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Ridereport Sonthofen - Gavia - Mortirolo

After Markus had told the Alpenbiker-Forum about his alpine tour on 20.08.12 - a 10-pass ride (St. Wolfgang bei Davos - Flüela Pass - Zernez - Ofen Pass - Sta. Maria - Umbrail Pass - Stelvio Pass - Bormio - Passo del Foscagno - Passo d'Eira - Livigno (cheap petrol! ) - Forcola di Livigno - Berninapass - Pontresina - Julierpass - Tiefencastel - Lenzerheide/Valbella - Chur and back home), 570km - reported - due to the beautiful pictures the wish came up to "follow" the tour with some from the forum.
Due to scheduling difficulties the date 01.10.12. was set.
I was also interested in the tour, but I wanted to include the Gaviapass and the Passo del Mortirolo or Passo della Foppa, because I haven't ridden either of them for a long time and especially the latter is still a "highlight of the Alps" for me! So from Sonthofen in total about 590 km!

As the days on October 1st are already much shorter and it is not yet clear whether the weather will be fine, I "tried" the tour with Werner (here from Sonthofen) on September 17th - at short notice!

At 7:30 a.m. we started in beautiful weather. Via the Oberjoch, Tannheimer Tal, Gaichtpass and the Lechtal we quickly reached the Hahntennjoch. The roads were free and so we could let the curve fun run free. At the top there was a short break and then we went down to Imst to refuel. Over the Pitztal and the Pillerhöhe it should go on.
In Wenns im Pitztal there was a sign saying that the passage was closed on Friday, 14.09. - so no problem, it was 3 days ago! But behind the village of Piller the road was suddenly blocked and a woman told us that it would stay that way for about 1 ½ hour! So we had to turn around. Via Imst we drove to Landeck and along the Inn to the Finstermünzpass and the Reschenpass.
Here again a short stop at the church tower of the sunken village Graun. This time the church tower was completely surrounded by water. At other times there is usually only little water, so that one could "almost" walk there.

We continued on to the Vinschgau Valley and then into the Val Müstair to Santa Maria. From here then steep and narrow up to the Umbrailpass - always nice to ride

Afterwards a short "compulsory" detour to the Stelvio Pass. The rush there was relatively limited.
A few veil clouds slowly covered the sky, but it remained dry and mostly sunny.

Down to Bormio and from there to the Gaviapass we continued our way. The track is quite narrow on the one hand and quite bumpy on the other - but still a pleasure! The route is simply fun. At the beginning of the narrow track there was a Dutch motorhome uphill. I think it will have had its "fun" especially after the pass downhill! Because from here on the road seems to become even narrower and some narrow tunnels require additional attention. If somebody then comes along ...

Arrived in the valley we continued in the direction of Edolo. A few kilometres before the village we turned right to Passo del Mortirolo or Passo della Foppa - I love this route! The last time I rode it was in 2000 on our big alpine tour - so it was about time again!

In Tirano we had a short cappuccino break before we had to tackle the Bernina Pass. The Berninapass is wide and has a very smooth route. Therefore it is also a pleasure to ride a motorcycle in the upper part - to Poschiavo. And on top of that, on the top of the pass, the magnificent high mountain scenery - simply ingenious!

Then we continued via St. Moritz to the Julier Pass. Here there were some traffic light controlled construction sites and many trucks of the Swiss army, which wanted to cross the Julierpass with trailers. One after the other we could overtake. Also behind the pass there was no end in sight - although they didn't drive in a column but in very big distances. So we had a little stopover for us again.

And on we went!
In the small town of Beiva, the narrow passage through the town was the fate of one of the military trucks! With oncoming traffic from another truck there was no further progress at first.
Werner and I used a small, narrow side street to get past this obstacle - in such cases a motorcycle is advantageous!
Via Tiefencastel we reached Lenzerheide and further on to Chur.
From here we went via Liechtenstein to Feldkirch and Dornbirn, where the road often goes rather slowly, so that this part of the route always takes a little longer.
But from Dornbirn we went back uphill to Bödele and via Egg and Hittisau finally to the Riedbergpass. Here it was already completely dark, but without traffic the Riedbergpass is always great to ride even in the dark.
In Sonthofen we finally arrived at 21:00 o'clock - after 13 ½ hours.
Without the closure at the Pillerhöhe it would have been about 30 - 45 min less.
There were no longer breaks, but 5 - 10 min stop at the pass, the cappuccino break in Tirano and the one or other photo stop are added on such a tour!

All in all a wonderful day which let us once again come fully at our expense!


Unterkunftsempfehlung:
Italien: Hotel Cristallo (Levico Terme)