Tour de Vorarlberg & Allgäu

It's been a while since I last wrote something here. August has come and gone, and much has happened that I could write about. I won't, but will say that the month was filled with hikes, bike rides, the St. Gallerfest city festival, and Badenfahrt. A typical August.

This was my last free weekend of the summer, so I packed the panniers, oiled the chain, and got out for a weekend bike tour. This was also a chance to try out my new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires and Brooks B17 saddle that I replaced since my June tours. The route was to be through the Voralberg region of Austria and the Allgäu region of Germany, located directly east of St. Gallen. Incredibly, this was my first time in the region after living next door for the last seven years.

The area reminded me of Switzerland with the mountains, rolling green hills, farms, and cows. The big difference was that I could understand the language, and everything cost half the price! The area had few bike paths and was almost void of bike signs, and I often had to share the road with heavy traffic. Fortunately, I had programmed my GPS with the route, and this saved me from having to refer to the map.

I stayed the night in Immenstadt. I always saw this place on the map and wondered what it's like. Now I know. It's a cute little town in the mountains, but I couldn't identify anything that made it special as a cute little town in the mountains. Later in the evening I met Attor from Basque. He was in the area to attend the bicycle exposition in Friedrichshafen, but decided to combine the trip with a short bike tour. We had a few weissbier and chatted about bikes, life, and why Basque is not a part of Spain.

This morning I woke and wondered if I should sleep another hour, or perhaps have had one less beer last night. Luckily it wasn't anything that breakfast and coffee couldn't fix. Attor and I rode a short distance together before our routes forked. We said our goodbyes, and with some luck I'll stop by his bike shop someday if I ever get around to walking the Camino (his shop is directly on the route). With the crisp air and warm sun, I constantly had to remove and replace my jacket depending if I was going up or downhill. I went through Allgäu, and have to say that the road between Oberstdorf and Hittisau is one of the most beautiful routes I've ever taken. The highlight was the contour road that provided breathtaking views over the valley. What took me so long to come here? I got home around 18:00, tired, but feeling great about the tour. The new tires rock and the bike seat is very comfortable.


This was my last tour of the season. It saddens me, but gets me thinking about next year. I have a few places in mind where I'd like to tour, but southern Italy, the Loire Valley, and Iceland are all on top of my list.

Some photos are online, and below is a map of the route.


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