Today we said good bye to the beautiful town of Hallstatt and the Salzkammergut as we began a ride that would take us to the Ennsradwag cycleway in the Enns valley.
Scott started the day with multiple espressos from one of those machines that uses capsules to brew the coffee, so he was good and ready for the day! Also for breakfast were yogurts and bananas that we organized the night before from the local grocery store. Our first stop as we left our pension was to the bakery to buy some sandwiches and other treats that would sustain us on our journey today.
At 09:00 the morning the air was cool and fresh and we began our ride, not a single cloud in the sky. We retraced the first 4kms to the end of the lake where we had arrived a couple of days before. We made our way through the town of Obertraun and hit our first routing decision point - follow the wandering cycle route R2 or stay on the main road^ The traffic was light on Saturday morning and the road was fast and smooth so we chose that. We stayed on the road for the next couple of kilometres until we hit our second routing decision point as the R2 had again returned to intersect the road. We could see that the R2 was gravel and it would follow the Traun river and railroad. Stay the course on the road was the decision. As we crossed the bridge over the Traun and turned the corner , we saw the first curvy road sign and 14 degrees incline. We began the climb.
Nice road to Bad Aussie, maybe just a bit too steep.
I will not lie, it was tough sledding. We knocked off the first rise, with Pat walking her bike, and reached a flat section. Whew! We both started up again and could see that the next up was coming quickly. At this point, we stopped and put Pat's panniers on Scott's front rack that we keep ready for just these situations. We were off again and Scott turned to Pat and said "no worries, it will not get any steeper than 14 degrees." No sooner than he had turned back around and there's the sign - "23 degrees"! Impossible.... I should have taken a picture of the sign but I was just trying to stay upright at this point and if I stopped I certainly would not have been able to start back up. Soon we were both walking! A rare moment.
When the hill became less steep we were able to begin riding again and the top was not too far away. When we made it, that yogurt and banana were gone! We stopped at a great spot at the crest of the hill and had one of the sandwiches. At this point Pat took her panniers back thinking that the worst was over.
Great place to lean your bikes at the top and take a break. Note the front panniers on Scott's bike.
With the exception of one more short climb, the ride was downhill into Bad Ausee where we stopped again for coffee and cake roughly 15 kms into the day. The temperatures were warming up nicely and the coats were packed away.
This group was launching inflatable river kayaks when we arrived at Bad Ausee. Pat said to the leader of this group... "looks like fun!", His response was "it's super fun". I think they are both right.
We were riding past Gasthof Kalsswirt when we decided it was a good time for a break and a well-deserved reward for conquering a 23 degree incline! Our order included plum cake. It was all very good.
We started off again and hit a third routing decision point now seeing a R19 cycleway sign. Possibly having had enough of Scott's GPS route, Pat thought that leaving the shared road in favour of the gravel path may be worth a shot. After a short one half kilometre on the loose rock trail, we were both convinced that this route may not be in our best interest and we retraced our way back to the highway. The next six kilometres were not fun sharing the minimal shoulder road with cars. We turned off the busy road onto the R19 as the geography changed to a wide open flat plain with steep mountains on both sides. It was a treat riding the small paved farm roads through the country side. All the serious climbing now behind us, the last few kilometres to the Enns valley floor were a fun fast downhill.
Garmin took us here. Freshly closed up. Fortunately the fix was pretty easy.
Bonus selfie shot. This was our lunch spot today. It was very musical as the cow bells were dingling the whole time we were there. Also on quite a busy cycleway today. Lots of riders coming and going.
I have been following you two on your escapades for a while. We have retired and are now cycling the west coast of France. I had to comment with your panniers on the hills story! Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that. Steve has both front and back racks but the front ones are for the food and are often empty. I could swap him my heavy ones for his front light ones on the hills. We are headed for hills in Spain, I wonder what Steve will think of your idea! Reply to this comment 3 years ago
Pat FenwickTo ann and steve maher-wearyIt's a great system! And to be honest, Scott says he finds the extra weight on the front going up steep hills useful in keeping his front tire down. A good selling point, I think! lol Reply to this comment 3 years ago
It was funny to ride around a corner and suddenly find ourselves right at the bottom of this ski jump! 'The Kulm, on which the largest natural ski jump in the world is located. The word "KULM" is of Celtic origin and means "upstream mountain". The Kulmschanze was built in 1950. Since 1953, international World Cup events have been held here regularly.
We reached Irdling, an agricultural centre, at exactly 3pm. Yesterday, we tried to find a place to stay in this town but the few places that were open were booked, so we arranged a hotel 3km down the road at Aigen. However, Aigen did have a great place in the sun for the afternoon beer. It was now 22 degrees and we were down to just short sleeve shirts.
Nearing Irdling just past the Enns river. The Traufenels castle is the building on the right side.
Our hotel in Aigen is right on the main street. Bike storage was in a building in the back where the full bar and restaurant liquour inventory was stored. We figured that the Fridays would be very secure in there! The town is small and very quiet. We later wandered down the street and had a very non local meal of burgers and fries. Tomorrow we start a new cycleway with a very nice weather forecast but then it becomes more iffy.
