clairedavieswriter

The Austrian cycle path engineers really let themselves down today. And my research wasn’t too great either. I’d deemed this route ‘gently downhill’ – which is largely correct, looking at the profile:

But clearly I’d overlooked the two significant spikes, and entirely failed to notice that the second one went through somewhere called ‘Pass Lueg’, which, as the name suggests, is a mountain pass. Admittedly not on the scale of the Arlberg and nowhere near as high:

But the ascent was made more challenging because the Tauernweg cycle path, which had hitherto been almost entirely traffic-free, chose this moment to spit us onto the road:

The day had started well enough, on a good grit track beside the river Salzach, which I’d joined south of Zell am See:

Oddly, it was full of bits of wood, as though someone’s log pile had been washed away in the storms:

Things started to go awry at Werfen.

So distracted was I by looking for the Sound of Music meadow…

Admiring Werfen’s imposing castle (you may recognise it from the film Where Eagles Dare – “Broadsword to Danny Boy”)…

And navigating the chaos around the visitor carpark, that at first I didn’t notice the switch from traffic-free. We swooped down from the castle crag on a broad hard shoulder. But that quickly disappeared and it was every man and woman for themselves. If I’d been the only one on the road, I’d have been blaming Guillaume, but we were still on the signposted Tauern Way and there were dozens of other cycle tourers braving the heavy traffic. Many were on rental bikes and looked ill-prepared in every way for the experience. This was literally all that was done to protect us on the climb:

To add to the fun, it was raining. All in all, quite a character-building experience even for a British rider used to cycling in traffic. Goodness knows what the locals, and others more accustomed to separated bike paths, made of it.

And our trials weren’t over yet: before the descent (on a separated path, at last!) we had to get through this – on the road:

The last hour’s ride to Salzburg was epic for different reasons:

If the shower on the way up to the pass was heavy, this deluge was biblical. It came down so hard that the drops stung my exposed knees and pummelled my arms through my jacket. My feet, which had remained largely dry earlier, were soon sloshing in my shoes. And any cyclist who has experienced rain like it will know the feeling when the seat pad in your shorts reaches saturation point…

It wasn’t a time for taking photos, but I managed to get the phone out under cover of a bridge:

And this was Team Bernard’s final challenge, in the last kilometre of the journey. That’s a tributary of the Salzach, spilling angrily onto the cycle path:

I dare say I might have baulked had I not seen another cyclist go through it, with the water over his bottom bracket. Once committed, I immediately felt the pull of the current and briefly questioned my decision. Adrenaline did the rest.

Other highlights today included:

Bumping into Team Midge (almost literally, on a bridge) at just the right time for coffee:

This carving at Pass Lueg: a reminder of the traffic that used to travel this way. I’d summarise it as ‘Troops, trade, transport’:

I loved this gorgeous little church on a rocky plinth just north of the pass. Note the cross with the two horizontals, which I think is typical of the Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic tradition:

And given the weather, I had to laugh at this street name:

Strong competition for Sign of the Day.

This was an early winner in the ‘most confusing’ category:

And this, in Salzburg, definitely topped ‘most surprising’:

But the overall prize was scooped by Werfen’s fabulously jaunty lollipop man:

Tomorrow Bernard is taking another day off, and we’re off to explore Salzburg. Auf wiedersehen, adieu!