The last third of our September bike trip felt rather uneventful compared to the first two-thirds, so I decided to combine our last two days on the Innradweg into one post. The sensation might have been caused by the lack of defining landmarks along the way, or perhaps the flatness and smoothness of the path. You see, when you skim through the altitude change of the various stages of the route on komoot, the legs between Innsbruck and Rosenheim are in fact the flattest (see Etappe 6 and 7).
In any case, we were extremely fortunate with the weather because it was almost always sunny and we managed to avoid the rain 99% of the time. The only moment it drizzled was when we were approaching Angath, and even then we caught a beautiful rainbow. The evening we reached Munich after taking the train from Rosenheim, it started raining in Tyrol and Bavaria.
What’s not so fortunate was J’s front tyre situation in Innsbruck. In the morning of Day 2, when we were supposed to start cycling to Angath, J found it completely flat on our hotel’s backyard. I had a small pump on my bike, so he used it as a stop-gap measure. It didn’t give the tyre enough pressure so he replaced the inner tube when we stopped for lunch in Schwanz, and then pumped it again at the gas station near Erl. Morale of the story: Always bring a pump and a spare inner tube when going on a long-distance bike trip!
Something else we noticed during this trip is the many symbols of the Innradweg. According to the official Innradweg website, the path is marked as R3 and printed as green on white in Austria, while in Germany it’s marked with the Innradweg logo. Sometimes we see both of them at the same time, though, like on this signpost in Oberlangkampfen. Maybe because the town lies quite close to the Austrian-German border.
Other times, there’s only this yellow sign and/or a green arrow on a white background.
Some other interesting things we learned on this leg of the trip:
- Between Kufstein and a small town called Schwaigen, the river Inn pretty much serves as the Austrian-German border
- From Ebbs, you can cycle on either bank of the Inn to stay on the Innradweg
Food along the Innradweg was quite mediocre on both days relative to other things we’d eaten on this trip. On Day 2, I had a dumpling with deer goulash in Schwaz for lunch, and we stopped for coffee and cakes (with a sinful amount of whipped cream) in Brixlegg. On Day 3, lunch was on a Biergarten in Nußdorf am Inn where I had a classic Swabian meal of spätzle, and we had an overpriced ice coffee in Rosenheim which I wouldn’t recommend.
Worth mentioning, though, is our lovely accommodation in Angath, Gasthaus Kammerhof. It doesn’t lie directly on the Innradweg but the building is old (built in 1582!) and beautifully renovated, the family who runs it friendly, and the room spacious. There’s also a supermarket/bakery right across the street and a garage to safely store our bikes. Most importantly, we didn’t have to climb any hill to reach the hotel, ha!
We made a wise decision not to stay in Rosenheim, I think, as the town looked fairly meh to us. We did a quick sightseeing round through the old town before jumping on a train to Munich, where we spent our last night in Bavaria before returning to Berlin.
I also liked our hotel in Munich, Arthotel ANA Diva, because of its proximity to the bus terminal (which we needed the next day), its modern and sleek design, and the garage in the basement. It was raining when we wanted to get dinner, but luckily we found a cafe with sheltered outdoor seating within walking distance from the hotel, and it serves a delicious black chicken burger!
Returning to Berlin at the end of September, J and I were a little sad that our cycling+hiking trip was over. The weather was on our side practically the whole time and all our arrangements fell in place perfectly. We cycled nearly 400 km along Via Claudia Augusta and Innradweg, and together with the day-long hike in Imst, it was definitely a summer vacation to remember.
Watch the highlights of our Day 2 (Innsbruck-Angath) ride here.
Key stats and stops
Distance traveled: 52 km
Total ascent: 418 m
Total descent: 471 m
Max altitude: 626 m
Terrain: Mostly paved and flat/downhill
Bike guide: Innsbruck-Wörgl on https://www.komoot.com/tour/74288674
Lunch: Gasthof Himmelhof on Swarovskistraße 19, 6130 Schwaz
Cafe: Sigwart on Herrnhauspl. 7, 6230 Brixlegg
Accommodation: Gasthaus Kammerhof on Kirchplatz 2, 6321 Angath
Watch the highlights of our Day 3 (Angath-Rosenheim) ride here.
Key stats and stops
Distance traveled: 63 km
Total ascent: 289 m
Total descent: 361 m
Max altitude: 535 m
Terrain: Mostly paved and flat/slight uphill
Bike guide: Wörgl-Rosenheim on https://www.komoot.com/tour/74293293
Lunch: Schneiderwirt on Hauptstraße 8, 83131 Nußdorf am Inn
Dinner: Shadow Bean Cafe & Bar on Augustenstraße 56, 80333 München
Accommodation: Arthotel ANA Diva on Sandstraße 7, 80335 München
