To Gmunden

September 16, 2021

We’ve been sleeping with the window open the last two nights here in quiet Sankt Gilgen, enjoying the fresh air and night sounds. Well, except for the distressing hacking of the emphysemic smoker next door who’s been keeping us awake wondering if he was going to survive the night. Somewhere around midnight last night though I got up and closed it when it began raining and then pouring loud enough that it was keeping me awake.

Our sixteen day window of fantastic weather has closed too, and doesn’t look like it will reopen for the foreseeable future. We’re going back into our anxious, opportunistic mode where we obsessively track the weather forecasts and gauge the most promising time of day to fit in the ride.

Schafberg is still up there this morning I assume, but this would be a poor day to hike up there.

We’re in luck this morning. The rains stop before breakfast and it looks like they won’t return until noon or even one. Gone are contingency plans of leaving at the crack of dawn before breakfast and hoping to stay dry for the 17 miles to Bad Ischl where we could hop a train the rest of the way to Gmunden if conditions get too bad. We still get a reasonably fast start though, and are biking southeast out of Sankt Gilgen well before nine.

Riding conditions are actually very pleasant as we leave town. It’s about sixty, there’s a light breeze, streets are nearly empty. As we ride conditions gradually improve and brighten. A band of low-lying fog drapes across the hills ahead, but visibility steadily improves all morning. It’s beautiful really, and the cloudy sky gives it all a different look than before.

Looking down the Wolfgangsee. There must even be a break in the clouds somewhere overhead, from the look of that bright patch on the water.

We love this cluster of formations rising over the south shore of the lake.

On the opposite side, Schafberg is visible again. From this perspective we can see its dramatic eastern face for the first time.

It’s a beautiful ride all the way to Bad Ischl. We have a very quiet route the whole way as we alternate between lakeside bike paths and unpaved trails through the meadows. At the end of the lake we come to Strobl where Rachael enjoys the rare experience of an actual public WC, a nice change from looking for secluded gaps in the trees.

Beyond Gmunden the ride becomes even more idyllic as we ride through the basin formed by the small, stream-like Ischl River, the outflow of the Wolfgangsee.

East of Strobl. That fog-draped Tyrolean hat ahead is at Bad Ischl, above a bend in the Traun River.

Image not found :( — For the last few miles before Bad Ischl our trail follows right beside the rippling river.

This is our third time biking through confusing Bad Ischl; and thanks to our Garmins it’s the first time we make it out the other side without getting lost. It’s a complex area, built across the confluence of the Ischl with the larger Traun flowing in from the south. Out the other side, for the next six miles we drop alongside the Traun on a broad bike path that follows the busy highway. Fast, relaxed, scenic cycling; but less idyllic due to the uninterrupted sound of traffic rushing past.

A few miles before the south end of the Traunsee we leave the highway, cross the Traun, and enjoy a small, quiet lane leading into Ebensee, the village at the south end of the lake.

What is there to say about the ride up the western shore of the fjord-like Traunsee? There aren’t enough superlatives in the word bank, but hopefully the photos and video will fill in some blanks. The breathtaking views are as you see; but the riding experience itself is really exceptional too as the bike path follows what must be the old shore road, made redundant by the busy new highway to the left. You’ve got the road for yourself, and for significant stretches you’re out of sight and sound of the traffic as it barrels through tunnels while you hug the shoreline and take the long way around headlands.

The view north up the Traunsee. The eastern shore of the lake is fantastic, with a series of five significant peaks strung alongside it.

Along the Traunsee. This is one of those fantastic stretches where the traffic is buried beneath the mountain, out of sight, out of sound.

Looking north toward the narrowest point of the lake, at Traunkirchen.

From the same spot as the shot above, zooming in on Traunkirchen.

We are so lucky to have had the weather break for this ride. It would have been terrible to miss this experience.

Video sound track: Safety in Numbers, by Artie Traum

We arrived in Gmunden at the north end of the lake right at one - too early to check in at our hotel, but perfect for lunch. We find a lakeside cafe and choose a table, taking care to choose one under an umbrella because it looks like rain could break out at any moment.

It holds off, but not for long. It’s dry when we check in at our hotel an hour later, but within another hour the rains come; and they don’t leave again until well into the night. We stay in our room all afternoon, finally going out for dinner sometime after five when it’s apparent that the rains won’t stop soon and there’s no point in waiting any longer. We borrow an umbrella for the front desk and walk to a pizzeria/Greek restaurant a few blocks away, the closest restaurant around.

A Covid note: we haven’t researched it, but we think there must have been a change in protocols since we arrived in Austria. For the last two nights we’ve dined outdoors but even though we didn’t enter the restaurant we were required to show proof of vaccination before being seated. Good!

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Ride stats today: 37 miles, 800’; for the tour: 1,184 miles, 91,400’

Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 1,184 miles (1,905 km)

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Ben ParkeGermany toughened their covid protocol Monday of this week. Sounds like Austria must have followed suit. When I was in Germany those couple days I was needing to fill out locator forms even to eat a slice of cake alone outside at a bakery. I believe now you have to prove you’re vaccinated for everything but visiting pharmacies and grocery stores.
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2 years ago

Suzanne GibsonWhat luck that the weather cleared up enough for your ride! That's one I am putting on our list for sure.
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2 years ago

Andrea BrownAn absolutely beautiful ride, wow.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Andrea BrownIt really was wonderful, and you took the word out of our mouths. The word wow was uttered frequently, around every bend in the road.
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2 years ago

Rich FrasierMy list of future rides just got another entry. Fantastic pictures!
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Rich FrasierHmm. Your future ride list sounds like it’s getting pretty long. You’d better get to work.
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2 years ago

Rich FrasierTo Scott AndersonYes, it’s getting unmanageable thanks to all the intrepid cycle tourists on CycleBlaze. And you Andersons are not helping at all! I need you to go somewhere ugly or at least uninteresting. Could you work on that, please? :)
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2 years ago

Jacquie GaudetMy list, already very long, just got longer!
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2 years ago