Out of Italy and ... DOWN into Austria!

 Resia to Brennbichl

We’re definitely NOT riding up to that castle today!!

We had a rather amusing start to the day. Breakfast at our accommodation was scheduled for 7:30 and we thought if we got all our stuff packed up and on the bikes, maybe, just maybe, the breakfast person (I would have said “lady” as it is ALWAYS a lady or ladIES) but I didn’t want to be accused of being sexist) would let us in 10 or 15 minutes early.

The problem was that we were just too efficient in getting ready and were hanging about in the waiting area at about 7:05. After twiddling our thumbs for ten minutes I popped open the breakfast room door just to see if we might be able to sneak in by the Breakfast Lady was waiting for me and she said, “NEIN! I vill open at zee correct time!” I meekly apologised and went away with my tail between my legs. That was funny enough but at about 7:21 she came through and said quite nicely that everything was ready and we could go in.

We were very happy about that because rain was forecast as being highly likely between 6:30 and 12:00. In the end we were on the road by 7:45 and it looked nice and clear outside.

About 400 metres along our route I took a picture of a nice freshly spread pile of barn waste - i.e. manure …

Resia appears to be both a ski town and a farming town. There are lots of barns on the edges of the town (and a range of ski lifts) and, as Harry Pancis likes to say, there is quite the “smell of the country” about the town. Mostly it’s quite an agreeable smell, as long as the manure isn’t too abundant - and it’s not excessively warm.

Di was waiting patiently as I indulged my new hobby of taking pictures of manure piles so I took a picture of her too …

We had actually set out with short sleeves and light jerseys but it was a little cooler than we expected and Di said she wanted to put on her arm warmers and her vest, so I followed suit and was glad I did.

Once we started up again we were plunging downhill in the shade and it felt quite a lot cooler.

Here’s a look at what the countryside looked like a few kilometres along our journey …

It’s a nice pastoral scene with pastures and peaks, but the landscape got significantly better quite quickly.

Oh, and there happened to be some more manure dumped out of the nearest farmers barn. He hadn’t yet gotten around to spreading it yet and it remained in two distinct heaps, probably dumped out of his truck …

Actually I took the photo as much for the nice little building in the background, which is cosily tucked in close by a stand of conifers. I’m guessing the building is strategically placed to shelter from prevailing winter storms.

I guess I should introduce today’s route. Initially we followed a small stream called the “Sitlle Bach” which flows 14.5 kilometres from just this side of Reschen Pass/Passo di Resia before joining the Bad Inn River, which in turn joins the Inn River before it reaches Innsbruck.

A short distance on from manure deposit number two for the day we met a young German couple who were meandering along on their second last day of an eight week bikepacking adventure. We leapfrogged each other a few times when Di and I stopped to take pictures of the gobsmacking scenery. We had just bombed past them a few minutes before I took the following photo. The scenery ahead looked so good and I thought it would look even better with a couple of cyclists in it so I asked Di to stop and wait until I took their photo …

We bombed back up to them so I could airdrop the photo, which they were tickled with. I’m guessing they haven’t had that many photos taken with them in it and then delivered to them from someone catching up.

Here’s another gorgeous view taken shortly afterwards …

 I think it was not long after this photo that we joined a more major road for a spell. It was pretty exciting riding, as I think you will be able to tell from this short compilation of a number of clips …

Once that excitement was over and we left the main traffic artery for the valley, we found a slower pace of life in the small town of Pfunds which looked like it was a bit of hub for hiking …

I took the photo above with Di in it because the young people behind her appeared to be part of a large group, all getting ready to go for a hike and perhaps being transported to the staring point by bus. They sure seem very well set up hereabouts in terms of catering for outdoor enthusiasts of various persuasions.

Here are a couple of photos of the Bad Inn at Pfunds …

… and here, without the least bit of bias, I can say is a really nice video of the Bad Inn shot from a bridge in Pfunds  …

It’s about time I showed you the elevation profile from today’s ride. As they say, what goes up must come down and that’s just what happened for us this morning. Over the course of our downriver journey we’ve dropped 800 metres of elevation, from 1500 metres down to 700, most of it by the time we got to Pfunds:

Here are a couple of photos a bit further along our way …

A small chapel right alongside the road - not even a hop, skip and a jump away

That wonderful image from the start of this post that I imagine
must have been an impregnable fortress

We haven’t seen nearly as many bales of plastic-wrapped silage here as we do in Tasmania 

so I thought I ought document this collection

The views of the valley floor with hills in the distance never got old …

We still had one last tunnel to ride through but it was just like a doorway into another room rather than a long section of isolation from the rest of the world …

I’ve got a final view of the scenery approaching Brennbichl …

(If you look closely or especially if you’re on a desktop computer you might just be able 

to make out the top of a church steeple just left of centre above the railing alongside the road)

And I also have another short compilation of video clips, this one showing the blissfulness of riding along the veloroute and minor roads that run between Resia and Brennbichl …

 Finally, I’ll leave you with a picture Di took of our hotel just after we arrived at about five minutes to midday …

The messy little red “rectangle” that I’ve drawn shows which is our room. An excellent choice by Di, as there is not a lot on offer in this town. We’re very happy here and expect to get a good early night and, hopefully it will not be overly wet in the morning. It’s not so bad if it starts raining when you’re already out but never fun pulling on rain jackets before you’ve even got started.