Bischofshofen to Zell am See: Hills, Views and a Pool
Well, it was a fantastic ride today. The hills certainly got our attention, one steep one in particular. We both enjoyed the day immensely though. Our average speed was laughable, but that is what happens when you do long stretches in granny gear, and stop every two minutes to take pictures of the stunning scenery.
We left Bischofshofen at our usual time, and were immediately captivated by the scenery. It is an amazing setting. Our breakfast was adequate, but only a four jammer I would say, however it provided the required nutrition on a day when we knew we would need fuel.
We hadn't gone very far when we came across a golf course. There was a man playing alone and Keith hiked his way through the rough to talk to him. I told Keith to ask him to take a picture of Keith pretending to drive with one of his clubs. That didn't happen because the golfer shoots left. Who cares? So no picture of that. What astonished us was that the golf was free. Yup, free. In a setting like the Banff Springs Hotel. How does that work? We aren't sure, but we like the concept.
Admiring his drive, just before Keith hiked through the rough for a chat. One of the things I love about golf is you can connect with any golfer, anywhere, over the subject.
We can't believe how lucky we were with the weather today. It was absolutely the perfect day to be riding through the mountains. Our weather this entire tour has been fantastic. Not always warm, and not always sunny, but with the exception of one half hour, it has been dry. The forecast for this weekend isn't great, so we will see what happens, but we have been incredibly lucky so far.
We came to St. Johann next and did a quick tour of the town, with the obligatory stop at the bakery. There were a few minor navigational issues getting in and out of St. Johann, and a discussion between the GTW and the CN, but the CN won the day when I looked at the cliff I was suggesting we ride up. Maybe not! A quick reverse and away we went.
Up to this point the bike path had been rolling, but really, fairly flat. We are doing it backwards, as it were, because we will see quite a net gain in elevation. I assume most people (smarter people) would do it in the opposite direction, to see a net loss. We seem to like going up rivers, rather than down them. I truly have no idea why. The first real climb of the day began though, and it was a doozy. It certainly woke us up. Keith did the whole thing in one go, but I stopped at a thoughtfully placed bench about three quarters of the way up to shed some clothing. I was so hot I couldn't stand it any more. The hill warmed us up alright! When it finally settled down, we continued to climb, but not to the same granny gear rate.
I am not even close to the bench where I took off half of what I was wearing. Good bye buff, good bye jacket, good bye full fingered gloves.
Still climbing. Note that I am smiling. Am I out of my mind?? I was enjoying it. There is no accounting for taste. Note the scenery in the background. We had gone quite a distance, at about 8 kph.
Then it was up and down for the rest of the day. There were a few times when I saw the path ahead and felt a bit faint at heart, but each time it turned out that wasn't the bike route...thank goodness. At he top of one hill I gallantly let a giant truck go by. I had no idea what he was doing on a single lane bicycle path. I came around the corner and there he was, nose to nose with another giant truck. They were repairing the asphalt. We wiggled by both and carried on. We stopped for lunch by a reservoir and ate up the view, as well as our lunch. It was pretty amazing.
By the time we got to Taxenbach I was flagging, and required a shot of caffeine. Keith had two! cinnamon croissants. It was a good thing we stopped because shortly after leaving Taxenbach we lost the Radweg and were suddenly on a busy highway without shoulders. Ugh. We needed the caffeine and carbs. I could see on my Tauernradweg map that we should have crossed the river and told Keith I wanted to turn around and go back to Taxenbach if need be, to get across the river. I am pretty sure he wanted to keep going, but I was ever so grateful when he agreed to turn back. Well, lucky us, we probably only back tracked a kilometre or so, when boom, there was the sign, the bridge, and the bike path. Hooray! It was rolling hills versus a flat highway, but infinitely better. We missed the sign because it was on the other side of the highway. Really??
At this point we still had a bike path. Going through the tunnel would have been ugly. This is before Taxenbach. Note the Radweg sign beside the tunnel.
