clairedavieswriter

To answer yesterday’s questions:

1. Happily, my legs did still work, although I’ll admit they felt a bit tender on some of the hills.

2. I did need my waterproofs, but overall, given the weather forecast, I think I got lucky:

It was a damp, chilly start (16 degrees! I’ve gone soft). The clouds were cloaking the mountain tops:

And hanging in the valleys:

But soon the blue sky was back, at least for a while:

Obviously, given the forecast, it was too good to last. I watched this cloud build and darken as I approached Zell am See (another ski resort!). Maybe it’ll stay the other side of the mountain, I thought.

It didn’t stay the other side of the mountain:

A solid grey curtain of rain began advancing down the hillside. I considered ducking inside a church by the path, but decided I could outrun the storm. Clearly, that was a mistake. The tree I took cover under, within sight of the boats on the See, was soon no match for the deluge. All I can say is that when I saw these guys later they were probably drier than me by the time the storm passed:

But what’s the point of a support crew if you don’t use them? Team Midge were soon on hand to dish out dry clothes and hot food. Seldom have I been so happy to put on dry socks.

I managed to keep them that way for the rest of the day, thanks to a well-placed underpass, this garage:

And this barn. I hope the owners didn’t mind.

Having been in the Tirol since the Arlbergpass, today we crossed into the Salzburg region and the Hohe Tauern National Park. Towering over it is the Grossglockner, Austria’s highest peak. My legs were happy to learn that this was the closest they’d get to it today (we were going via Taxenbach):

Highlights today included:

This example of Tyrolean insulation (coincidentally, just outside the village of Warming):

The buzzing resort of Leogang, of which I’d never heard, but which turns out to be a Mecca for mountain biking. The bubbles were full of bikes and riders kitted out in Kevlar and carbon going up, while a steady stream came whizzing down:

This whimsical birth announcement reminded of my Germany ride. The twist (if I understand correctly) is that this is the new baby’s granddad’s house. It reads: ‘Hello Grampa, I’ve arrived! Kisses, Matteo’

Speaking of families, I love the custom here (as in rural areas in Germany) to put the family name on a sign at the entrance to the farm:

There were less in the way of picture book villages today, but I appreciated this Rathaus-church combo in the otherwise workaday town of Saalfelden:

(Sadly, the other main feature of Saalfelden, and quite a few of the other areas I passed through today, was a proper agricultural pong: perhaps farmers like to spread manure on the fields before the rain?)

The best antidote was obviously coffee (side note: Austrian coffee is really good), with today’s culinary discovery: a Mohn Powidl muffin – poppyseed with a dollop of plum jam inside. Delicious.

Yesterday’s scenery was hard to beat, but we were still surrounded by spectacular mountains:

Though it wasn’t all alpine views. This bit of cycle infrastructure was perfectly safe, but definitely not as relaxing as the rural paths I’ve become accustomed to (that’s the two-way bike path on a pavement to the left of the lorry)

Not so much a highlight as a lesson learned: namely, that wearing a hood can seriously impair your peripheral vision. I’d stopped for the red light at this level crossing, but I can’t overstate quite how close I came to getting clonked on the head by the barrier:

Final word today to my grumpy Gallic guide Guillaume, whose quirky sense of humour has been on full display lately. Yesterday we had this, which turned out to be a river:

And today, while the sun was still shining, this, which was the name of the next village. He thinks he’s hilarious.

Tomorrow’s weather looks much the same as today. But we’re heading to the home of the von Trapp family, so if a storm comes I know what to do: I’ll simply remember my favourite things, and then it won’t feel so bad…