We went to sleep last night knowing that the rain was coming but hoping that might not happen. As we all know, hope is not a strategy! The best weather forecasting suggested that the thunder showers would not show up until after noon, maybe push it to 3pm. With that in mind, we knew that our lazy departure habits of late would not do. The plan would be breakfast for 7:30 and rolling by 8:30. Not ambitious for most but a focus for us for sure.
Breakfast was a top drawer design. We both still felt full from last night's fabulous dinner experience, but who could resist? We knew that the energy consumed would go to good use. It would have been easy to linger over a third espresso, maybe even some cheesecake but we were on a mission! Loaded and rolling before 08:30 with the warm sun suggesting-- what rain? We had 20 kilometres to ride in order to meet back up with the Drau river and then another 40 beyond to Neuhaus.
Cool sitting area out side our room. Yesterday it was a good place to plan our next day. Today we are out early.
The ride out of town was a mix of cycle paths and roads and even a short bit of highway which we turned off of as quickly as possible. We found a quieter shared road about 10 kilometres out of town. When we passed a Spar, still very full from breakfast, we forced ourselves to think that we would need lunch somewhere and that we should buy it before we headed out into the hinterlands. Sandwiches in hand, we headed on.
Impressive white water course on both sides of the bridge.
At the twenty kilometre mark we were riding on smooth crush rock surfaces beside the Drau river. The route turned to pavement and we began climbing our first steep rise on a route that would be very much an up and down day. At the top of the hill we met a couple of guys from Germany. After we swapped routing plans there was some talk that due to a covid spike in Slovenia, Austria might not be allowing people back across the border without quarantine. A reminder that our plans may need to change with very short notice. Not much to do now but enjoy the ride; and a nice ride it was.
Pat loves these signs! It is so easy to find your way. Hopefully if you were looking down and missed the sign, you saw the signs on the road! By the look of the sign posts, Austria put a lot of effort into improving this information fairly recently.
For a cycle route named the after the Drau river one might expect to be quite close to it most of the time. But today we spent a number of kilometres in the hills far above. Not complaining at all as riding along a river can be become a bit dull after awhile whereas high on the hills there is always something interesting to see.
A Drau crossing with a grated surface beside a railway bridge. Very strange feeling on our small wheeled bikes. A little unnerving for some as we are way up above the river now.
Crossing a gorge on a suspension bridge. The bridge appears new and is part of the cycle route. A neat experience. Signs were posted cautioning cyclists to walk their bikes.
We arrived at Neuhaus around 2 pm. It is a small village with maybe two places to spend a night. We stayed at Gasthof Hartl. A nice family run business that also had a restaurant and bar.
Pat is getting her mask ready to check into Gasthof Hartl and the skies are still blue with warm temperatures. The Drauradweg is routed right through the town but there is an option just to stay out on the cycle way.
Almost like clockwork, just after 3 pm the skies opened with a deluge that would have completely soaked us in less than two minutes. Luckily we were already checked-in and busy planning our route tomorrow and... checking the internet for any restrictions on entering Slovenia or returning to Austria. It all looked good.....for now.
Arriving at Neuhaus with the weather starting to look threatening. Our hotel is the building on the left but we are are staying in another house right across the road in a brand new suite.
We made our way to the restaurant in the rain. We were the only patrons except for a couple of locals at the bar. Our host worked hard to communicate with his uni-lingual guests and did a good job explaining the menu. He suggested a local dish that included a pasta with a buckwheat filling as buckwheat dishes are a specialty in this area. After stuffing our selves until we hurt the previous night we thought sharing a dish might be a better approach. It was, as we had the opportunity to sample a local cake with.....you guessed it buckwheat! Delicious!
We ran back to our room in the rain but the forecast showed improvements for tomorrow. We are off to cross the border into Slovenia and continue our ride along the Drauradweg , if they will have us.
