Italian Dolomites and Austrian Tyrol

The group will assemble outside the Eurotunnel Terminal main building in Folkestone. You will be met by your tour guide and will be given a quick briefing before making our way to the train.

Today will be about taking the quickest route to some more interesting roads. To do this we will need to stick to the motorways for about the first 80 miles. After a short break we will head for the twisty road of the Ardennes region on our way to our final destination, Metz.

After breakfast we will head via the twisty roads of the Northern Vosges Mountains to the Palatinate Forest. Crossing the Rhine we head into Baden Baden, a spa town is on our way to the B500. This road truly delivers it all. Unblemished tarmac, technical twists and turns, fast sweeping bends and great views across the Black Forest. We will see the world’s largest cuckoo clock in Schonach before finding our way to our hotel in Freiburg where we will stop for two nights.

Leaving Freiburg we pick up the B500 for a beautiful ride by lakes Titises and Schluchsee and on down to ride the north shore of Obersee Bodensee.

Then it is through the Austrian Tyrol and its many passes, with race track smooth tarmac, switching left to right to left on perfect sweeping bend linked by stunning mountain villages. Up past the old Olympic ski jump in Innbruck, over the Brenner Pass and into Vipiteno for our overnight stay, the first of four nights in Italy.

From Vipiteno we head straight to the heart of the Dolomites, covering so many great passes, Paso di Glau, Falzarego, Gardena, Sella, Fedaia, and the highest pass in the Dolomites The Passo Pordio. Its hard to imagine a better day on a bike riding in and around these imposing granite peaks on incredible roads with incredible views. We finish the day off with stunning views of Cortina d’Ampezzo, as we descend from the mountains into the town and our hotel in the centre of a resort.

From Cortina d’Ampezzo the roads get higher and narrower over the Sella Campigotto which rises slowly at first, then rapidly, in steep traverse linked by broadening hairpins. It’s a challenging climb, rocky walls on one side and vast views to the distant mountains on the other. A quick hop into Austria to ride from the ski resorts of Kotschacn down to Sonnenalpe Nassfeld, just an awesome ride. It is then over the Passo Pramollo and Monte Zoncolan on the way to Maniago.

Today we run through the Southern Dolomites from maniago up along the Northern shore of Lago di Barcis on over the Passorolle 1989m high, with its great surface, its every bit as involving to ride as the highest passes with the granite peaks rising in the background still spectacular.

The final pass of the day, Penser Joch, is 2211m high and is just an outstanding ride to bring us back to Vipiteno for our last night in Italy.

Today is straight onto the Brenner Pass as we leave Italy and head north to Innsbruck, Austria. Then west through the Austrian Tyrol and its many passes. Reaching the north shore of Bodensee Obersee (the inland sea) which leads us into Germany heading for Freiburg for the night.

If you thought that you couldn’t enjoy a day on your bike more than yesterday’s experience, after today you will change your mind. We not only climb higher via the Route des Cretes but we find more hairpins and more panoramic vista. Up through the one of the highest passes in the Vosges, at over 4600 feet, it is what every biker lives for. Sights as far as Jura and the French Alps on clear days. After a lunch we make our way out of the mountains down onto some of the best smooth sweeping bends you can ride, flicking your bike left and right to hit each apex perfectly, massive fun.

After a night of sharing stories, a few beers and great food we wake to start our journey home. Although there will be a motorway today, do not lose hope, we will spend all but the last hour on some great biking roads as we make our way across Northern France.