑ a man‑made lake ‑ and apart from a bottleneck where the path went via a couple of steps ‑ WTF steps in a bike path? ‑ it was a very picturesque, relaxing way to avoid the myriads of tour coaches also heading to town. The 'royal castles' are not far out of town, so I kept on riding, an off‑road bike path took me right to the foot of Schloß Hohenschwangau from where I walked (1.5km each way) to Schloß Neuschwanstein. The most striking thing about the castle? Lots of people! They say up to 6000 a day in summer, and another bit of trivia, despite the fact that photographs are not allowed inside the castle, it is said to be the most photographed building in Germany. The castle has been used in films such as "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" as well as video games. And of course, we all know that the the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle of Disney is modeled after Neuschwanstein. While many of the visitors piled back into their coaches and headed off to wherever, I and a few others, went back into Füssen, which turns out to be yet another lovely little town with an evocative Altestadt and it's very own Saint. Ever heard of St Mang (Magnus)? Seems that he is the patron saint of guarding against caterpillars,his namesake church has a fine, very old, fresco.
So, a short day in kms, but since starting out from München I've gained some 360 m in altitude and I reckon I gained more today than previous days combined. And unless I turn back the way I came, the only way out of here is up!
Füssen im Allgäu to Imst
Distance: 89 km
Total Distance: 309 km
So today I crossed into Österreich ‑ into Austria ‑ and for once I'm not getting ahead of myself and begining at the end, Füssen is situated very close to the frontier, not that it was much of a frontier, only a speed sign.
Today was also all about the Fernpaß the first of the Alpine passes on the Via Claudia Augusta, it's about 7.5 kms, it's steepest gradient is 8%, the average gradient some 3% and it tops out at an altitude of 1212m. Statistics can only tell half the story but I reckon my legs could tell a story... Starting out from Füssen was upwards but nothing too daunting and Reutte was reached quite quickly, a brief shower or two of rain notwithstanding. The climb kicked in after Reutte, and like the route the whole day, was a mixture of on road, off‑road asphalt, off‑road gravel, off‑road goat track and off‑road quagmire! Parts of the path were narrow and other parts were really rough (pebbles, tree roots for example). There were plenty of puddles and mud slides too. Tho it's sounding worse than it was, with care, the ride was OK. Surprisingly it wasn't all upwards either, there were plenty of downs, some quite long when you could just roll the kms away without hardly pedalling at all. Of course, the problem with going down is that at some point you have to climb up again!
Signage wasn't quite up to what it has been over the past few days, in fact, I (and a gaggle of other riders) managed to get quite off the track. This is all sounding somewhat dour, it shouldn't, it was a great ride through absolutely stunning scenery and there's a reward at the end, it's not sign posted on the Via Claudia Augusta, but in Tarrenz is Schloß Starkenburg, a brewery, with tastings!
Imst is a very hilly, seemingly thriving modern town which for better or worse tho doesn't have the quaint/atmospheric feeling of towns like Füssen.
Imst to Burgeis (Burgusio)
Distance: 111 km
Total Distance: 420 km
Today took me over the Reschenpaß (Passo di Resia) ‑ 1455 m Such times as this you can really identify with the cycling great Jens Voight when he says "Shut up legs" cos the reward of ignoring the discomfort of riding this seemingly endless climb is spectacular to say the least.
The day started early(ish) on a very good bike path that followed the River Inn and as the valley narrowed, the path gently climbed, just when the valley seemed barely wide enough for road, river, train track and bike path I seemed to pass into a higher, wider valley. This pattern repeated itself all day, I climbed from valley to valley. The climbing wasn't overly tough, and there were plenty of downhills, but somehow it seemed relentless. I'm not entirely sure why tho, today was neither my longest climb nor the steepest gradient, even my training hill up from Watsons Bay in Sydney is steeper than almost anything I did today. About the only thing that makes today different from anything else I've done is the altitude, all day was above 1000m.
Anyway, the route was, as usual, a mixture of on‑road and off‑road. The on‑road was sometimes on local roads that shadowed the very busy main road and for a somewhat terrifying 10 kms or so, on the main road itself. Then there were the switchbacks, they went on and on, well they needed to, for a fairly massive 450m of altitude gain, hmmm, maybe I know now why I feel so knackered.
After Nauders, the off‑road path was a dream, there was still a bit of climbing to do, some 50m over 5 or so kms, but the quality of the path and the scenery made this very light work.
In fact, while there were a few more ups, there were way more downs. Again, the scenery was stupendous, you know that church tower sticking up out of a lake? Well the path went past there. The scene deserved more, but I'd been riding for more than 8 hours and I wanted to get on. As things turned out I could have lingered and enjoyed, after the lake (Reschensee) the path dropped 200m over 8 or so km into Burgeis (Burgusio)
I've arrived in Italy!
Burgeis/Burgusio to Merano/Maran
Distance: 71 km
Total Distance: 491 km
Today I rode 71 kms From Burgeis to Meran and over that distance dropped almost 1000m in altitude, so you'll know that most of today's riding followed a downward trend. The very impressive bike path is a high quality sealed surface with great signage and plenty of support adjacent to the path (whether it be bike repair or rider 'repair' in the form of beer gardens and cafés). There were a few sections of gravel, mainly in forest areas, and there were more than a few uphill sections too. After yesterday, my legs were really heavy on these gradients, I just couldn't seem to generate any power, it was just a matter of dropping a gear (or three!) and grinding onwards.
For most of the day the route followed the Etsch (Adige) River thru the Vinschgau valley ‑ Val Venosta ‑ full of apple orchards and vines on the sunny side and dense forests on the other. Lots of atmospheric little villages dot the bike path, some right on the path, others requiring a very slight detour. I looked in on a few, Glurns (Glorenza) was surrounded by a circular medieval wall replete with a series of fortified towers, and an evocative, film set atmosphere of alleys and arcades while Laas (Lasa) billed as the town of marble, while it indeed displayed lots of marble, was perhaps less enticing.
To enter Meran there are a series of fabulous switchbacks which are fun to ride. There's a bit of fun at the top too, a couple of immense deck chairs to perch on and contemplate the vista before you descend.
Meran was a Hapsburg era spa resort and it still has that genteel, well‑heeled feeling about it. Lots of ornate nineteenth century buildings and parks and so-on might recall Vienna, but the buzz is pure Italian, I feel as if I've actually arrived in Italy at last.
Merano/Maran to Bozen/Bolzano/Balsan
Distance: 52 km
Total Distance: 543 km
In the end it was a fairly short day today, just over 50 km mostly along a superb bike path ‑ Etsch (Adige) Radweg ‑ but it's sandwiched between the river and the railway so it lacks a little in scenic interest. And where it's not right alongside the rail line, it's next to one of the vast orchards that line the valley. But it's relatively flat and there are opportunities to explore the small villages that are mostly perched a little higher up the slopes. I took a couple of such detours.
Bozen sits at both a junction of rivers and a junction of autostrada so there's a bit of weaving and winding involved for cyclists entering the town and at one point there's an intersection on the bike path and to get to Bolzano involves a tight U turn, but it's not immediate apparent and so I, together with a few other lost souls, sailed straight ahead. Up and up and up. Now I knew that Bozen was on a river and I couldn't work out why the route was climbing. It went thru a couple of tunnels and forest, there were spectacular panoramas of the valley I'd just ridden along and so the kms just rolled (slowly) by until at the top where the bike path ran alongside the road I saw a sign 'San Michele' and so I knew Bozen was in the opposite direction. The downhill was fun tho. Bozen is another nice place, way larger than any town over the past few days, and this afternoon it was humming with shoppers, street markets, outdoor cafés and people just strolling. I joined the throng in both strolling and, when I came to the central square I joined the café sitters. In fact, I will continue to sit in Bozen, tomorrow I'm taking a rest day.
Bozen/Bolzano/Balsan
Sunday = day of rest, so the plan was to let my muscles rest up. A good plan, but in the end I had a full and busy day, it's just that I didn't ride anywhere, so I guess it's more of a bikeless day than a rest day isn't it?
At one point I found my way blocked by a fairly solemn procession of crosses, banners and people in dirndls, lederhosen and colourful uniforms of all varieties. Turns out that that today is something of a special celebration in the region when Herz Jesu Feuer ‑ Sacred Heart Fire ‑ is celebrated. The ostensible motivation for the celebration arises from the popular rebellion against Napoleon in the early 1800s but a lot of the parades and displays reached way further back, including a very good medieval flag dance troupe complete with knights in shining armour on horseback and damsels in costume (tho the costumes looked more than a bit Bollywood)
When the Museums re-opened after the afternoon siesta (actually, seeing as it's Italy, I should say riposo), I ventured to the South Tyrol Museum of Archaelogy because this museum is largely dedicated to Bozens' most famous citizen ‑ even if he lived millenia before Bozen existed ‑ Ötzi, a 5000 year old mummified 'Iceman'. A fascinating story told via well designed displays with multi‑lingual explanations and the mummy of Ötzi is displayed thru a small window in a special refrigerator. And today's trivia? Small dogs are welcome in the Museum but must be carried, larger dogs are welcome to use the in‑house kennel facilities.
Bozen/Bolzano/Balsan to Trento/Trient/Trènt
Distance: 81 km
Total Distance: 621 km
Remember that wrong turn I made coming into Bozen/Bolzano/Balsan? Well where do you reckon the Via Claudia Augustaroute outta town went? Yes, that way, still it was about 5 km of riding before the climb so at least the muscles were warmish. Second time around it didn't seem as punishing but the views were just as spectacular. And yes, it's an old rail line converted into a bike path so this first climb was fine today, the next one near Auer (Ora) was a killer! Then again, once over the top the descent thru vineyards to Kalterer See (Lago di Caldaro) was simply fabulous, as was the scenery.
The route today was half on‑road and half off‑road as it followed the Etsch (Adige) river with lots of little villages to explore. A really nice ride. And somewhere around Salurn (Salorno) I crossed the linguistic border between German‑speaking and Italian‑speaking areas and guess what? Somewhere along the way I also crossed the 'good driver' line too, the closer I got to Trento the worse the driving became in terms of waiting, leaving space and so‑on, and in passing, local cyclists weren't much better. The levels of aggression reminded me of riding in Sydney. What doesn't remind me of Sydney is the off‑road bike paths, they're great, tho again, different, until now bike paths on this ride invariably went over or under major roads, but as the kms mounted today, there was more than a fair chance that the route simply went across the main road
Trento/Trient/Trènt to Peschiera del Garda
Distance: 56 km
Total Distance: 677 km
Another shorter day. Today I did laziness very well, I spent the best part of the day on a slow boat, a paddle steamer (well diesel rather than steam)
But, yet again, I"m starting at the end, so, back to Trento. It is indeed a beautiful place, I had to ride down Via Belenzani this morning with it's stunning, colourful and imposing Renaissance palaces lining the whole street. And the Duomo, and Castello del Buonconsiglio. I could go on and on. The ride today was like the parson's egg, good in bits. Mostly off‑road and mostly easy, I dawdled along the riverside (Adige, the same one I've been following for days) thru towns like Rovereto ‑ which grew rich on silk worms and hence hosted the young Mozarts first concerts in Italy, now there's a bit of trivia for you. After this auspicious place, the path was under repair and the diversion was damn hilly! Of course, what goes up must come down and the descent was incredibly steep and took me to Riva del Garda, as the name implies, a holiday resort area with all that entails, and today it was overrun, the traffic was awful. As well as being a resort, it's also a ferry hub so I opted for the ferry that runs to Peschiera del Garda at the bottom of the lake. The ferry calls into every lakeside town on the way so the trip took 5 hours and when the afternoon thunderstorm hit, I was warm and dry!
The boat ride ended at a fly speck of a place called Pescheria del Garda. It, like much of the scenery today, is something of a cliché with olive, lemon and finger pine trees everywhere, cobblestone piazzas surrounded by multi-hued buildings and all the rest of it. But this evening, sitting on a medieval terrace, overlooking the lake with mountains as a backdrop with a soft rosy sunset tinting the whole scene, eating fresh caught lake fish and drinking a local white wine, well, it might be a cliché but it was damn fine.
Pescheria del Garda to Verona
Distance: 41 km
Total Distance: 718 km
It just keeps getting better! Yet another glorious day, blue skies, a plethora of green hues, red poppies everywhere, gorgeous rural scenery, little rural back roads in undulating countryside ‑ well sometimes a tad more than undulating‑
As I rode up from the lake I passed thru apple orchards, then around the top, cherry orchards and as I descended to the Adige, peach orchards. The route thru the orchards was almost solely on small, little trafficked roads, and in passing, the quality often reminded me of Aussie roads, just collections of patches and repairs surrounded by potholes and broken asphalt (and while I'm having a little whinge, whoever thought that loose packed, deep gravel made a good 'surface' for an off‑road bike path? Near Colombara Monti, if you come this way, take care.) But it was a lovely ride nonetheless, especially when one longish climb ended at a diary where they made their own ice-cream, yoghurt and cheese, their chocco-limone was probably the best ice cream I've ever had. It was that sort of day.
After a short break in Bussolengo for a very early mid-morning coffee, a heart‑starting espresso, it was an easy run right into the heart of Verona along cycle paths that either followed the river or canals. As the distance from Peschiera was only 37 k's I was riding at a liesurely pace, even so, I made quite an early entrance into Verona so I parked the bike and roamed the pedestrianised old town. Yes, of course I went to Juilet's house and yes I know Juliet never existed and that balcony was added in the 1930s and all that stuff,in the same spirit, I also went to Romeo's house, tho few of the throng at Juilet's house joined me (if you're interested, it's at Via Arche Scaligere and it's about as interesting as Juliet's place) I rejoined the throng at Piazza Brá and ogled the palaces, churches and of course the Coliseum. There's a heap to see in Verona it's all in a fairly compact, walkable, area too
Verona to Vincenza
Distance: 77 km
Total Distance: 795 km
Today I left the Via Claudia Augusta bike route behind and instead followed the Italian I1 route from Verona to Vicenza thru seemingly endless vineyards. The route was mostly on‑road and like many cycle routes weaved and wandered all over the place, tho to be fair, I'm entering a fairly built‑up region with multiple autostrada and rail tracks, so there's a fair bit of doubling back to negotiate these impediments, I crossed autostrada or main highways four times within a km, over, under, under, over.
As the route was on-road, I went thru a lot of towns and villages, including Soave which anybody with even a passing interest in Italian wines is a name/place will recognise. Now there's ordinary Soave plonk and there's superior Soave vino, the difference basically is one is grown on the valley floor, the other, on quite steep slopes of the hills ‑ guess where the bike route goes? Yep, up into the hills, nothing too big, a max of about 100 m altitude gain, but they really seemed steep! And they were hard work!
And then the by now usual afternoon thunderstorm hit a bit early. I was, of course, in the middle of nowhere so there was no shelter, I just had to tough it out. I eventually found (partial) shelter and stripped down to the bare minimum, donned my rain jacket and pedalled off into the rain. Naturally, I was only some 10 km out of Vincenza ‑ if I was on a main road, but I wasn't, my route meandered for almost double that distance. I got quite very wet!
I arrived in Vicenza about 3pm, just as the sun broke thru. The city looked lovely, it's full of Palladian villas so it should look good, but it was deserted. As the rain receded tho, more and more people ventured out and passigata was in full swing, the crowds became unbelievable. I've walked and walked this arvo, Vicenza is indeed beautiful. I, like everyone else, partook of an ice cream, a flavour new to me, ginger & lime, oh boy it was good, I'm going back in the morning for another, it's a brilliant combination. Before I leave tomorrow I'll also pay due homage to Tullio Campagnolo, a true genius as far as bikes are concerned, whose eponymous company make highly desirable, high end (read, expensive) bike components here in Vicenza.
Vincenza to Padova
Distance: 59 km
Total Distance: 854 km
There's not too much to say about the ride from Vicenza, it was an easy 60ish km, almost all downhill (I'm now a whole 12m above sea level) and almost all off‑road. The path varied between the superb paved paths I've come to expect here in Italy, to some rugged, rocky almost single track style pathway. Being Sunday, there were lots of families and couples out and about on their bikes today, there were lots of lycra roadies about too, but they stuck to the roads and left the bike paths to social riders.
The by now usual mid‑afternoon thunderstorm again arrived early, more like midday, but I was ready for that today, just as the first drops of rain appeared I looked for shelter and found it, a kindly priest left the church garage open as he left (for Sunday lunch) and indicated to shelter inside but to please close the door when I left. No sooner was I inside when more cyclists appeared and so about half a dozen of us stayed dry while the thunder rolled all around us, with appropriate lightning and bucketing rain. We stayed inside for an hour or more, mostly amusing ourselves by telling war stories of the 'crap weather I have known' variety. When the rain eased, we left, carefully closing the door behind us. Unfortunately, much of the path from there on was unpaved. The bike (and I) were covered in sandy slush by the time I reached Padova.
Padova is pretty little place, full of a diverse range of building styles, lots of piazzas and on a Sunday afternoon absolutely heaving with people, strolling, shopping, sitting in cafés, watching (very good) buskers, all in all very relaxed and good natured. My Fitbit tells me I walked 9.54 km around the town this arvo, I reckon that will have burned up enough calories to allow me to indulge in Padua's traditional speciality tonight, horse & donkey ragu, I'm not sure what wine you drink with donkey?
Padova to Venezia
Distance: 49 km
Total Distance: 903 km
Burning question of the day, did he or did he not?
Answer = of course I did, I tried the regional speciality
And so, next question, what wine do you drink with donkey meat?
Answer = an indifferent (chilled) malbec which kinda sums up the whole donkey experience ‑ who's the greater ass, the donkey or the eater of donkey? As you might guess, the donkey was a bit underwhelming, a stew is a stew.
But moving right along, today the terrain was absolutely flat, well, sort of, I went from 12 m altitude in Padua to 2 m in Mestre (the 'mainland' bit of Venezia) so technically it was downhill all the way. Probably the donkey karma, but there were some very ordinary bits of path today, no more than donkey tracks... but a lot was on‑road cos the path followed canals most of the way and the old towpath has been made into a road, a surprisingly busy road. The Mestre region has long been characterised as a urban/industrial wasteland spread out over a vast area, and so I was pleasantly surprised by just how rural the route was, of course, the last 10 km or so was thru wall‑to‑wall light industry, shopping centres and the like, it took a lot of careful navigation, but in the end, almost all of this bit was on on-road bike paths, well signed as I2.
As there's nowhere to really ride a bike in Venezia, I left the bike in Mestre and walked to the swish new tram which whizzed me to the bus terminal at Piazzale Roma and from there I just walked. Yes, of course I got lost as I ambled thru the never ending maze of alleys, bridges, canals and piazzas, but that's half the fun here, and you're never far from some famous landmark where you can get your bearings, and more, you&339;re never alone, there's always some unfortunate person, staring at a map, looking more lost than you! Talking about being alone, they say that Venice gets 20 million visitors a year, no wonder there seemed to be so many people around.
A tirarse sempro indrio se finise col culo in rio
A wonderful Venetian proverb, A tirarse sempro indrio se finise col culo in rio roughly translates into 'If you always chicken out you'll end up with your ass in the canal' and kinda sums up this ride; I don't like mountains, and in the past I've avoided them like the plague, only going near them as a matter of necessity. I've been known to make pretty big detours to go around rather than over, in a word, I kept on chickening out, but in riding the Via Claudia Augusta I actually hauled my ass over the Alps!
I chose to ride the Via Claudia Augusta cos it's billed as the 'easiest' route over the Alps and also cos it has plenty of support infrastructure (there are buses, both private and public, which can take cyclists and their bikes over the nasty bits). So while the Via Claudia Augusta represented something of a challenge for me, it was a challenge with a safety net.
So, what's it like to ride the Via Claudia Augusta?
In a word, amazing!
Much of the Via Claudia Augusta is on off‑road bike paths and the bits that aren':t are mostly on quiet rural roads anyway. While mostly really impressive whether on‑road or off‑road, there were a few sections that were a bit average as we say in Oz when something is obviously not as good as it could be, I'm thinking of sections of rough forest tracks and sections of quite deep, loose gravel. I wasn't comfortable riding in galleries, you know those open sided 'tunnels' that protect roads from rockfalls and/or snowfall, but I guess that's just a personal (very subjective thing), I never felt I was in danger, I simply wasn't comfortable. The signage in both Germany and Italy as first class, even so, I did manage to get lost a few times but once I realised I wasn't where I should be, finding the 'proper' path wasn't difficult thanks to the comprehensive signage. A tip tho, the signage isn't always Via Claudia Augusta signage, particularly in Italy where brown national/regional cycle route signs were more prevalent. As plenty of cyclists have commented, a major drawback with bike paths is that they meander, meaning you ride further and this was indeed the case with the Via Claudia Augusta. On the other hand, a good thing about the Via Claudia Augusta is that there's plenty of choice, it's easy to stick to the route and it's just as easy to make your own way. But, I hear you ask, what about those mountains? Well, obviously if I can do them so can you. For me, probably the most difficult aspect was that the passes are quite close together and so I rode them back‑to‑back as it were, one day the Fernpaß the next day the Reschenpaß. Neither pass was overly long, nor overly steep but for me both were significant physical challenges that seemed to take forever to climb. While climbing the Reschenpaß in particular took forever, I certainly wasn't alone, and that's something else about the Via Claudia Augusta, it's very popular and so there are lots of other riders about, in fact in a couple of places the route felt a bit crowded.
So, go to it, keep your ass outta the canal, have a go at riding the Via Claudia Augusta