Over the Brenner

No breakfast at the hotel, so we start by riding 4 km uphill to an M-Preis.

Today is Brenner day: 30 km up, 30 km down.

Yes, it’s tiring – but compared to yesterday, it feels manageable. The Brenner as a goal pulls us forward.

We pedal steadily up the old Roman road and reach the pass around midday. Espresso on the Italian side, baguette in hand.

The descent along the old railway line is fantastic: well built, not too steep, pure rolling joy.

Komoot tries to send us onto a trail at one point. We ignore it. At a road crossing it wants us to turn left while the bike path goes straight. We ask other cyclists and decide on left. Bad idea. Suddenly there’s a sign: “Bicycles prohibited – footpath only.” We carefully continue anyway, along a narrow gravel trail barely wide enough for a single pedestrian.

We make a mental note to report this to OpenStreetMap.

From there it’s smooth riding to Sterzing and on toward Brixen. We stay just before Brixen at the Sachsenklemme – a beautiful historic building with excellent pizza.

At 8 p.m., we collapse into bed.

Completing this day, we’re at more than 300km and almost 4.000Hm. The next days will bring another 280km and ~2.400Hm.