August 23, 2018
Somewhere between Lend and Schwarzach to Radstadt
Hills and a castle, which was also up a hill
Remember how I said my hotel involved going up a pretty good climb? Well, turns out it was a 300 ft climb. That would explain a lot. Fortunately Hotel Posaunerwirt was a very nice hotel. The grilled vegetable plate they made for me for supper was outstanding and the breakfast was as expected. The convenient location right at my next hill was, well, convenient.
The first hill heading up to Oberuntersburg looked intimidating. However, my legs were fresh and I was determined to make use of all the hills I'd been training on at home and actually ride up it. I'd also done some investigating of this stretch with my OSM+ map App and it said the hills were a reasonable length and that none were more than 14%. Having ridden a 15% the previous day I knew it was possible so up I went. That first hill was unquestionably tough. It required my absolute lowest gearing to get up, but I made. There was a nice little downhill afterwards to reward me before climb #2. The second one actually wasn't so bad compared to the first. I survived that one as well. The 3rd and 4th were even less notable. In fact, before I knew it I had reached the Stausee at the top (basically a man-made lake acting as a water tower would.) This series of hills was the one I was worried about riding. Turns out I'd already done the worst part the previous night.
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The other side of the Stausee began the bescent into Schwarzach. Wow. Talk about long and steep. No ups and downs on that end. Just down. I whizzed past a lot of people pushing their bikes and looking very miserable. I would advise against planning a trip that goes up that hill starting in Schwarzach. Unless you enjoy pushing your bike, that is. Sorry, no photos from the descent, but I will eventually add some video. I think I ended up recording the entire descent, partly because I had no intention of stopping until the bottom where I gave my disc brakes some time to cool off.
From Schwarzach the path mostly followed the Salzach River on crushed limestone with a side dressing of loose rock through the towns of Bischofshofen, Hallein, Sankt Johann (which I didn't go into having clearly recalled the steep hill into town from my last ride on the Tauern Radweg), Pfarrwerfen, and Werfen where I stopped to visit Burg Hohenwerfen. Up until Werfen the path was basically flat. In Werfen it was very much uphill until the castle. And the castle was naturally on an even higher hill. I opted for the cable car having gotten my fill of hiking and biking uphill.
As castle tours go, it was your typical tour through the ramparts, the area where they boiled oil to pour over the side on unsuspecting enemies, the clock tower, torture room with thumb screws, rack, etc. The castle burned in the early 1900's and the interior had to be rebuilt. While an interesting tour, the tour of the castle in Cochem is still my favorite.
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The ride from Werfen on to Golling along with the hill before Schwarzach are both sections I skipped last time. The path from Werfen is all on the Bundesstraße and I was worried about heavy traffic last time. I came back determined to actually ride it this time. Most of it has shoulder designated as bike lane. Most of it is also downhill. In fact the part right after Werfen was Downhill enough to be a bit unnerving. Some heavy braking was applied in this section. The shoulder ends shortly after the Bundesstraße has a turn off for the Autobahn. From here there was even less traffic. In fact, the only nervy moment was when a tour bus passes me. I wish he had waited a bit longer to pass because he wasn't able to pull much into the oncoming lane and quite frankly he was way too close for my personal comfort.
Right before Golling is Pass Lueg. And by pass they mean mountain pass. While a notable climb, it was also ridable with the added bonus of a separate bike path in this section (same for the other side of the pass for those riding up it.) Even the tunnel at the very top had enough room to bike through without being in the road and it was a pretty short tunnel.
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From Pass Lueg there was another nice zip downhill into the town of Golling and the train station. Golling was the end of the Tauern Radweg for me. After Golling it's essentially Salzburg which I've visited enough times to not feel the need to go again.
There is a very scenic waterfall in Golling that I was considering revisiting. However, I took rather a slow pace today between hills and taking pictures and ended up in Golling about 4:45pm. There were 3 trains running between there and Radstadt in the Enns Radweg. The first went at 5:12, the 2nd at 6:45, and the last around 8:30pm. The 6:45 timing seemed perfect but try as I might, I was not able to reserve a spot for my bike, a requirement for that class of train. That left the other 2 options and given how ready I was for bed, the 5:12 option was the one I chose. As I was walking back to my bike from the ticket machine I looked up and saw a massive bank of dark storm clouds moving in. Yes, the 5:12 train option was a very very good choice.
The train trip to Radstadt was just under an hour. The only road connection between the two Radwegs has no bike path along most of it and I didn't fancy more riding on a major road that's not an official bike route. My hotel in Radstadt ist another pretty nice hotel. Down the street is a cafe with live music. They've been braying out American pop music all night which rather seems to ruin the traditional Austrian ambiance. I get the drift that Radstadt ist trying to be more hip. Tomorrow I head down the Enns Radweg. This is a new route for me and one that varies a lot in route quality. The section for the next 2 days will be all bike path and very minor roads. The next day and a half involves either Bundesstraße or nasty hills, sometimes both. It also has train parralelling the route the entire way should I need to bail due to heavy traffic. Given the remoteness of the section with only Bundesstraße, I'm not expecting a ton of traffic.
Check in again tomorrow to see how far I get. I've been planning a shorter day due to some sightseeing I'd like to do. Oh, and it's started raining and is projected to do so off and on for the next 3 days. I got lucky with weather on the Tauern Radweg but my luck may be running out on the Enns Radweg.
Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 96 miles (154 km)
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