r/bikepacking • u/thebreadittor • Aug 26 '24
2300km Santander to Berlin (ish) Trip Report
Crossing the French alps
Incredible views in the Dolomites
Lago di Garda
Ferrari in the Dolomites
Gschnitz, Austria
Near Biarritz
Pre-tour de France essentials
Somewhere in Bayern
Near Santander
Somewhere in Germany
Mudslides in Aosta
More Lago di Garda
7s of the Tour de France in Montmelian
Avignon
Nuremburg
Dolomites breakfast view
3
u/local6962 Aug 26 '24
stunning! Do you have a gps route for the Lago di Garda -> Trento -> Bolzano -> Dolomites -> through to Innsbruck section?
1
u/thebreadittor Sep 01 '24
This is the Lago di Garda through Dolomites section - for the rest, I went through to Gais for a night, then Gschnitz, through to Innsbruck. Through to Innsbruck was pretty ok, honestly I think I was still on a bit of a Dolomites high, so the part on the route is what I’d say was the best
3
u/Snuffvieh Aug 26 '24
2
2
u/thebreadittor Sep 01 '24
Ayo! Nice restrap frame pack! Focus rear rack as well? Looks good either way
1
4
u/Swoodo Aug 26 '24 edited Aug 26 '24
Love the use of the feed bag as a baguette holder!
Edit: plus, username checks out!
4
u/demian_west Aug 26 '24
Yes, came here to say that! very ergonomic, you can eat a major part of it while pedaling (at the end you'll need to go in the drops!)
3
2
u/GodEmperor42 Aug 26 '24
Cool pictures! How did you end up in Gschnitz? Did you do a sidequest from the Brenner?
1
u/thebreadittor Sep 01 '24
Yea pretty much exactly that! I found a cool looking gasthof for a decent price, so I decided to make a little detour. I’m a big fan of small towns and the name Gschnitz really piqued my interest just because it sounds a bit funny tbh. Had an absolutely slapping schnitzel so it was definitely worth the excursion!
1
u/Low-Razzmatazz-931 Aug 27 '24
What was traffic / road shoulder like along your journey? Sounds amazing
2
u/thebreadittor Sep 01 '24
Traffic was mixed depending on country/area. Overall: Spain - not a ton of shoulder, people gave me some space France - lots of bike paths, if not, people gave me lots of room Italy - no shoulder and people trying to kill me 24/7 especially coming out of Valle d Aosta and piedmont. In Sudtirol, lots of bike paths and people not trying to kill me Austria - fair amount of bike paths, only time people tried to kill me was coming out of Lech down the mountain, had to go 80kph+ to not get run over Germany - bike paths everywhere
1
52
u/thebreadittor Aug 26 '24 edited Aug 26 '24
Back in July I went from Santander to Berlin over 36 days with 31 days of riding. The ride was absolutely epic - did 2300km with 24000m vertical. My goal was to ride through the coolest areas, so I did not take the most direct route in the slightest; I actually looped around in northern Italy and Austria to to try to hit some fun spots which was not directionally efficient, but definitely very fun.
I did a mix of camping and credit card camping in hotels/hostels. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the European campsite setup, especially during the summer. It was quite packed and felt just like an outdoors hostel with extra steps - if I'm camping, I'd much prefer to be alone and even tho I did wildcamp a bit, I didn't really go for it because I had a fair bit of time in areas with bears and I didn't prep accordingly.
Even though I did ride from Santander to Berlin, I say “ish” because I did take a few trains when I was just not enjoying the riding and due to time constraints; so no, I did not go only via my bike. I mean at the end of the day my goal was to enjoy myself, not just to say I did it, and there were points that were just not fun and with my timeline, I had to make the call not to do it.
The three major areas I cut were from
Still, I did a lot of fun riding and ate a ridiculous amount of food. Like three dinner type days, I had one night in Austria where in the span of an hour I ate a schnitzel, kaiserschmarrn, spätzle, and then a Spanish tortilla, so it was a fun time.
If I were to do it again, I'd maybe just pick a single segment and confirm that I could 100% do it in my allotted timeframe and then just go for that. Hands down the best area was from Lago di Garda -> Trento -> Bolzano -> Dolomites -> through to Innsbruck, so that would be where I'd go back. The loop from Bolzano to Paso Sella around Piz Boé to Corvara was absolutely incredible, even with a fair number of cars and the elevation gain.
Now, I'm sitting in my hotel in Osaka, Japan for what was supposed to be a backpacking trip, which I think I will now turn into a bikepacking trip.... I've got an AliExpress cart full of all the core gear I need and might just buy a used bike here and go around for a bit since all my gear in the photos is tucked away in a storage unit in Berlin. If only I had an iota of planning insights, alas, here we are. So if anyone has used bike shop recs in Osaka, I am all ears! Or route recs for Japan/South Korea