Tour Des Alpes (part 1 of 3)

We returned safely from the DHC’s shake down run last Wednesday (11-08-2010).

Time for a report, mainly from the driver’s seat.

Day 1 (771 km)

The original plan was to leave on Tuesday, the 3^th of August, but due to the water pump playing up, and René being taken to hospital with an acute bacterial prostatitis, we had to postpone that with a few days. But two days later Rene had recovered enough and the water pump was replaced, so we headed south. As we had lost two days, and the weather forecast wasn’t exactly brilliant for the Thursday we decided to drop the initial plan to drive to the Alps over secondary and country roads only. Instead we took the Autobahn all the way through Germany. This turned out to be a good choice!

On the Autobahn A61 near Niederzissen (D)

But despite the by times monsoon like rain showers we made good progress. The car ran very well on the Autobahn, happily cruising at 120 km/h @ just under 3000 rpm. Also very impressed in the way the tyres coped with the by times huge amounts of standing water. There were no traces of aqua planning at all. Though looking back over the trip, that seems to be their only pro J

But after pulling into a service station for some fuel and a short rest, I found out that the water pump was leaking very badly. Not coolant but oil! In just over 500 kilometres the engine had lost well over half a litre of oil! Not good with a lot of challenging Alpine passes still ahead. But there was nothing that I could do but top up the oil, keep an eye on the oil level and hope for the best. Which I did.

By the middle of the afternoon we left Germany and entered Austria, where we eventually found ourselves a comfortable hotel in the village of Längenfeld in the Ötztal, not too far from the Timmelsjoch. But not before I had nearly totalled the car while overtaking a lorry on the Fernpass. Going downhill I wanted to overtake the lorry on the outside in one the few hairpin bends this pass has to offer. Was a pretty good plan as I could clearly see that there was no oncoming traffic. But while braking into the bend I was reminded pretty abruptly how much grip these tyres lack. At the slightest touch of the brake pedal, the front wheels locked up immediately in the still wet conditions! This resulted in a nice under steer slide in the direction of a pretty solid rock face. Two thoughts crossed my mind in rather quick succession at that moment;

• I should have fitted the steel wheels with the Yokohama’s;
• Release the brakes and more power;

The first thought was pretty useless, but the second one worked pretty well. Although sliding wide with a bit of opposite lock I could keep the car under control and on the tarmac, where she belonged! Needless to say that this narrow escape gave me a perfectly good excuse to drink a few well deserved beers in the Hotel’s bar that evening (Hotel Stern in Längenfeld). Sadly the car had to endure more of the downpour outside, which she took rather well!

Parking area of the Hotel Stern, Längenfeld (A)

Day 2 (86 km)

Next morning it was still overcast and wet, but the heavy rain was reduced to a light drizzle. But we were informed that in the night in some place on the higher grounds up to 40 centimetres of fresh snow had fallen. But compared to yesterday it looked rather nice from the hotel room!

The entrance to the Sulztal

The Gamskogel, partially hidden in clouds

Cloud covered pine forest on the flanks of the Gamskogel

After a hearty breakfast we set off for the last leg of the outward journey, over the Timmelsjoch and across the border into Süd Tyrol and the Passeier Tall. Here we would find ourselves a hotel to stay for a few days and use as a base for some touring trips.

The Timmelsjoch from above

As we were rather early there wasn’t much traffic on the Timmelsjoch, but maybe this was also caused by the rather uninviting conditions. Clearly the staff at the hotel had been right about the precipitation, especially regarding the higher grounds.

On the western approach of the Timmelsjoch, “In Der Wilde”

But at least these weather conditions provided me with some rather dramatic back grounds for a few pictures of the car and the surrounding scenery.

The DHC with the beginning of the Passeirer Timmelstal

and the Timmelsjochberg behind

Views of the Passeirer Timmelstal

with the Schönnerkofel and the Gürtelwand in the back ground

The DHC with the Passeier Tal and the Schönnerkofel + Gürtelwand behind

With the photo shoot over it was time to head down the Timmelsjoch and into the Passeiertal, in search of a hotel or B&B.

Heading down the south-eastern side of the Timmelsjoch

with views of the Seeber Tal in the background

Plan was to find ourselves a hotel or B&B in the village of Sankt Leonard in Passeier at the foot of the Timmelsjoch and the Jaufenpass, but that turned out to be not such a good plan. Everything we tried was fully booked, closed or didn’t bother to answer the door bell, and to be honest I didn’t mind very much to turn my back on the place, it all looked rather to touristic in all the wrong possible ways. After a frustrating half hour we moved on to the neighbouring village, Sankt Martin in Passeier, where we found ourselves a simple B&B in the centre of the village. As it was by now well past noon we decided to give the car a well deserved rest outside the B&B (Garni Rosenau).

After which we headed to the neighbouring restaurant to have lunch. This was washed down with some beer from their own brewery. The rest of the afternoon was spent with a sightseeing stroll through the village.

A lovely pint of beer from the local Brauhaus (Martinerhof)

The bell tower of the cemetery chapel

beside the parish church of Sankt Martin in Passeier

The cemetery surrounding the parish church of Sankt Martin in Passeier

Inside the parish church of Sankt Martin in Passeier

One of the ancient entrance doors to the parish church of Sankt Martin in Passeier

Burned out candle on the floor of the cript underneath the cemetery chapel

beside the parish church of Sankt Martin in Passeier

Gateway between the parish church’s yard and the local youth club

Traditional wooden cottage in the Dorfstraße, Sankt Marin in Passeier

Old shed in the Dorfstraße, Sankt Martin in Passeier

And another cottage in the Dorfstraße, Sankt Marin in Passeier

Garberweg, Sankt Marin in Passeier

Time for a well-deserved cup of coffe

 at what has since become my favourite restaurants in the area!

Edited 8^th August 2020: As it is 10 years ago that I was touring the Alps, for the “shake-down-tour” of my freshly restored DHC, I decided to freshen up the pictures using the original digital “negatives”. Also added a few extra pictures and edited the text where necessary.