Matscher Raubritter Tour

https://www.gps-tour.info/de/touren/detail.141681.html

Today is the first day of our Wolfhausen senior bikers' bike week. Into the Matschertal valley, at the back of which is a large, fantastic hotel. A short trail section and a slightly longer, more difficult section. The rest is forest and roads.

Another discovery tour that combines the familiar with the new 💡. We loosely follow the signposted Matscher Raubrittertour (Rabbit Knight Tour), but start it from Prad and add the beloved Gschneirer Waalweg (Waal Trail) at the end. First things first… the Matscher Valley is difficult to reach off-road – it ends near Schluderns in a deep gorge that's almost impossible to climb by bike. The most beautiful off-road access is certainly from Mals up the slopes of the Spitzige Lun, but this detour is too far for us today, as we have another tour planned with Eugen tomorrow. So we take the first 15km and 600m of paved road, only between Glurns and Tartsch do we have a good kilometer of gravel and trail. Of course, there are still beautiful views as we wind our way up from the valley. It's only above Muntatschinig that we turn onto a forest road, and immediately it becomes even more beautiful. Photogenic Luigi has to pose as a model again. Except for a short stretch of trail, we roll along at a very relaxed pace until we reach the mud. Through the mud, we continue on tarmac again until we reach the Glieshof farms. I haven't found an alternative for that either. It's uphill again, so a firm surface isn't a disadvantage, and there aren't too many cars here either. The highest point is reached at the Almhotel Glieshof at 1,820 m. 1,000 m elevation gain to get there. We enjoy our lunch. Upscale home cooking, very tasty 😋. The return route leads us back a bit, then we turn left to head above the valley toward Schluderns. It's a comfortable up and down, i.e., two-lane, until we reach the Hanhof farm, where things get exciting. A narrow trail, quite exposed, most of it actually quite rideable, but so exposed that I prefer to push my bike for a few sections. It doesn't take long before it becomes wide and safe again. The last 150 meters of uphill, and that's it for today's climbs. We put on our protectors because the fun is about to begin 🤩. Soon we leave the Raubritter route and keep right to reach the Gschneirer Waalweg. The upper section is wild and rough, even a little overgrown. It's a good thing that at least a few bikers come through here every now and then 😆. The lower section is exciting as always – only the Waal itself, unfortunately, is currently without water. Today I realize what makes this actually quite flowy trail challenging: you have to ride very precisely, always looking for the right line. To the right, it goes steeply down the slope, to the left into the Waal, which I wouldn't want to fall into, whether with or without water 😂. In between, a mostly narrow path peppered with roots and stones. And long! In the end, we decide to skip the other trails on the Sonnenberg and just take the shortcut down to Spondinig. It saves 4 km, and as I said, we have something planned with Eugen tomorrow 😎. All in all, it's not a burner tour; there's too much tarmac. But it was a nice Sunday outing nonetheless, and now we know that we'll be taking the classic, challenging route from Churburg to the Gschneirer Waal in the future. And yes, we might head to Glieshof again if we get the chance 🍽️ 😁.