Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!


Totally agree with you, in right weather it is one of the best place to ride on Earth!

The still shots are the pictures taken in time lapse mode. Yeah, I have to go through countless of those pics and choose the few good ones


Thank you Shahbaz!

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Just like you would have wished it never ends, so do I. So mesmerizing!

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Simply mind-blowing pictures, thanks for sharing with us. I was feeling excited and planning my trip while going through your thread .
What speed you were doing on those passes in the morning and do you think ktm adventure would be more fun on these roads as you travelled on tarmac only apart from cobbled one

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

I don't know where you are, but I will find you and keeel you!

Lovely updates. It's getting better with every passing day.
Also, that tunnel seen from the Cobblestone pass, was a certain Bond movie shot there? The opening sequence?

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Wish I could bunk office and go again

Thanks for the compliments man All the best for your planning, dont forget to get that book I mentioned in first post.

Most of the mountain roads here have speed limit of 80kmph. It is a general speed limit for non motorway roads. The moment there is a town, limits come down to 50kmph.
I was really careful and always tried to be within the limit because the fines are crazy! The GPS also shows the limits for current road you are in, which is a big boon.

The Adventure 1050 would no doubt be more fun, simply because it had lot more horses and torque, and also extra safety features. It is also more road oriented than other ADVs. But Ninja never let me down and did everything I asked

The trails in Alps are mainly for mountain biking and trekking, motorcycles are not allowed usually. I got the same response from advrider forum. You see lot of trails forking from the roads but it will have a board in the front indicating no entry for vehicles. One needs prior permission to enter those trails.



Damn that Liam Neeson

And thank you sirjee

I think you are right, there were quite a few Bond movies shot in these locations and I remember seeing Sean Connery's billboard put up somewhere saying some scenes were shot there. I have to look up the exact location though.

The Furka pass (which is coming next ) was where the car chase scene from Goldfinger was shot.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Great ride!

Starting early morning provides a very difference kind of experience indeed.

Don't let this good thread end incomplete.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

I was a bit busy lately hence was not able to update the logs in time. Rest assured, next part is almost done. I actually wanted to post it today but few more pics to be sorted out and it will be done tomorrow.

In the meantime, here is a short video while riding on Oberalp Pass in Switzerland!

What happens when you combine fantastic roads, landscapes and weather? This!
The edge of the road is a bit scary since it has no protection apart from short stone poles but you get used to it
The cow bells are really loud and you can hear it when I slow down on few corners
The video is straight from GoPro Hero 3+ Silver.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Day 3, Part 2 : To Italy


After a proper breakfast and also because I woke up early, I was feeling quite sleepy. The thought of lying on the bed for a short nap was very enticing but then that would've made me lazy for the rest of the day!


Cleared the room, settled the payment and I was off. For some reason I liked this place, Ulrichen, a lot. Maybe because of the landscape (small valley surrounded by mountains) or that it had a very peaceful rural atmosphere. Anyways, now I was headed towards some most famous riding roads of Swiss and specifically the Furka pass (where the car chase scene from James Bond movie Goldfinger was shot) for a second time but from other direction! I remember reading that the landscape can seem quite different when you go on the same road in opposite direction and this was indeed true. I had also scouted some good locations for photo stops earlier so that I now know exactly where to stop Also the sky had cleared up quite a bit and it was all blue.


After climbing Furka pass halfway, you come near Rhone glacier. On the top right of the below pic, you can see the Grimsel pass, which I descended yesterday







That lake is formed from the molten glacier and that waterfall continues on as Rhone river.







My bike had some good company while I was away!






It was like a mini mela of bikes and super cars! You wait there for few mins and you will see countless of them.







Multistradas, BMW Z4 and a white Jaguar F type!







I went around looking for the entrance to the glacier cave and sure enough, there was a ticket counter for it.







Who wants some souvenirs?








I got this pamphlet with some facts about the place








A walking trail towards the glacier












And that is the Rhone glacier. It has been receding at an alarming rate, thanks to global warming!








The riding boots was also snow proof









They have put some type of cloth on the glacier, not exactly sure why.








The Swiss flag






Inside the glacier












Not sure why a tube light was placed there.








That's the end of the ice cave









Timer pic









I remember seeing pics from Ladakh where people balanced stones like this. Was surprised to see it here








It was quite hot under direct sun and the hydration pack was doing its duty. Came back near the parking lot and it feels quite cool the moment you are under shade. Had a nice cappucino and a biscuit, while enjoying the loads of cars and bikes going on this route. The place overlooks a corner and I could see people wondering where to stop or to go ahead, the typical confusion! Few pics before I left the place.







The corner I was referring to earlier.







Mini Cooper Countryman along with... *ahem* two wheeled cars







My bike had made some new friends while I was away












Another Jaguar F type!







I packed my cam and was about to leave but then these people came and the camera had to come out












Finally left the place, went a little ahead and again had to stop for pics!






















Just few kms from here, and you reach Andermatt, which is considered as one of the important tourist towns in that region, mainly because it is at the heart of most passes in Switzerland. One can stay here for days at end and keep covering all the passes around. I might've covered less than half the passes in this region, maybe next time I will cover them all

Next on the line was Oberalp pass. The road towards it has sweeping corners and not tight hairpins and I personally prefer this as I feel it is more fun than going slow on hairpins.


Some pics enroute this pass












A neat little waterfall.







They have directed the water to a tap as well! As you can see the water had a lot of force and it made a mini rainbow!







Here is the pic while riding towards it.







Just before the start of Oberalp pass, a mini dam & cog wheel railway track.

















My destination for the day was Livigno in Italy and this had multiple route options. I chose the one that went through a tourist town St.Moritz in Switzerland since it also include Julier pass and Bernina pass. It also involved a bit of motorway riding but most of the route was on smooth two lane winding roads through various small towns. I have quite a few videos from GoPro in this stretch and didnt stop much for pics.


Few pics enroute Julier pass.












Damn! I want to ride there again













There were lots of such small towns.








Most of the fuel stations here are automated. There will be a small ATM type machine, you swipe your credit card, choose the pump number & fuel type and start fueling from that pump. Moment you stop and place the pump back, what ever amount of fuel you filled in will be automatically debited from your card. So I stopped for fuel somewhere on the way but that machine only had German, Italian and French language options. I assumed the process is the same as others but in the end it kept asking me something which I had no clue about By then two guys on a 90s Ferrari came to the bunk and were waiting while I was fiddling with the menu. One of them knew English and he helped me out. It turned out that it was asking me to confirm the pump number again and apparently I was pressing cancel everytime Shouldve recorded all this on GoPro


Julier pass. The video in the first post was shot somewhere in this region



























The town of Silvaplana.







Silvaplana lake







Those corners






[Apparently there were too many pics/emoticons in one post hence I have split it into two. I will have to wait for sometime to post the second half else it will try to merge consecutive posts and I will get the same error again ]

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Awesome snaps. Specially those of the glaciers.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

[Continuing the previous post]


St.Moritz is a popular place for winter sports, mountain biking etc. I didnt have any plans of stopping here and I just crossed through it towards Livigno. I was simply following the GPS route but there was a roadblock ahead, even though the road seemed to be fine. Me and another guy on a van were a bit confused and then a guy on a cycle said he will the moves the traffic cones away so we could enter the road. I found it weird as to why would he do that but the van followed him so did I Then later I realized the road block was set up because of the mountain biking world cup which was scheduled to happen in that place and they had setup up camping grounds in the region nearby. Cycle guy thought we were attending that (van guy was actually heading there, not me) and hence let us through. Once I realized it, I headed back and went on some random road in other direction till GPS found a new route That event mustve been interesting though!




Enroute the famous Bernina pass.



















You were always accompanied by small streams like this









Nice & bright sun, meant I could ride for longer in daylight














Mini lakes









The clouds marching towards the mountains!









They have a panoramic train to this place called Bernina Express, which is supposed to be really scenic. This might be it.














Ninja asking me if it could try some off road as well









Just after few kms, I reached the top of Bernina pass.









Some awesome landscapes around









Black vs white clouds!









Somewhere along this stretch, there was a deviation towards Livigno and shortly there was a checkpost in the border between Swiss and Italy but they werent stopping any vehicles (which is usually the case). The route is initially amidst mountains but later it was mainly in the green valleys and it was fun riding in that stretch even though it had lot of straights. Also Italian drivers dont have a great reputation and it was evident soon after I crossed the border. Enforced speed limits were a joke as I seemed to be the only one to follow it and everybody were overtaking me




Some pics from this stretch














The terrain is bit more rocky & grey compared to Swiss.














The straights towards Livigno!














Outskirts of the town









Narrow streets of Livigno, approaching the hotel









I reached the hotel in Livigno at around 7:30 in evening. This is tax free city so everything is a lot cheaper than rest of Europe. I stayed in Hotel Galli (no, not the Indian Galli ), it was a fantastic hotel with impeccably clean room and a balcony with a view as well! All for the same price as the bed & breakfast hotels elsewhere!


There was a spacious underground parking for the bike and while I was carrying my luggage to my room, I went through the hotel restaurant as it was closer. The moment I opened the door, three waiters inside near the door immediately screamed "Buonasera!" (which means good evening) & I almost dropped my luggage It was almost as if they were waiting behind the door to surprise me. I just wished them back and went towards the room.


Spent the evening relaxing in the room/balcony for sometime, hearing the countless exhaust notes of bikes (most heading towards Stelvio I guess) then went out to have dinner.




View from the room














Googled quite a bit to find famous places for a Pizza (how can I not have a pizza after coming to Italy?!) but almost all had good reviews.
So just went walking around in search of a restaurant. Generally in Europe, restaurants have a menu with pricing on the outer wall so you can decide even before entering the restaurant. So that's what I did, checked the menu and prices in few of the restaurants and went to the most suitable one.
Had a large pizza for 8 euro (almost same price as Dominos in India) and it was quite good and also quite different. The cheese used here tastes different, cant say better or worse . Also it was rather bland and after adding a bit of pepper and other seasonings it tasted much better. One pizza was actually too much for me and I had a hard time finishing it.


Went to room and was thinking of the plans for the next day. I had initially thought of heading to Stelvio pass and areas around it and then head towards Germany, meet my brother there (who was there on short term for work). But the rental people had tried to convince me not go to Stelvio by all their scary stories So I was wondering what to do. But then I thought how much worse could it be? I have already ridden on so many passes without any issue at all and it cant be any harder. Now I have a chance to ride there and I have no idea when I would get such opportunity again.


So that was it, Stelvio pass was one the menu for tomorrow

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

@Adarsh_Bk: Read through the last 2 updates (a few pics are yet to load on the office network) and trust me, these were the best ones of the lot. Saved the best till now, eh?
Does your firm have openings for another rider, err, engineer?

EDIT - Love the pics of Hogwarts Express. Looked the same to me. He he.

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Haha, thanks a lot sirjee! I guess I visited the places in that order.

The firm is on hiring freeze currently btw

Hogwarts express, good comparison!

Thanks Krishna!

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

After a long break, I wanted to complete the log, maybe I can contest for slowest travelogue writer in xBhp

Day 4 : Time for some Italian passes

Started the morning a bit lazily, freshened up, had a fantastic breakfast buffet (which was free btw!) with the famous italian cappucino. I wanted to buy some chocs since this place, Livigno, was duty free and asked the hotel owner regarding the places to buy. Went around walking and after buying a few slabs came back and was all set to head out for the legendary Stelvio pass for the day.

Here is the morning view out of the room!




The bike waiting in the basement.. Notice how many cycles are parked there?




Filled the tank since the petrol was the cheapest I would come across in the region (its nothing compared to current petrol prices in India ).




I would recommend visiting Livigno to anybody going near that part of Italy. Cheap duty free items/hotels/fuel, fantastic landscapes around, easy access to lots of mountain passes and good Italian food! Whats not to like?

Anyways, soon after I crossed the town limits, I could see lot of bikes heading on the road I was on, which meant I was on the right route There were some nice corners along and I was heading towards the Stelvio but before that I had to cross lots of small towns in between.
It was quite sunny but the weather was still cool, thanks to the higher altitude. Soon I came across the checkpoint of Livigno. The officer asked me if I had a lot of items (There is a limit on amount of fuel, cigarette, alcohol that can be carried from Livigno) and I said I just had few chocs and he let me go straightaway. This was the only such checking that occured at a checkpoint in the entire trip.


Here are a few GoPro pics while riding through many little towns enroute Stelvio...






Some empty roads





Corners!



There were many cyclists in this route..




Some more small towns...






And a video as well...



There was a tourist convoy of three black vans with flags striped blue, black and white (which I later found out was flag of Estonia) and they were driving quite slow in those fantastic corners, which is understandable since they are big vans but it was so frustrating to follow them on bike . I had to wait for sections which were straight and visible enough to know there was no oncoming traffic and one by one I overtook the 3 vans which felt like such an achievement But it also meant I couldnt stop anywhere for pics then I would have to do the overtaking again! So I pretty much just enjoyed the ride non stop.

Riding on this route was fun



Finally reached this spot which is on the other side of Stelvio pass.





That mini waterfall was looking amazing!



MotoGuzzi Stelvio 1200 heading to Stelvio pass! That bike has fulfilled its destiny!



I had seen that bike the day before and then I saw that it was the same group of 4 riders whom I had seen in Furka pass in Switzerland. Had a quick chat with them, they had plans of covering Austria as well in the next couple of days. They moved ahead and I spent some more time, updating my whereabouts to home and just relax a bit, watching the bikes and cars go by .

There were lots of cyclists as well in this route, which I didnt mind but some of them did take up good amount of space on the road which was fine for me on bike but cars were having hard time to overtake them since road was mostly winding and the oncoming traffic was rarely visible.

From here on out, it was pretty much mountain riding all along Few pictures along the way,




The posing Ninja




It was a nice mix of greenery and gray mountains...





And finally I made it to the top of the Stelvio pass!

Look at all these stickers!




This view is what I was waiting for!




There were too many cars and bikes here...





Went a little ahead for some more pics..





That was a nice looking car



Started riding down the pass and one thing I have to confess, the Stelvio is not that fun to ride. The corners are simply too tight and steep and you have to slow down a lot. The roads are not very smooth either. Apparently its quite a challenge to maintain those roads as the soil is quite loose. Riders riding bikes like S1000RR, R1 etc not only had to completely slow down but were also putting their foot down in those corners, so I am guessing it wasnt a lot of fun for them either! But the views all along is simply brilliant.


Also there was an incident where a guy on a fully loaded R1200GS was climbing up on a right side corner but had to stop at the apex of the corner because a bus was coming down. He could see the bus only after he was leaned over in the corner (they are that tight and steep) and since he was slow, he tried to stop there but as the bike was leaned a bit, he couldnt keep the bike straight even after putting the right foot down and down goes the bike. Four of us then had to go and lift that heavy machine back up! This is exactly what the rental guys were telling me when I initially choose the KTM Adventure 1050. In a situation like this, unless you are Khali or BigShow, I dont think anybody can avoid putting such a tall/heavy bike down.

Anyways, I continued from there and came across a guy with a dslr sitting on a camping chair beside his car in one of the hairpin curve. The car had fotostelvio.com printed in bold letters on it. He was simply clicking all the bikes/cars on the road, had a quick chat & it turns out, the deal is you can go to the website and look at your photo but if you want the fullsize pic without watermark, you have to pay 8 euro I prefer having the watermark as it will look more like a souvenir

This was my pic he clicked



Btw there are thousands of photos in their website with all sorts of bikes and cars. You can check out this link if interested FotoStelvio

After continuing further down stopped at a restaurant for a short break..

A trail leading from the restaurant, obviously motorcycles not allowed! The snowy part at the top you see in the pic is where I clicked the initial pic which covered all the corners






Here is a short video of the ride after the stop at the restaurant...



To be continued...

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Awesome, fabulous log...!!!

Re: Mission Alps : Accomplished!

Europe!! Always mesmerising...

One day!