Day 15 - Ehrwald Austria (109 kms) - " The foot of the Zugspitze" !

What were we thinking, it was late afternoon and still stinking hot, I was cycling an off road route that took me kms into bushland while H was competing with trucks on the main road with 6 inches of space that counted as a verge - we had a plan to meet somewhere on the top of the steep pass .. if we missed each other (a good chance given H's navigation skills)  it was good night trip & good night blog ... how could i carry on !

We were just 7 kms into Austria when we started our days cycle planning to leave picturesque Nauders and cycle across the country in one day in weather fast approaching heat wave conditions !

A straightaway climb got our tired leg muscles working again before a magnificent 6 km downhiller that took us into some form of a no mans land - out of Austria (border point) but not quite into Switzerland (no entry point) even though the maps and the river indicated we were !

We'd just started our journey towards Landreck when we spied an overhead chopper manoeuvering construction pieces into place on an incredibly steep section of Mtn. What was amazing was not just the skill of the pilot to hold the chopper steady but the  nerves of the ground crew who were hanging off near vertical footholds trying to steer the pieces into place !

A few kms further we passed through a series of small tunnels well prepared this time - lights on, pedalling like Lance Armstrong on drugs and a 2nd pair of nicks on standby very nearly needed after a peleton of motorcycle riders decided to follow us through one particular tunnel.

The heatwave that has hit Europe has meant consecutive days of mid 30 c temperatures, manageable while in motion but pretty damned hot whenever we stopped. H's oft quoted saying of "I love the heat" was getting set to bite his bum big time !

Our profile for the first half of the day was delightedly  down hill washing off 500 metres of altitude as we descended from one beautiful valley to the next - now smiling at the heap of cycling tourers going in the opposite direction or in H's case muttering under his breath "suck that you free loaders " !

The signage was first class until we same to one intersection which had signs but no directions on the  indicator. Used to a back up cycle stencil on the road Kev & I struggled to work out a direction to head until H moved revealing that he'd in fact been standing on the directional stencil !

Even with the profile H was beginning to struggle and while he was happy to claim it was age related I reckon it was more likely his failure to drink enough water, replace the minerals in the heat and eat enough protein instead seeming to rely on his fruit only meals that do little else other than power his rear end turbine !

After lunch in Reid we descended further down to the picturesque town of Imst. Standing around and looking our normal intelligent selves when we were unsure of what direction to take a female roadie came to save our day.

Andrea who works for the Imst tourist beaureau went out of her way to show us through Imst and back on to the Claudio Augusta trail - wow what an advertisement for Imst tourism - the 30 minutes she saved us would prove important by days end !

The next 10 kms though nearly brought Kev to his knees as as we went entirely off road on forest tracks with a few short sharp climbs.

After telling him to take his time and giving him a few rudimentary navigational lessons, I set off to Nasserieth to take a little time to study maps while waiting for Kev to show up (which he did !!!!)

At this point it was force feeding time as Kev got stuck into some liquids and protein in preparation for the tough last 15+ kms of the day the first 8 being to the Fehrn Pass with our profiles indicating a steep climb.

With Kev struggling we opted for the more direct road route but a km in i was not comfortable with how busy the road was and its total absence of a verge !

Kev elected to keep going while I road back to the Claudio Augusta trail which turned out to be an incredibly steep off road rocky trail impossible to ride.

While I walked my way to the top of the pass passing  2,000 year old wheel ruts on the original road Kev was busy fighting off the traffic riding the white line inches from a rock face with basically no where to go even when he wanted to rest.

By good luck we both made the pass (knackered) within 20 minutes of each other - relayed our various stories while having a cold drink & then pedaled like buggery downhill on the road hoping no truck convoys were approaching !

Safely off the main road we approached the magic town of Ehrwald perched against the incredible Zugspitze Mtn, found our b&b accommodation at near 8.30 p m. fell into our room with just enough energy left for a shower before heading out for a well earned meal & beer.

Roll on Germany !