Side-door Alps: a 2-day gravel loop with Uli!
Since moving to Vorarlberg, one of the finest people I’ve met is Uli. Three days ago he asked if I wanted to join him on a two-day gravel loop. The timing was far from perfect—I was already committed elsewhere—but at 6 a.m. on the very morning of departure all the pieces suddenly clicked into place. By sunrise we were spinning out of Dornbirn...
Uli’s day job—installing and repairing commercial cold-rooms—keeps him on the road all over the region, so he knows every hidden farm lane and forestry track. We threaded those lanes to Schoppernau, a village that already feels like a second home. I’ve been there more than twenty times to trail-run the ridges, always hosted by Marianne, who unfailingly opens her home to me and treats me like a lost son. We stopped in for a quick hello and a bottle of Johannisbeer, before tackling the long climb to the Hochtannberg Pass, the watershed between the Bregenzer Ache and the Lech.
From the top in Warth we plunged twenty-odd kilometres down to the Lech Valley, swapped pine scent for the glacial perfume of the river, and picked up a winding gravel path that hugs the cobalt-blue water well away from traffic. We swam twice—if you can call a thirty-second gasp at 5 °C “swimming”—just to feel our hearts piston harder. By early evening the towers of Füssen appeared and we refuelled on steak and french fries, legs pleasantly heavy, minds already replaying the route.
Day 2 — Füssen → Sonthofen → Lecknertal → Dornbirn
On our second day we passed along the beautiful Weissensee, and via a sweeping arc south through Sonthofen, went via the ultra-quiet Lecknertal back to Austria. The numbers look and were punchy, but partnership makes a difference: one sets pace, the other opens gates; one fetches groceries while the other guards bikes. The long pulls hurt, of course, yet never felt heavy. Uli and I form a perfect team!
One of the high points of the day was the forgotten gravel track that lifts out of Hittisau into the Lecknertal bowl, striped with late-season wildflowers and not a single car in two hours. We rolled back into Dornbirn dusty, salt-stained, and giddy: two perfect May days.
The Unexpected Encore
Instead of goodbye Uli invited me home. His house backs onto the property where his father has spent the past fifty years realising a quiet dream: cultivating a 6 000 m² shade garden beneath cathedral-tall firs at the forest’s edge. What unfolded felt like stepping into a Japanese novella: ponds mirrored in dark green, footbridges, stone lanterns, an improbable collection of exotic ferns and maple cultivars.
It was a heavenly two-day trip for me. I discovered, among other things, how wonderful it is to travel in good company—everything feels so much lighter. I greatly enjoyed Uli’s companionship and wisdom—definitely worth repeating!
THANKS, Uli!
