Today's 82k welcome into Austria was a top 5 in my life bikeride. Simply marvelous. Huge mountains perfect asphelt bikepath glorious forest dramatic waterfalls into the Drau running beside...medieval architecture at every turn.....all in 25 degree sunshine and mostly downwards.....
Woke early in wildbeng said goodbye to the couple who suggested the Alpe Adria route from Salzburg to Venice via Udine base camp for Zoncolan.....
The radweg was great today. Must have been 200 cyclists (not a biker to be seen all day) the train the loudest noise.
Families with quite little children out on a thursday ride, couples on fancy mountain bikes and 4 or 5 of me like snails with full baggage.
I so enjoyed the radweg today. Beautifilly signed, surfaced with almost as many benches and tables than cyclistes. All finely made with wooden joints. Pride in workmanship is everywhere.
Natural wonders all day. Full throated talkative birds, stupendous ranges peeping over profound forest from high above, rushing waters green and white over smoothed rock rapids, large leafed tropical rhubarb like greenery....just too good.
Started rising and had 400 meters up by 12 in San Candido followed by 42ks well surfaced down into Lienz. Came within 10ks of the Furka pass (route 2 Swiss) which Cameron Meyer zoomed off to conquer when he won stage 2 TdS. I came the long way as unsure of my ability to durmount the Furka, but it has been great cycling.
Camping again 2ks out of Lienz in Amlach. Set up the aunt in the face of the arvo storm and shot off to tourist info in town to work out how to gain the Tauern radweg.
Directed to a very helpful woman up the back of Geiger Paperie....who sold me bikeline route guides for the Tauern and Alpe Adria radwegs in German but that's ok. Yay feel like my unreal radweg expectations are coming true replete with the little riding books sported by so many German cyclists.
Tomorrow there is a tunnel which requires a bus trip. I looked at this road from australia and saw it simply stopped and then started again on the tauern and now I know why.
Im eating schlipfkrapfen a kind of homemade Austrian potato tortalinni I'm told (surprisingly tasty ) in the shadow of an ..unpronouncable but very striking Alpine clifface. Spitzkofel..its name means maybe "sharp riverstones' in anglais ...everyone is smoking and I'm getting ready to chase wifi at my aunt's place.
Salzburg is soon. How soon I will know tomorrow after my tunnel trip and a chance to read the route book.
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