Sölden

After our breakfast experience at this resort hotel, we determined it was basically a landlocked cruise ship: trapped in the mountains! Sub-par quality marketed as luxury 😔. Italy is known for its coffee, well not here... Up to this point we've occasionally had coffee from an automated machine, but you always heard the grinding of fresh beans. Here the main ingredients were instant coffee, likely powdered milk, and water 😭. We were very happy to be leaving after only one night's stay.

For the most part the morning was looking promising with the sun making an appearance. However, after retracing the few kilometres back to the main road, we noticed the sky was very, very dark to the west. 🌫️

Stopped in one of the many villages for fuel, and A decided he wasn't adequately caffeinated after the crap coffee at the hotel, which we couldn't even drink. Pretty nice when a gas station cafe trumps the four star resort. With the impending rain, we hurried on. Barely making it to the outskirts of Merano, we took refuge in the cover of an underpass to put on our rain gear. Another couple riders passing by took our cue to do the same. Unfortunately for the one friendly fellow from South Africa, he didn't have much with him let alone rain gear. What do you expect when you choose to ride in a tank top and Jean shorts 🤣

The rain abated before too long, and we were able to enjoy the remainder of the Passeier valley, and up to the Timmelsjoch pass between Italy and Austria. The clouds cleared enough to get some great photos. A few hairpins and a short tunnel later we were in Austria again.

An intense storm must have passed through the southwestern area of Austria as small pocketed swaths of trees were layed flat all over the place. We encountered a number of construction zones with crews removing downed trees along the road. The forest carnage looked very similar to Stanley Park (Vancouver) in December 2006...

Eventually we rode in to St Anton am Arlberg for our evening stay. The ride was a bit longer than expected due to an unexpected road closure detour. Our accommodations at Landhaus Albert Murray was very cozy and quaint (with some modern flair) historical 100 year old B&B.

We noticed a waterfall across the way and ventured for an after hike. This included following goggle map directions and needing to J-walk on a recently decommissioned crosswalk over the main road/highway🚶🙃

For dinner we found a restaurant with a small but varied menu close by. While enjoying dinner on the patio, the local marching band, performing Wednesday nights during the summer, passed by. They were lucky to wrap thier set up in the square just before the rain stayed to fall again.Les mer