Vilstal Sunny Saturday

When Nico and me biked last, the original plan had been to bike along the Vils in to Austria, behind the Alpspitze and Buron and come back to Nesselwang via Wertach. As that idea had failed due to us not being early enough and the days getting shorter rapidly, we took a different route (as mentioned in the last blog). But I had downloaded the track in preparation and was actually really looking forwards to it. So today I decided to do it (alone, as Nico is working). Had the track, as I need them now. Four years away has sort of made me forget a lot of the back-way paths, but going in to my biking history on GPSies, I have them all documented.

Set of after buying a spare tube from Jon (just in case) and headed for Kappel. A nice, sunny, warm day, so there were a lot of other people out and about, too. After Kappel on to Röfleuten and then up a mini steep hill there. Overtook some e-bikers just before and joked with them that they would come past me going uphill anyway. Didn't happen in the end, actually, as they had two “normal” MTBs with them. Up the Vils valley I ended up overtaking two more e-bikes (woho), but they didn't look like serious bikers.

Turned off the main road going up the valley after a while and stuck to a trail on the other side of the river. Way more fun, even if it does take longer. Back on to the main route near the Kalbelehof (where I got a really mystical looking picture a few years ago) and towards Rehbach. Now, to get to Rehbach you have to take a rather steep uphill route, as the valley seems to peter out near there. Going up I was in Zone 5 on my heart rate watch the entire time and once I reached the top I was rather winded and had to take a short break. Still a bit more uphill, but not as steep. The sun was out in full blast though and I was sweating buckets at that point. 

Back on the main road to Jungholz and towards the Sorgalm. AllgäuDSL has a mast standing there which I hadn't seen yet and a few things about the hut itself have changed. They now have a petting zoo with goats and a lot more kids toys about. Hans has grown a beard since I last saw him, too, and now looks like a picture book Alm owner. Had a water and biked on to Wertach. Once in Wertach I still felt rather fit so biked up the Elleg and surprised the Smiths during their lunch. All of them were there now, as Jessica has just come back from a few months backpacking in Australia. Swapped a few stories and hid away in the house from the flies and some rain which came with the evening thunderstorms. Once I said goodbye it was still dry, so I biked to the top of the Elleg and then down in to Faistenoy and Haslach where it dripped a bit. On to Nesselwang, a shower, some shopping and dinner.

Track at AllTracks and some pictures at GooglePhotos.