By Bike

Day 24 (27th August).

The plan was to head over Silvretta-Hochstraße (Silvretta Scenic High Road), often called the “Dream Road of the Alps”. Unfortunately, due to recent rock falls the road was closed.

So we decided to spend an extra day in Bregenz by Bodensee and take a shorter route via Lech, Zürs and St Anton am Arlberg (known as the “cradle of skiing”) to Prutz.

After a couple of days of rain and cloudy weather, we woke to clear skies and headed for the breathtaking landscapes of Voralberg … in fog.

When the sun finally shone through, spectacular limestone and gypsum cliffs towered above us.

The big climb of the day was to Hochtannbergpass. Deceptively gentle to begin with, this incline lulls you into a false sense that it will be an even and steady 5% all the way, then just when you think you’re near the top, it suddenly jumps to an average 8-10% for another 5km!

A popular route with cyclists, I got to chat to a local who had hitched through outback Australia, and some Germans who were making their way to Italy.

From the pass we entered the “cradle of skiing”, one of the oldest and most extensive ski areas in the world with over 300km of ski runs! I imagine it looks pretty stunning in winter – it’s pretty ugly in summer.

I had thought the down’s and ups were not so demanding in this area, but in addition to having ridden a fair way already and it being hot, we had to climb over both Flexenpass (1,773m) then Arlbergpass (1,800m) to reach St Anton am Arlberg to meet up with Liz and Sue who had driven the longer way round.

In between the two passes we were treated to one of the more hair-raising descents through the Flexengalerie, a 1.5 km long tunnel built originally between 1895 and 1897 to protect the road from avalanches and other hazards in the mountainous terrain. Some pics off the web to give you an idea of this feat of engineering and daring do.

Followed by another more modern tunnel and steady climb up to Arlbergpass.

From St Anton am Arlberg it was (mostly) a lovely downhill run to Prutz.

According to Garmin.