82 miles ridden – 1671m climbed – temperature 17C

Today was a fabulous but hard day. Although the sky was blue, Mittenwald was entirely in the shade of the mountains so we needed arm warmers and gilet (Rapha of course) while we warmed up. And we warmed up pretty quickly as the climb out of Mittenwald started after about 500m and rather excitingly we climbed up into Austria.

Not long after the descent we stopped for our first brew but soon after experienced a bike tour first. Less than a mile after the break we came across some cows that had broken out of their field but closer inspection revealed that one of the cows had caught their bell collar on a horse box which was dragging the cow down the hill.

Very impressively four of our group went into the herd and man-handled the cow sufficiently to get it unhooked while others went to try and find the farmer – that involved me cycling back up the hill to a farm we had passed. Eventually someone turned up but didn’t seem that bothered – still we had done our bit to support the local schnitzel producers.

The route after lunch largely followed dedicated cycle paths which zigzagged across the valley shadowing either the river, the railway line or the main road. It was great cycling – when there isn’t traffic you can relax that little bit more. You can even cycle on the correct (British) side of the path…

For about 6 or 7 miles towards the end we crossed over into Switzerland which was very exciting as despite the Switzerland/EU relationship there are formal border crossings. I was carrying my passport and was a bit disappointed that there didn’t appear to be anyone on duty. It seems that Switzerland’s main concern was to ensure visitors knew the speed limits:

The exit crossing was a bit more impressive but still no one strutting their stuff

The last 3.5 miles was a killer. Climbing over 350m we worked our way through roadworks, resurfacing and in my case cramp which meant I had to walk. By the time I got lost in downtown Nauders looking for our hotel I was suffering from an almost complete sense of humour failure. The hotel is quaint, alpine, and has proper keys for the rooms – it’s like going back in time!