As we were taking it easy, we went for a quick walk up behind the hotel (in Naturno) after breakfast to have another look at the castle.

Today was planned to be short and easy again – a relatively flat ride to Prad am Stilfser Joch. However it wasn’t as easy as we expected due to a strong cool head wind that blew the whole day. This slowed us down quite a bit – at times the wind us keeping us at 8-12 km per hour on a very gentle climb. Once we hit hills, it was even slower.

The cycling was once again mostly on off road cycling tracks. The first little town after Naturno is Castelbello, and it has a castle!

The next village was Latsch, we just passed through. Kris was warmed up enough to take off his jacket. I like the shape of the church towers in this part of the world, they seem to be extra skinny and elegant.

The craggy snow capped mountain peaks were all around us as we rode, I was frustrated in my in-ability to photograph them against the clouds with my very basic camera.

Cycle tourists do the Via Claudia Augusta from the other direction and it was frustrating to see other cyclists sailing by from the opposite direction, many times not pedaling due to the tailwind.

The road went through a more sheltered wooded area for a while, which provided a bit of refuge from the headwind. This part of the trail was also compressed gravel instead of tar, but it was still good. There were also quite a few little uphill climbs. We cycled over an old covered wooden bridge and past cows with cow bells.

We were almost there when Kris suggested a stop at this cafe. It was great to get in from the cold wind enjoy a treat of coffee and apple strudel.

At some point in this ride grape vines gave way to apple orchards. I guess it is too cold for grapes. The cycle path leading up to Prad am Silfser Joch is surrounded by them.

In all we only did 38 km, though it felt further with the wind. We arrived at the hotel just after 1 pm.

We walked all around the town later in the afternoon, mainly looking for food. The town was very quiet. We only realised it was Sunday when we saw the supermarkets were closed. We eventually went to the pizza place recommended by the hotel. It turned out to be really good. My pizza had asparagus (spargel) on it.