August 31, 2018
Mondsee to Salzburg - added video
With a bonus out and back to Attersee
So yes, something about the weather yesterday. Something about the weather today. The end of this trip reminds me of the end of the first 2 trips where my plans changed because of rainy weekends. The first time I retreated to Salzburg to hide out in museums and such. The 2nd trip involved rain most every day and rather than riding on further to Würzburg, or at least in that direction, I hid out in Rothenburg.
Last night I was in Mondsee in a nice little modernized pension fully equipped from Ikea which had a very nice breakfast that even included ground cherries, presumably from their garden. If you don't know about ground cherries, it's time to learn about them because they're tasty. While eating I debated long and hard about what to do today. I reserved a hotel room for the next 2 nights in Salzburg, not that I wanted to spend time in Salzburg, simply because it was the most tolerable shopping point, not for souvenirs, but for books. I passed a few bookstores on the ride this year and resisted the urge to stop in order to keep the weight of my bags down as much as possible. Hills are hard enough without hauling several extra pounds of books.
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But back to today. Yes. So. The debate. The original plan was to hit all the main lakes in the Salzkammergut. The Hallstätter See was abandoned due partially to impending weather, and partially due to the outrageous prices on accomodations. The only other lake left that I had planned on was the Attersee. Technically I'd seen the Attersee from the Feuerkogel, but I hadn't actually stood next to it and somehow seeing it from the mountain top didn't seem good enough. Most weather reports were of the opinion that the rain would hold off until early afternoon so I decided to make a go of it to the Attersee and just ride faster and stop less for pictures. But first I had to stop in the Mondsee City Park for pictures after having stopped at the big church in town that was accommodating hoards of tourists today. Something something sound of music. I didn't hang around long enough to find out. Also, any church that uses a souvenir store as their church entrance? Yeah, that's just wrong.
Leaving the city park it naturally started raining. I stopped and put on what was left of my rain pants and headed off again towards the Attersee. The path almost entirely follows the edge of the Mondsee and this is mostly flat. Mostly. There IS that one spot that goes steeply uphill. Some of the path was on separate trail, some was on back roads, and some was on the Bundesstraße. Even on the Bundesstraße traffic was very light. Given the weather I suspect most people were opting to stay home this weekend rather than freeze at the lake. I was certainly freezing on the bike! Partway around the Mondsee the rain stopped and I took off my rainpants. There is also a curvy section of faith old road at the far end of the Mondsee that's rather nice. The pavement is terrible which slows the cars down, and the view is pretty great.
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There's a small creel that flows between the Mondsee and Attersee. I'm surprised they haven't turned it into a channel running between the lakes. I only went as far as Unterach on the Attersee. I had debated whether to ride most of the west side of the lake and take the train back or backtrack and ride into Salzburg. My calculations said I would likely get to Salzburg faster by bike than by train (spoiler, I ended up being wrong.) I took a few pictures of the Attersee, and headed back to the Mondsee.
Navigating back was easy since I'd just come that way. Once at the Mondsee I headed along the south side of the lake which included a cool section where the road goes through a long tunnel with a separate tunnel just for bikes. I love that Austria and Germany are willing to invest the resources for safe bikeways. Even when sharing the road with cars everyone is very careful and courteous around cyclists.
The rest of the route was a repeat of a couple days ago, at least as far as Eugendorf. That meant I got to ride that delightful hill where the cyclist on an E-Bike tried to tell me I should be riding an E-Bike too. My legs are likely still recovering from the 60 mile day because the hill was much worse this time around. I was even happier once I reached the top and could enjoy the long downhill into Salzburg. Eugendorf is still ugly and this time I added in the wonderful experience of losing the Radweg. I ended up riding along footpaths by the busy road until those ran out. That left 2 options: up another nasty hill, or backtrack. I opted for the hill. Once I got back on the bike path it started raining and continued raining until I got to the hote. I arrived soaking wet and very cold after coasting for a good 5 miles. I changed into some dry clothes and went out to brave the throngs for some necessary shopping. The first bookstore didn't have the books I was looking for so I bought a couple consolation prizes. The second bookstore was more fruitful and had one of the 2 books I wanted not only in stock, but on sale. I bought a couple more books just because they were there and looked interesting. Tomorrow is a chill day now that I've accomplished all my task. I may nap, I may wander, I may do both. My bike is stored in the basement luggage room which is only accessible by stairs making it very unlikely I will haul it back out of there to do any riding. I've been to Salzburg ma y times so I don't really have anything I need to see. The Salzburg museum is the only thing I might consider. Sunday I'll make my way back to München tomorrow Pack up my bike and get ready for my flight back.
Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 394 miles (634 km)
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