September 14, 2019
Saturday 14th From Bad Waltersdorf Camping to Gnarly Climbs to Gruiosla.
September 14 Saturday 80Kms
From Bad Waltersdorf Camping to Gnarly Climbs to Gruiosla.
After packing our tent and bikes, we enjoy a breakfast of remnants at the cooking area along with coffee from the machine. Several campers stop and ask details about us and our trip.
Once we set off, our first goal is to try to find the Eurovelo 9 sign again. We haven’t seen it for a couple of days and are missing it. We decide to continue to Goritz and pick it up there. As it happens there is a very good cycle path just outside the campground to take us there. And sure enough, when we reach the entrance to the town, there we find the sign.
This is definitely a day of two halves as far as elevation goes. All morning it’s comparatively flat with a tail wind behind us and we zoom along. By afternoon, though, the route has become, a challenge, though a challenge with wonderful views.
At Therme Loipersdorf there’s a car rally for ‘Old Timers’. This is a phrase we’ve read several times in all of the countries we’ve cycled through. I mistakenly thought it applied to people but in this case anyway, it was cars. A wide variety of mainly American vehicles from the 1950s onwards are parked and being admired by a large local crowd. Cadillacs, Mustangs, Pontiacs and several Fords. We wheel our bikes through the street and then attempt the most outrageously steep hill to take us above the town.
The rest of the afternoon continues this way- steep climbs taking us out of a valley, then long descents into the next. We have some wonderful views cycling along ridge lines over huge distances. St Anna am Aigen has captured our imagination, and though at the top of another impossible climb, we think it sounds like a beautiful place to finish a 70 kilometre day. And so, walking, peddling and pushing we edge to St Anna on the summit.
And it is beautiful, the church is beautiful and in the late afternoon light, the views are everything we might have anticipated. It is also- FULL. An event has drawn bus loads here and there is no room at the inn. Or anywhere else. Back on the trail, we cover another 10 kilometres, mercifully on the flat, until we reach Gasthaus Ulich. There is plenty of room available at this inn and the wonderful owner sorts us and our bikes quickly.
Such relief - it’s nearly 7:00pm and we’ve covered over 80 kilometres.
Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 2,207 km (1,371 miles)
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