Page 1 of 3

2016 Road Trip

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 11:14 pm
by Sailor
Our annual road trip this year was intended to take us back to the Alps and Dolomites.
We had another idea ... let's go through the alphabet - in order.

A to H today: in Germany.

Image

A small village. We could just have easily picked ...

Image

We wanted to go to the Ring. Touristenfahrten on the weekend? Forget it. The place was heaving, and an accident on the track made the queues even longer. We moved on to

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

These were mostly tiny places, with two of them towns. The last one is where we stopped for the night. It's the home of the German Shoe Museum. We don't know if that means it's the museum of German shoes or (add another interpretation of your own choosing).

Anyway, here's the car a mile from the hotel and museum:-

Image

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 4:50 am
by simonc
Always a pleasure to follow your trips, Sailor.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 4:22 pm
by mercutio
most definitely 8-)

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:00 pm
by woOtSalami
feel free to drop by my house when you are near stuttgart :)

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 10:08 pm
by Sailor
woOtSalami wrote:feel free to drop by my house when you are near stuttgart :)
Drat. Missed it ....

The shoe museum was interesting and included a pair for people who didn't know if they were coming or going:-
Image


"I" was a place with locks and a power station on the Rhein:-
Image


W chanced across a low-key car meet on the French border en route. Heads turned towards the Prelude as we pulled up. This was one of the exhibits:-
Image


Onwards to "J", a German town in a loop of the Swiss border near Schaffhausen. Cheaper to stay there than Switzerland, too!
Image


By this morning, we'd visited one of Germany's highest waterfalls (Triberg). Here's a section:-
Image

And we'd also visited one of the most powerful (except that it's Swiss, really): the Rheinfall.
Image


"K" (Swiss) was
Image
where people have summerhouses on Lake Constance ...
Image

And we're now in Austria, having collected "L".
Image

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 1:39 am
by simonc
Majestic stuff. Keep 'em coming please.

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:26 am
by Drax
love love love these road trips 8-) im extremely jealous!

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 9:04 pm
by Sailor
Image

"M" was a village on the Silvretta Hochalpenstrasse:

Image

We then took a detour on the cul-de-sac called the Kaunertal Gletscher Panorama Strasse. This climbs to 2750m up to a ski station. The valley road costs 23 euros, but is well worth it.
Image


"N" was a town en route into Italy. I was too busy muttering at a really slow Lancia and forgot to take a photo. I did manage to get a screen dump off the dashcam, though.
Image


We're in Glurns for the night. It's a tiny walled mediaeval town in Italy.

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 7:46 am
by simonc
Lovely shots Sailor. Reminds me of a couple of pan-Euro road trips I did myself. ;) Looking forward to more tomorrow...

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 10:53 pm
by Sailor
Glurns was pleasant with some sweet little traders' arches:-
Image

Then it was off to the Stelvio. This is nothing but a series of bends that you can't see round. There's no rhythm, but there are a lots of bikers, cyclists and other vehicles. Plus a collection of tat shops at the top. Not the most fun of roads, to tell it true.
View going down the Bormio side:
Image

The classic view from the top:
Image

Above the summit, at about 2800m:
Image


"O" is a skiing village above Bormio:
Image


Now for the Gavia Pass. It's been added to the Giro d'Italia since I last drove it decades ago, so I expected it to have been improved. Hmm.
Some of single-lane sections have 400m drops with not much in the way of barriers:
Image

This didn't bother us unduly ... because most of the ascent looked like this:
Image

... and the top looked like this:
Image


We're still in Italy, in Livigno. To get here, we crossed the Foscagno pass. The car hit the 160,000 mile mark at about 2250m.