I short changed Müstair and the very nice Münsterhof hotel in yesterday’s post. There was so much more to talk about … and very little energy left at the end of the day to fit it all in.
So … Müstair’s a beautiful little village set in an equally beautiful valley. The hotel was great, low key but very personal service … and a really nice upgrade to a very spacious suite (one downside - so much room to spread your stuff around that packing up in the morning became a bit more complicated!)
As much as we liked the place though, we had to keep moving. On our descent from Stelvio/Umbrail passes yesterday we caught a glimpse of today’s main event - Ofen pass (Oven pass, or Fuorn - so many names to choose from in these parts), a mere tiddler at only 2149 m, at the west end of the pastoral Müstair valley.
So, shortly after 9 am, we saddled up and headed west (sorry … some Albertan coming out there). The climb started immediately and would continue for 19 km’s with a net gain just over 900 m. It was a pretty easy climb, most of it in the 4-5% range with only 3 switchbacks - could have ‘sleep walked’ through that :) and a couple of short punchy 9% sections. We also shared the climb with two groups of younger MTB’ers who were climbing the pass to access some MTB trails.
The day started off clear but clouds continued to build and by the time we reached the summit, it was pretty much overcast, limiting the views and the picture quality. A bit of a shame really as the descent down to Zernez and the Engadine valley was really good with some relatively tight canyon sections.
One of the cool things we saw was the Swiss end of the Livigno tunnel. This single lane tunnel connects the Swiss Ofen valley with the Italian region of Livignio (really the autonomous region of Livigno). When planning this trip months ago I toyed with the idea of descending Stelvio towards Bormio and then climbing up to Livigno and taking this tunnel to get into Switzerland … still a thought for next time :)
Back to the program, a really fun and fairly high speed descent brought us into Zernez where we grabbed a light lunch and watched the weather gradually deteriorate. The rest of the day was a pretty pleasant 20 km’s and about 200 m of elevation gain up the Engadine valley through a series of quaint villages (s-Chanf and Zuoz stand out) to Madulain and the lovely Chesa Stüva Colani. This place was another of our ‘pampering’ places that we had booked many months ago. Overall it was a very friendly and relaxed hotel and our livers were given some grace as their ‘high end restaurant’ was still closed for the season (opens next week) and we had to settle for their more casual bistro (which rates a Monsuier M Bib Gormand). We needed bit of pampering as the last 15 minutes of the ride was through a pretty good rain and the ride itself ended up being just shy of 1500 m elevation gain. Not all in a single shot like yesterday, but it still added up to a big day, and we were starting to feel it.
One result of that, no blogging done till the next day. We enjoyed a great meal, a really nice hotel and a good night’s sleep. We needed it.
Great descent to Zernez, these roadies flowed past me like I was standing still …. I guess it was sign I was taking this picture. Anyway, they were probably doing 70+ kph
The Inn river that eventually flows through Innsbruck (duh!) and into the Danube. It’s headwaters are further upstream in the Engadine valley. Pretty high water level with spring runoff and the recent rain
Coming into the village of Zuoz … there was a pretty fancy looking International School here … we’re not far from St Moritz and the ripple effect can be seen in the villages that are becoming ever more swish!
A Swiss alpine take on the classic Vietnamese Goi Cuon - sauerkraut instead of rice noodles, egg and potato instead of shrimp, caraway instead of basil and horseradish mayo instead of peanut sauce. Other than that, you couldn’t tell the difference! It was really good … but not a Goi Cuon
Aubergine Parmagiana, gazpacho, beet carpaccio and ‘osmosis’ spinach. No idea how ‘osmosis spinach’ is made but it was good with a very unique texture. That was it … believe it or not, neither one of us had dessert … although they looked really tempting
