A Really Bad Day: Day 63 - Spittal to Bad Hof Gastein
Full Disclosure ... 10 km of today's massive total was on a train through the Tauren tunnel.
The rest of the 58 km was simply amazing cycling. I know I banged on about this in a previous post, but this CAAR route is a 'must do' for anyone whose contemplating a trip in Europe.
We set off under blue skies and crisp cool autumn temps this morning, riding along the Drau river, gradually gaining elevation, passing through pastoral farmland and chocolate box villages until we reached Obervillach. Then we started to climb. It wasn't too bad, about 6.5 km of perfect road with the grade varying between 6 and 12%. We (or at least I) got a good sweat up but it wasn't too strenuous. The views were stupendous. Once again, K was showing her hill climbing prowess and was waiting for me when we reached Mallnitz (wait time reported as 11 minutes).
From Mallnitz we caught the auto train that ferries cars through the Tauren tunnel across one of the main spines of the Austrian Alps to the Gastein valley.
When we got to the north side of the tunnel, at about 1100 m elevation, there was fresh snow on the peaks above us ... and it was cold! For the first time on this trip we broke out the cycling tights and gloves and headed off downhill.
First stop, after about 5 km, Bad Gastein. this is an old historic spa town (hence Bad) in the summer that also turns into a major ski resort in the winter. October 9 is classic shoulder season so it was relatively quiet, but it's still and impressive place with massive old resort hotels literally plastered against the gorge and cliffs that make up the head of the Gastein valley.
Next stop was our final destination for the day, Bad Hof Gastein, a slighter newer resort town set down further in the valley. Equally stunning in a different way.
Rerun the standard ... checked in .. showered ... found a great restaurant ... had post ride beer ... great dinner (lots of pumpkiny things on the menu now, true seasonal food. Real food... not a hint of 'pumpkin spice' in sight!! What a North American marketing shtick. People also drink their coffee here without skim/soy/almond/caramel/chocolate/twinkies/mars bars ...I could go on forever ...but I won't ... 'cause I'm happy right here.
All much much more than good.
The only downside I can think of is that tomorrow we will hit Salzburg and be out of the mountains.
Just a great song by a great musician, who once again, died far too young.
This vid is a live version from Montreux in 1982. I missed this concert by a couple of days (and The Talking Heads) but did see Rickie Lee Jones there ... amazing concert ... might be a song of the day and longer explanation of that in the near future ...
Heading out of Spittal ... another glorious fall morning
As we were approaching Obervellach, where the real climbing started, we could see the railway up above us. We would eventually meet up with this in Mallnitz and take the train through the Tauern tunnel
Great bike path / local road beside the 'highway'... The highway would have been fine to ride on , very light traffic, but if you've got this you'd be crazy not to use it!
this is the climb ... about 600 m in 6.5 km .. not too bad. The roads are great, traffic light, and you can almost see the end when you start ... gear down and pedal
Scott AndersonOh! It looks like the bicycle car must not have been there that October either. I wondered if you could just take the bikes in the passenger car. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Lyle McLeodTo Scott AndersonAfter having another look at where your bikes were, we certainly didn’t have the ‘bike car’ in October. As you can see though there was no problem getting our bikes in the ‘normal’ car. If I recall, there were only a handful of other people in the passenger car and no issues at all with the bikes. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
leaving the train above Bad Gastein. K looks like she's smiling ... she's actually shivering! It was COLD, fresh snow was on the peaks not to far above us, and we were now on the north side of the peaks out of the sun. For the first time this trip, the cold weather gear came out!
