Lavamünd - Guns and Roses - Poking Around Europe 5.0

September 27, 2018

Lavamünd - Guns and Roses

Ferlach to Lavamünd

Another glorious day. We layered up this morning because it was cool out there...about 5 degrees. The layers came off one by one throughout the day until we were down to shorts and cycling jerseys at the end.

We had a leisurely breakfast. There was fog this morning, and we sipped coffee until it burned off. It didn’t take long.

Sheesh. This didn’t look great from our hotel window!

Amazing what a leisurely breakfast can do.

We were off into Ferlach, which is known as a gunsmith’s town, and has been for centuries. We met a man in the main square. I seriously thought he was carrying an oboe case. A musician! No, that was his gun case as he had just dropped his shotgun off for its annual inspection. There are two places in Austria it can be done he said, Vienna and Ferlach.

Ferlach has nine gun manufacturers, pretty much all hunting guns, and a gun manufacturing school with a four year program. We decided to tour the gun museum. It was interesting. A bit out of our comfort zone if you know what I mean, but interesting. Eighty percent of their guns are exported.

Many of the guns were works of art. Note the modern scope.

We have talked about the rarity of wildlife in Europe. We see more wildlife in our backyard in a day than we do in a two month bike tour in Europe. Much of the wildlife seemed to be residing in this museum.

By the time we had emerged from the museum, made a bakery stop and were actually on our way it was 11:45 AM. Oops! The day was amazing. The first 35 or so km were on an excellent natural surface. We were surrounded by water for this part of the ride. It was gorgeous.

Those pictures give you some idea of the variety of lakes, reservoirs and of course the river that we saw. Then there were the bridges.

We rode across this dam, right on the working portion.

It was just beautiful. Then came what we like to think of as part two. We headed into farmland and onto a paved surface. I kept thinking the pavement would end, but it didn’t. It took us right into Lavamünd. Towards the end of the day it paralleled the road and was fantastic.

A couple more water shots before we go up. This was looking down from one of the bridges.

You never know what you are going to see on a bike tour. We are far from tourist land here and are lucky enough to see people working their farms and living their lives. It is a unique perspective.

We were surprised to see a llama farm. I was thinking it wasn’t as surprising as the wallabies we saw last year when...

This guy decided to pretend to be a wallaby!

Up we went through farm land and forests in stunning sunshine on a beautiful paved surface. It was a joy to be riding.

We came to a railway bridge. Trains above, us below. We could hear the train a comin’, rolling round the bend 🎶 but oh my goodness when the train arrived on the bridge directly above us I was stunned at the sound.

This was one of the less gorgeous but incredibly interesting bridges to ride across.

The next bridge was a suspension bridge. They had the warning signs in multiple languages about walking your bike across. The CN ignored it and rode across, but I took them seriously. I walked.

I figure when the warnings are in three languages you should take them seriously.

Then it was an amazing swoop beside the highway into Lavamünd. When we checked into the hotel we discovered our bikes would be spending the night with an old tractor. Perfect! I have permission to sit in it for a photo opportunity tomorrow 👍. Coming your way Tricia and Ken!

It is the best signed route we have experienced.

Bikes on the back of the van that got in the picture 👍.

I didn’t feel I could get onboard without permission, but tomorrow morning is my big chance!

The proprietor of the hotel says they are pretty much fully booked in the summer with touring cyclists, and always on the weekends. Pretty terrific we say. We have had dinner in the bar with the locals, except we were in the non smoking section and we were the only ones in that part of the restaurant 😜. Sad but true.

Today was another day when we felt so grateful to be doing this. It is an amazing way to travel.

https://www.relive.cc/view/1869179611

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,461 km (907 miles)

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