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Alps - Day 7 : The first mountain pass

The sun was shining in the morning. We packed our stuff and went to pay for the campsite. It was 37,50, which was the most we ever had to pay for a one-night stay, the previous record being 27,50. Something on the receipt said "four nights" so we thought we had paid for four nights. I went back to tell the owner, who got very grumpy and could just bring himself to say that it meant that if you stayed less than four nights you had to pay two euros extra. That was odd. So Alps campsite in Nenzing is now included in our campsite blacklist. 

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As soon as we left a climb started, it was the first pass of the vacation. In France, most climbs are called cols, and in Switzerland and Austria, passes. Here we again saw other people on a cycling vacation. We also had to ask for directions again. The lady we asked was very friendly and walked with us to explain it better. While climbing, we passed through a tunnel, which I found the least enjoyable about cycling in the Alps. We cycled over an elevated footpad half a meter wide, it was cold and smelled like exhaust gasses.

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The sun was still shining. We passed two cycling-vacation-people who carried four panniers each and were sweating like crazy. The pass was 1800 meters high. Unfortunately, it did not have a sign on top. That was always nice during the 100 cols tour, there was always a sign on top to mark our accomplishment. Instead, we now took a picture of the view and the bar at the top.

Arlbergpas

The views in the Alps were usually nicest halfway up the mountain.

arlpergpas

The Arlbergpass, the first of this trip
 

After the pass, we started a nice descent. We bought food at a Lidl. While climbing, my little toe started to hurt. I cut a part out of my inner sole, hoping it would improve. I would have a problem for the next three weeks if it got worse. Luckily it helped. We cycled over a nice cycling path along a river for the rest of the day. We passed from Switzerland into Austria. The sun was out for the second day in a row.

cycling in the alps

The azure blue river we followed the entire day.
 

Suddenly the bicycle path ended and we needed to find another road. We passed back into Switzerland, where there were customs officers but we weren't stopped. It was about 7 o'clock when we realized it was Saturday. This meant that it would be Sunday tomorrow, which meant that we wouldn't be able to buy food. We only passed through one more town, where everything was closed. We stopped at a campsite that was 'only' 25 euros. The bathrooms were horrible. You could also eat there, but only defrosted pizzas. They were 10 euros a piece, but we didn't want to starve.

 

The tent area looked out over the village with a cold mountain wind blowing. I already knew it would be too cold at night to sleep properly. Suddenly, people also started playing live music in the village. It wasn't Slager music, more like classic sing-alongs.

cycling vacation

The campsite

alpen 036.jpg

The village
 

Distance cycled : 157 km.

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