We have been rewarded with perfect cycling weather today! The skies are much clearer than yesterday and a great opportunity to fully appreciate the beauty of the Salzkammergut.
We were not too sure about the breakfast arrangements at this hotel in Altmunster, so Pat picked up some yogurt and fruit for breakfast that we ate at a table in our room. It was a nice light change from the breakfast buffets where we have been over indulging recently but Scott really missed the bottomless coffee.
We hit the road around 09:30 and followed the R2 cycleway. The temperature was still slightly cool - around 12 degrees but it was warm in the sun. The cycleway is completely separated from the road and heads south along the eastern shore of Lake Traunsee. It is really one of the nicest rides with most spectacular scenery. Toss in blue skies to view the huge walls of rock against and you have the best conditions for this experience.
Pumpkins for every budget. Pay by the honour system.
Hmmm....I bet that this picture has been taken a few times before. This is at Traunkirchen. It looked popular with the tour buses even early in the morning.
Open sided tunnel to protect from rockfall above. The heavy vehicle traffic is enclosed in a tunnel beside this. There is a lot of traffic that comes this way but it is very peaceful when they are in their own space and we are in ours!
Close to postcard perfect! This picture is taken at the south end of Traunsee in a park area. There was not another soul around at this time of day. If you look really closely, you can see where our cycle tunnel ended beside the vehicle tunnel beside the train tunnel. It was really noisy at that spot!!
Although we took our time and savoured every moment of the first 15 kms of today's ride, it still went way too fast. We could have ridden our bikes with these views all day.
Leaving Traunsee we went under a busy road into the town of Ebansee am Traunsee and Scott was now experiencing obvious caffeine withdrawal symptoms. We had not passed a cafe on the R2 at this point so we carried on thinking that something would be available on route prior to Bad Ischl another 15km away.
The ride to Bad Ischl follows the Traun river. In this direction it is slightly uphill as the Tran river flows into Lake Transee and we also had a small headwind. With very little roll due to grade and the wind, we arrived in Bad Ischl hungry and Scott was now very much in need of his espresso fix! Our first stop was right as we entered the town at a Spar for an easy lunch. After finding a place to sit down we quickly inhaled our sandwiches, and agreed that the next stop would be for coffee.
The Traun river. Fast and clear. Unfortunately for most of the ride, vehicle traffic is right beside the cycleway. The cycle path is completely separated from the traffic but it's very noisy.
Here is a map of the area we have been cycling. The bottom of the map is north. We will leave the area via Bad Ausee and a valley near the top left of the picture,
Although we only had a brief look around it is easy to see that Bad Ischl looks to be a very appealing town. Austrian monarchs had their summer homes here.
Leaving Bad Ischl we followed the well marked R2 cycleway. Not having set a planned GPS route to our destination of Hallstatt, we decided to to continue with it where ever it should go. The day was warming up and the riding was very nice on fine gravel surfaces along the Traun river. We were in and out of light forest areas and small towns before finding ourselves on the east shore of Halltersee. This would add a bit of distance to our ride as the town of Hallstatt is on the west shore. The ride here had some steep ups and downs and at times a gravel or rock surface that became more challenging.
After a beer in the sun and a short swim, we reconnected with the R2 and rode the last 4km to Hallstatt in the fading sun. After quickly finding our pension we walked to the lake shore in search of a spot for dinner and got our first glimpse of this beautiful small town. It soon became obvious that although the weather was summer-like today, many restaurants had already called it a season. By our count there may have been only five available for dinner. We selected one by the lake with heaters and blankets for outdoor dining. It was now quite dark and the end of a most satisfying day of riding. Tomorrow we are planning to park the bikes and stay in Hallstatt to explore the town further.
Great signage in this area for the R2. We are almost there! In a couple of days we will be going the other way to Bad Aussee.
This end of Hallstatt is right up against a hill. Behind it is a tunnel where motor vehicles go past the town. This keeps most cars out of this area. Very pretty.
