Hopfgarten is a favourite ski village sitting at the base of the Hohe Salve in Tyrol and Ali’s reason to be there in the first week of October (1st- 5th) was to join in the festivities for the 60th anniversary of the founding of Contiki Holidays, a travel company specialising in travel for 18-35 year-olds that she ran European coach tours for back in the mid 90’s. While the reunion agenda was pretty full, time had to be made to get out on a MTB and ride through the hills / mountains to take in the stunning Tyrolean countryside so now she’s back in Oz, we asked Ali to share her ride experience with us. Here’s her review;

There’s something very special about the Tyrol region. I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years and truly, with the majestic snow-capped mountains, the green, green grass, the quaint “gingerbread” looking houses with their perfectly maintained flower boxes and the Germanic “order” to their streets and paths, it’s just a beautiful place to be.
On this visit I was determined to fit in a bike ride though with other prospective riders succumbing to the after-effects of Oktoberfest in Munich the day before, it meant taking off on my own on my hired hybrid bike and without a repair kit or any knowledge of the MTB trails so I chose to stick to a mainly paved (and part gravel / sand) trail from Hopfgarten to Westendorf which I’ve ridden several times before but not for many (over 20) years. It was absolutely beautiful! So much so that it took me far longer to get to my destination on the way out as I kept stopping every 500m or so to take photos or shoot video!

The trail is fairly flat with a total elevation of only 399m and from the middle of Hopfgarten to Brixen im Thale and back, the distance was approximately 42kms. I passed many mountains, fields, cows (with their bells ringing and including a herd being moved between fields by a farmer – the lovely close-up image is one of them coming to say a personal “servus” to me as he passed by), houses, barns and farms and rode alongside the river for much of the ride. Stopping for a quick coffee, the return ride was much faster as all photos had been taken but it was just as enjoyable with the scenery an absolute delight for the senses. It’s Autumn in the Tyrol currently and it’s hard to beat the Fall colours and the crisp, fresh mountain air!

This ride was a real highlight of my visit and I’d highly recommend it to any of our members travelling to Austria. Signage was very clear and easy to follow and there was very little (almost no) traffic on the route there and back. When I did encounter vehicles, they were absolutely respectful and gave me and my bike plenty of room, usually giving a friendly wave as they did so. The farmer moving the cows even stopped for a friendly chat from the back of his tractor – which was interesting given my feeble German and his Tyrolean dialect – but we could smile and laugh and have a friendly moment.

Have you been on a ride when travelling that you’d recommend to other WestCycle members? If so, feel free to contact us on [email protected] and we’d love to share the details! Check out some of the images from Ali’s ride below;