Day 48: Hallein to Golling (mid morning) to Radstadt

June 16, 2014

Farms south of Hallein, as everywhere, have large and beautiful stacks of firewood

I am in my favourite position, parked in front of a Spar market, in the shade - where I can see my screen, and seated on a nice concrete block. Dodie is inside searching for lunch stuff. There was no spare food at the hotel in Hallein.

We noticed that the Tauern Radweg book we bought at the hotel was 20 years old! so they gave us our money back, and the had us keep the book anyway. We are grateful to Richard Hughes, who quickly sent us the .gpx that will cover today's cycle. The signage is good but not perfect, and within 1 km of Hallein we turned on the GPS and looked at the track, just to be sure. We know from our own blog that Pass Lueg is coming, and that last time we ended up on a dangerous road. Maybe this time we can avoid that, or maybe there is no avoiding it. The next hour will tell.

Meanwhile, the mounmtains are growing taller around us, and some have snow. This certainly fulfils one image we have of Austria. Other images involve domed churches- which we have seen, and eis - which we have now eaten lots of! This morning there were photos of more chalet houses - one with room for two cuckoos at the top- so that is good too. Still to come are some really good tortes and maybe a top quality erdbeeren schnitte. We will stay alert for those!

The view from my seat at the Spar market

... Well, we may be two years older and smarter than the Grampies who fought their way through Pass Lueg in 2012, but when there is no way, there just is no way. So we found ourselves riding exacty back on the white line by the steel rail again. Clearly we made it through alive, but the next step sort of killed us. From the bottom of Pass Lueg pretty much to Radstadt, the way follows the Fritzbach creek up, and up, and up. We pedalled up for about 30 km. It was usually a gentle slope, but not always, and there was never a down. Just about killed us!

So I went and checked what Grampies 2012 had to say about it. The cheeky buggers said something like "Oh yeah, it's mountainous here, so there were a few hills". Then, when they got to Radstadt, they went up a super steep bit, just to have a look at the town. Then they went back down and buzzed off to Irdning.

Grampies 2014 went up the super steep bit too, but only because the camping - place to collapse in - is also at the top.

One thing is the same between 2012 and now, and that is the beauty of the high mountains, the houses, and the meadows. In fact, just past Pass Lueg we kept watching a giant mountain that loomed over our left shoulders. When we looked up we would see one huge hill, and another -even bigger - behind it, and then the giant behind those. Right now we have not checked to see if the photos show this well or not - but we will post something, anyway.

The camping in Radstadt is basically like the others - about 18 euros, which we feel is a high price - and comprising a slum of parked trailers. Also normal, though, is a high quality sanitary block. This one includes a "table tennis room", which amounts to a table in a large empty room. But, there is a counter on one side, power outlets, and lights. Bingo - tailor made for Grampies. We are just cooking our pasta on the table now, and will put our sleeping bags in the corner. Meanwhile the tablet is plugged in, and is producing this!

Dodie's sister Karyn is married to Erhard. Years ago Erhard left his little village of Oblarn, in Austria, to travel the world. In India, he met Karyn, who was on the same sort of Odyssey. The rest, as they say, is history, and they have mainly lived in Canada since. Meanwhile, Erhard's brother, Christian, stayed in the village (actually, the next village - Irdning) and made his life there. So in this the brothers differ. But in another respect they are the same - both are gentle, lovely people, and both have the sort of Austrian accent you can listen to all day, just for its lilting rhythm. I just spoke to Christian on the phone to let him know we will arrive in Irdning late tomorrow. Christian and Birgit and kids Tobias and Johanna are leaving for a small vacation soon, but they will be there tomorrow. It's a reunion we are all looking forward to. Coming up next.

I kike this graphic. Presumably that's us, no longer visibleunder the largest rock.

Cycling the four corners of Austria - furthest N,S, E, and W

On the pass at Pass Lueg. We thought, two years ago,this guesthouse in the middle of nowhere was unique. In the rain we almost went there for refuge.

The three mountains. The phot does not show just how steep and towering the third one is.

Verbindung means "joining". This is where we join our next Book, the Enns Radweg. Actually, not so fast! This is just "to" the joining. There was a small matter of 30 km uphill to handle first.

Going up along the Fritzbach. That's the autobahn, already up there

Construction with one way traffic did not help

This house has a perfect spot for the cuckoo

A train with 200brand new VW vans zipped past. Can't they spare one for me? Dodie was more intested in whether they could spare a spot on the train for us and the bikes, to go up the hill!

The very younf Enns River is just a stream here

Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 2,521 km (1,566 miles)

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