It was our third and final day on Via Claudia Augusta, before we changed gears onto the Innradweg. It was also the day we crossed the German-Austrian border which, along with the stunning views of the Zugspitze (a.k.a. tallest peak in Germany), makes it my favourite day on the route. Very grateful to have completed this cycling trip when summer was still in the air (it was mid-September) and the number of new COVID-19 cases was relatively low in both Germany and Austria, because we all know how things have taken a turn for the worse on both fronts now.
As you might have realised, we didn’t cycle the full length of Via Claudia Augusta, which goes all the way south to Italy (read my summary here). This is mainly because of uncertainties and potential travel restrictions around COVID-19, but it’s also because we didn’t feel prepared to tackle the increasingly challenging terrain that dominates the Italian portion of the route. Once I have more opportunities to train cycling uphill and feel more confident on gravel, we’d love to go on this route again, though!
Anyway, our day started rather foggy and chilly in Füssen. This is how it looked from our hotel room at 8 am.
After a very standard continental breakfast at our hotel, the Central City Hotel, we took out our bikes from the garage and started cycling through the old town towards the Lech river.
We briefly wandered into the courtyard of the Museum of Füssen which has this old, charming Housemaster sign at the entrance.
Just diagonally across the street, there’s the very pretty Church of the Holy Spirit (Heilig-Geist-Spitalkirche).
We saw the first signpost of Via Claudia Augusta just before the Lechhalde bridge, not far from the church.
Seeing our baggage, an old man stopped us on the street to ask where we were heading. He also mentioned seeing a cyclist with a crazy amount of bags left right front and back, who actually went past us (I think) a few hundred metres later.
There was some repair work on the bridge when we were there.
Across the river, the stunning Lech gorge came into view. According to an info board at the site, the Lech river began carving its way through the limestone bedrock when the last ice age (approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago) came to an end.
Not long after passing the gorge, we arrived at the border and entered Austria! For some unknown reason, I always get excited crossing borders.
The view just got better and better, thanks to the mountains. The ground was sandy once we left the main road in Pinswang.
There were some cows but we didn’t see half as many as the day before.
Not far from the border, we encountered the first real uphill section of the route. It was not too long, but enough for us to want to stop for a water break and shed our windbreakers after. We also saw the cyclist with the crazy amount of baggage that the old man at the bridge in Füssen warned us about.
Thank God it was flat for a while as we cycled through Pflach.
We couldn’t rest on our laurels for too long, though. Soon we had to push our bikes uphill to the town of Reutte, where the sight of the suspension bridge highline179 welcomed us from the visitors’ car park. According to the official Tyrol website, the bridge is considered the world’s longest “Tibet-style suspension footbridge” by Guinness World Records. It connects the Ehrenberg Castle Ensemble with the remains of the 17th-century Roman Fortress Claudia in Reutte.
We didn’t go up to the bridge but took a break near this educational board about Tyrolean salt trade to eat an energy bar after all the bike-pushing. The sky has cleared up and the temperature increased significantly at this point.
There’s a restaurant there but it was too early for us to have lunch. There are also charging stations for electric bicycles if you come here by one.
The bridge is long, no joke!
Fueled by half an energy bar, we continued cycling towards Heiterwang. The road was smooth for a while and then of course came the gravel. This sign asked us to keep a distance from grazing animals. It also says that cows protect their calves.
Only too pleased to return to smooth asphalt!
We broke for lunch in Bichlbach, in a nondescript pizzeria called San Marco. I wanted to have a Tyrolean dish and the owner was kind enough to customise the Tiroler Gröstl for me, so that the fried potatoes were served with turkey meat rather than pork. As for the drink, I obviously had to have an Almdudler, a herbal lemonade I cannot NOT have when I visit Austria.
After lunch, we continued cycling towards Lermoos.
The Zugspitze came into view!
I mean, look at this gorgeous panorama! It felt like we were cycling towards the summit.
We continued on a sandy path towards Biberwier, the pick-up point of a shuttle that would take us through the toughest part of Via Claudia Augusta in Austria, the Fernpass.
According to the official Via Claudia Augusta website, we could book the Biberwier-Nassereith shuttle through SMS up to 24 hours beforehand, so we did that but didn’t receive any reply. The combination of a lack of uphill training with bike baggage and time pressure made us nervous, so J called the emergency number of the shuttle company and it turned out that the SMS system doesn’t work! $”§%&%! Lesson learned: If you’re like us and would like to take the bike shuttle through the Fernpass, call the number of Reisebüro Zoller directly.
Anyway, we were lucky that the shuttle company could take our booking on a less-than-24-hour notice. A friendly English woman picked us up in front of the church Heiliger Josef right on time at 4.30 pm. We were the only cyclists who had booked that time slot and she helped us load our bikes on to the trailer.
The shuttle ride lasted approximately 20 minutes and it cost 16 EUR per person + bike. If we had cycled through the mountain pass, it would have cost us more than 3 hours and a lot of anxiety. We were dropped off outside the Fernsteinsee service area in Nassereith, where you could see the Fernsteinsee castle (Schloss Fernsteinsee) in the distance.
We then hopped on to our bikes again and cycled towards Imst, where we were to spend the night.
The ride was mostly downhill at this point and we passed through a beautiful forest in Nassereith.
Delighted to finally see some cows again!
There was a field where you could pluck flowers on your own near Imst.
When we reached the center of Imst, we thought we were close to our destination, but no! On closer inspection, our hotel lies in on top of a hill involving an incline of 265 m from the town center. Should’ve expected that looking at the name of the place, Hotel Belmont!
I didn’t have much energy left to cycle the steep hill leading to our accommodation so I pushed my bike for a couple hundred metres on the main road. Fortunately, not many cars passed by. We thought we wouldn’t need to cycle more than an hour from Nassereith, but in the end we took up nearly double the time. Couldn’t be happier when we finally reached our accommodation, and the view from there is unbeatable.
The receptionist handed us a key to the bike garage and we were slightly amused on entering our room. The furniture looked unmistakably retro but the room is massive and the balcony too, so we couldn’t complain. After cleaning ourselves up, we headed for dinner at the restaurant of the hotel, which surprisingly has very reasonable prices. I definitely enjoyed my Apfelstrudel with vanilla ice cream.
Day 3 of Via Claudia Augusta complete!
Key stats and stops
Distance traveled: 62 km
Total ascent: 1517 m
Total descent: 1267 m
Max altitude: 1155 m
Terrain: A mix of paved and unpaved surfaces, be prepared for some steep uphill (and downhill) cycling, especially if you’re not taking the bike shuttle
Bike guide: Füssen-Ehrwald on https://www.komoot.com/tour/40941209, Ehrwald-Landeck on https://www.komoot.com/tour/40941983
highline179 suspension bridge: Klause 1, 6600 Gemeinde Reutte
Lunch: Pizzeria San Marco on Gipfl 19, 6621 Bichlbach
Fernpass bike shuttle company (Biberwier-Nassereith and back): Reisebüro Zoller, +43 (0)5673 3131, call at least 24h in advance, 16 EUR per person+bike
Dinner & Accommodation: Hotel Belmont on Teilwiesen 10, 6460 Gemeinde Imst
