To Mondsee

September 21, 2021

It's just like riding a bike

**the question mark is not working, so we are using random symbols in it's place**

We woke up early to cloudy cool weather conditions and the same Prime Minister of Canada.

We were both anxious to get started with our first real day of riding. After two years without cycle touring - can we still do it ^. Did we plan a trip that was too ambitious^#.

Today we went for breakfast before 8 am which, based on the last two days, is a bit earlier for us. Now very familiar with the buffet items and layout there is no need to look around and we quickly got down to business. The breakfast system at the hotel although good, is getting a bit tired, it is really time that we move on.

We are out the door on our loaded bikes by 9am slowly making our way down the short hill to the Salzach river. The streets are quiet and the air is slightly cool. No sun today by the looks of the sky. But no rain either!

Our ride today required that we retrace the last 9 kms of our previous day's ride to the small town of Anthering. This is where our first climb began and our first test of our tour readiness. After twenty or so minutes uphill any chill that we had was gone and now replaced with a warm sweaty feeling. But also a feeling of 'we got this'!

Halfway up the hill, looking back down at the town of Anthering. The cloudy conditions were actually quite nice for the up hill rides.

At the top of the hill we were now riding narrow country roads through lush green fields with small clusters of immaculately maintained houses dotting the hill side. A very nice place to ride. We were following the R2 Skalzkammergut Radwag and the excellent green cycle signage along with Scott's GPS route made wayfinding very easy.

The first lake we came to was Obertrumersee and the sun even came out briefly as we rode along the paths beside it. Reaching the far end we crossed a narrow piece of land separating it from another lake, Mattsee. The next town we came to has the same name and with 30 kms under our belts we stopped for a coffee and a baked treat. Back into our touring routine. Life is good.

Leaving the town, we had our second climb of the day - 2km along a busy shoulderless road. Not the most fun sharing a road with trucks and buses but we knocked it off and turned onto a cyclepath at the top of the hill.

With the two bigger hills behind us, the cycling was usually on narrow country roads with green rolling hills and farmland settings.

Rolling hills. Nice asphalt cycle path. Beautiful landscape. Riding in Austria is a treat!

Amazing flower boxes at some of the homes.

Just past the town of Irrsdorf we came across a cross roads with a bench at the side of a field. It was now getting late in our day and a perfect spot for a prepared sandwich that we bought along with us.

Freshly paved roadway. It does not get any nicer!

The only picture that I have of Irrsee. A smaller lake and a wonderful ride up and down a small road along one side.

Part way down Irrsee we were commanded to stop by a woman standing in the middle of the road. She had tied two thin pieces of rope across the road making a defined corridor. A minute or two later a man ushered a half dozen cows across the road. The rope barriers came down and we carried on. It was a cow crossing!

We reach the town of Mondsee, our destination for the day. We had a celebratory drink just beyond this square. The town is pretty quiet now but we had to wait for one of the few tables that was in the afternoon sun.

The basilica St. Michael in Mondsee was built in the 15th century. Another fun fact: the wedding scene in the movie "Sound of Music" was filmed inside. I guess we will have to watch the movie again!

Our pension for the night was easily located near the shores of Mondsee lake. With little energy left we explored the nearby lake area and had dinner at a restaurant across the street from our hotel. The weather looks good for the next few days so we picked tomorrow's destination of Gmunden at the north end of Traunsee Lake.

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KAREN JONESWe used the Ride with GPS app in France. Did you plan your route with it or are you using it to record your route only?
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3 years ago

Pat FenwickTo KAREN JONESHi, Right now we use Base Camp for planning and Ride with GPS only for recording. Probably start using Ride with GPS for planning though.
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3 years ago

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 178 km (111 miles)

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Scott AndersonIf you haven’t left town yet, be careful of your routing and don’t follow ours. Stay on the cycle path, and avoid 154 as much as possible until you reach the tunnels.
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3 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesCan you share a few details about how you created your GPS route, what kind of maps if any might be in your map cases, how you booked your hotel and whether you are encountering any problems finding vacancies? Look, my ??? key is working well! With all these questions to bug you, maybe you wish it would break!
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3 years ago

Scott FenwickTo Steve Miller/GrampiesSteve thanks for your comments.
My systems are likely very similar to yours. I look at an area on a macro basis and pick places that look interesting to go to. I then use garmin base camp (maybe old school now but I am used to it) with open source maps to build my routings keeping an eye on elevation changes and distance.

In Austria this has been very easy as there are many cycleways clearly marked on the open source maps. I build the routes in basecamp and transfer them to my GPS as I confirm that is where we are actually going. If we change routes, I build a new track on my laptop (windows based) and loaded it to the GPS.

If there are no cyclepaths I look for lesser travel roads and often use google car to verify that they are suitable. We do not carry any paper maps but also use mapsme for moving around towns to find our booked accommodation.

As for hotel bookings I try to get a rough idea of my time lines and book any "hot spots" or weekends in big towns in advance if possible. Right now day to day routing changes are easily accommodated because it is a slow period. With potential weather issues I am only booking a couple days out now. An issue can be if hotels are even open, but things are ok in this area right now.

I think that covers it. Hope it helps.
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3 years ago