clairedavieswriter

A thundery squall rolled round the mountains last night and brought the temperature down a fraction, but it was already 19 degrees when Team Bernard set out before 8am:

Unlike some of the international boundaries I’ve crossed, there was no mistaking this one (Vorarlberg is Austria’s westernmost province):

Technically, Austria’s westernmost spot is at Border Post 136, a tri-point where Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria meet. But it’s in the middle of the Rhine, just over Bernard’s handlebars in the photo below, so it’s a bit tricky to reach. The riverbank you can see belongs to Liechtenstein – it was where I began my blink-and-you-miss-it end-to-end of the principality last year.

The closest I could get to the most westerly point in the country was on this bridge – I’m sure you’ll be as fascinated (sic) as me to know that Bernard’s rear wheel is in Switzerland and his front wheel in Austria. Better still, just behind the railing, hidden from all but the most eagle-eyed border nerds, you’ll find this unshowy metal disc, barely the size of a side plate – S for Schweiz, OE for Österreich (Ö without the umlaut = OE) with a line down the middle to mark the border:

Based on my ride today, I’d say Austria’s cycling infrastructure is up there with Germany and the Netherlands. For the first 34k I only shared space with vehicles for a few hundred metres. And the cycle paths were a joy from the beginning:

Through the middle:

To the end:

And for the policy-makers in the UK who still need convincing of whether investing in cycling infrastructure is worth it, I would show them this cyclo-meter just outside Feldkirch. The sign shows that 304 riders had passed it today (NB this photo was taken at 9am). By the time I rode by, I was the 212,106th rider to pass it this year. “Build it and they will come.”

I spent the day following the river Ill upstream. It looked healthier than its name suggests:

But the backdrop was a little intimidating:

And the signs left us under no illusion that we were in the mountains:

In fact, just as Guillaume announced that we’d climbed to 1,000m (from our starting point at 444m), we passed this sign:

The cable cars beyond InterSport were doing a brisk trade getting walkers of all ages up and down the mountain:

Aside from the stunning scenery and fantastic cycle paths, highlights today included this cute little onion-domed church in the little town of Dalaas (alaas, no sign of JR):

The chocolate-scented town of Bludenz:

And the gorgeous jade-green waters of this (river) Ill-fed lake:

I wasn’t so keen on this feature of the route:

But fortunately the only traffic I encountered was a motorbike and the tunnel was well-lit:

This festival sounded dangerous, given the high risk of forest fires:

But this was my sign of the day, for the wonderful Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-style car, the racing posture of the motorcyclist and the way their hair is blowing in the breeze:

There’s more climbing in prospect tomorrow, but we’ve had the perfect preparation: a dip in this lovely natural pool, just up the road from our campsite, and included in the price:

Bis morgen!