#Let's go - Stage 5

We - the conquerors of the Brenner Pass!

The church bell of Igls must hang right next to our bed - at least it sounds like it. A glance at the phone......7:00 AM - the next look out the window. Is it high fog or are those rain clouds? It's definitely very cloudy. Anyway, let's go #Let's go to the bathroom and then to breakfast.

We start at 9 degrees Celsius, which is just above freezing - it definitely feels like it. We're wearing undershirts and jackets. Petra is wearing Birkenstock sandals today - they were allowed instead of a second pair of sneakers. But packing suitcases has never been her strong suit. But it's also difficult to imagine in Althütte what you would want to wear in other countries days later.

Up to the Brenner Pass, luckily you have to make an effort so you don't freeze. Except for our two feet in the Birkenstocks, they're cold. Meter by meter we get closer to our first destination. Once we arrive at the top, we are so proud and happy. We meet two students from Leipzig who are also riding the same route to Venice, each of them absolutely needing a souvenir photo at the border stone. We continue our journey and an incredible feeling spreads - we have just crossed the Brenner Pass by bike - wow!

Now we're going down to Sterzing - legendary and well-known for all Brenner conquerors - and behold: SUN!

It's like in real life. You have to ride in pouring rain for a day, then you'll be even more pleased about the sun. The route is fantastically beautiful, great bike paths, partly on the old railway line, with the panorama of the mountains in front of us during our descent.

An indescribable feeling to be here, to experience all of this. And the sun! Wonderful! We are incredibly grateful.

In slow motion through the pedestrian zone of Sterzing, a beautiful place, cheerful people, and - the sun is shining. Yes, we're repeating ourselves - but we are just happy about it.

At lunchtime, a mandatory break: flat rear tire - a clamp has found its way through the tire into the tube. Our first breakdown - you've probably been waiting for that. Not quite Formula 1 timing, but pretty quick, the bike is taken apart, the clamp is removed, and the new tube is installed. Now put the bike back in, put the bags back on the bike, and off we go. Petra also had a tire change during this time. The sneakers were dry again, so now we can continue without looking like Bedouins.

It's a different world in Italy. The bike paths are almost perfect. We notice this clearly from the signage and the condition of the road surface. Cycling is great fun even in unfamiliar terrain.

We now only use our Teasi to display the remaining kilometers. Speaking of Teasi: it has been performing very well so far - today, just before reaching the destination, it led to another event: a supposed shortcut ended with 27 steps up to the next street. You can imagine how much fun it is to carry a fully loaded eBike up a flight of stairs after 115 km..... Well, we survived, forgave the Teasi, and immediately indulged in a spaghetti ice cream upon arrival.