Palmanova to San Dona Di Piave – 92.06 kms

Posted on July 19, 2018 by thewintersride

July 17, 2018

A good nights sleep in our hotel room with air conditioning – lovely.

We had a good breakfast at the hotel and headed out at 8:15. We had to stop at the post office because Ralf had forgotten to leave the key at the hotel in Malborghetto, and we had told them we would send it back.

I went into the post office when it opened at 8:20. In the summer the post office is only open until 1:50. What odd times – 8:20 to 1:50, not 8:30 to 2:00! I was third in line – three service people at the counter. I went to a lady at the counter – she pointed me in the direction of a machine where I would state what service I needed. Fortunately, there was another lady assisting people with this technology! It printed out a number – #3 and I went back to the first lady I spoke to, who was waiting to assist me! Did I want priority post or regular post – what is the difference in price? Priority post 2.80 – regular post 2.70. Whaaat?

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Ralf took a final picture of the square and we headed out. I thought we were going to continue following the Alpe di Adria south for a while and then head inland towards Venice. No, Ralf had planned the route to head inland and south-west from Palmanova.

The first 20 kms was along a busy road and then we took a lovely quiet road for the next 40 kms. Trees planted along the road to keep hot cyclists cool.

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We stopped at a closed gas station in the shade (for a wild wee) and to cool down. Ralf spotted this vending machine. Fill-up with gas and get some toys for the road trip!

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It was a head down and go kind of day. We were on a nice road, but we still had to concentrate on traffic. While we were on the country roads the traffic was not too bad. When we were on the busy SS14 road the traffic was heavy with transports and cars whizzing by at speed. Although I must say they did give us room when they passed.

We were passed by a roadie, who slowed down long enough to ask where we were going and where we had come from.

Ralf seems to have a built in “lunch” clock. Around 11:30 – 12:30 he will be looking out for somewhere to stop. We spotted a little restaurant with several road bikes outside, seemed like a good place to stop. The roadie we had spoken to earlier was there. All of these roadies were on a Berlin to Rome trip – 16 days, supported ride, maximum mileage of 150 kms per day. We had a little chat with them and they clipped in and headed of after only having an espresso to keep them going. Ralf and I sat down to a good lunch – I had a pasta salad and Ralf had a pannini.

We made one wrong turn towards the end of the ride – that bought us back on to the busy SS14. I really didn’t want to have to deal with the transports after having a lovely ride up until that point. Ralf re-routed us and bought us into the City along a river and back roads. It added an extra 8 kms, but for me it was worth not having to deal with the traffic.

After dinner (which we ate in the hotel room) Ralf went to take some photos of the downtown area. The light wasn’t very good earlier on and it was really hot. Temperatures today were once again above 35 degrees.

Photos of San Dona

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Gemona Del Fruili to Palmanova- 74.23 kms

Posted on July 18, 2018 by thewintersride

July 16, 2018

The weather rolled in again and we were listening to rain pounding on the tent for a couple of hours (another reason not to camp).

At 6:30 we were awake, surprisingly to a dry tent. We packed the tent, and as we were unable to get juice or milk for our cereal headed into Town to find the elusive Spar. The camp restaurant/bar was open but only serving Espresso coffee for breakfast! We never did find the Spar store, but we did find a supermarket which opened at 8:30. I bought some bread, cheese and meat and a couple of bananas and a cappuccino drink and we ate outside the supermarket.

After a breakfast fit for cyclists, we tried to find our way back to the Alpe di Adria cycle route. We couldn’t find it and decided to follow the road towards Udine. By some amazing coincidence we reconnected with the Alpe Di Adria and were able to follow it for the rest of the day to Pamplanova.

We are now away from the South Tirol and the Dolomites, and are heading down towards Venice. We have dropped over 1000 metres in three days and are in the flat lands again.

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The route today was very nice, we had some little climbs, usually when the route took us through small villages and we had a tail wind. However, the weather was really hot – at noon it was over 34 degrees. Even the sunflowers were drooping. We should start earlier and finish by noon or 2:00 at the latest.

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Grossest thing happened today, slug juice on my leg. Due to all the rain over the past few days there was hundreds of slugs on the route, I squished a big one and it got stuck on my tire, as the tire got to my fender the slug landed on my leg – yuck.

We often see the oddest things on our trips. We had been routed through this small village and came across an old theme park. At first view it looked like a miniature village – then when we stopped most of the exhibits were of religious buildings, mosques, the stable where Jesus was born, synagogues, and other churches. I don\’t think they get many visitors.

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We stopped in Udine to go to the bank and were really surprised to find a lovely historic City. The route had outskirted us through the boring part of the City and bought us straight into the older city.

We could have spent more time here but it was getting hot by lunchtime and we wanted to get to Palmanova as I knew it was going to be a Town worth spending some time wandering around.

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We arrived in Palmanova at about 2:00 and cycled into the centre. As we were about to enter the Venetian walled city Ralf looked at his garmin. He took a photo of the route to the hotel! Amazing.

The city is based on a grid system, it has grass mounds protecting the outer walls, then a moat, then fortified buildings, then the city which eventually leads to a large central piazza. Around the piazza there are restaurants, ice-cream stores and bars.

Our new routine on getting to our destination is plug everything in – garmins, computers, iPad, wash cycle gear and shower and then go and investigate the city/town. After eating we then head back to the hotel to find our next port of call, plan the route and update the blog.

Malborghetto to Gemona Del Fruili – 59.78 kms

Posted on July 17, 2018 by thewintersride

July 15, 2018

After a very restless night waking up every hour with the church clock clanging each hour and my dearly, beloved husband snoring gently beside me, I managed to get a few hours sleep between 3:30 and 7:30.

The breakfast served at the hotel was really good. A variety of bread, cheeses, meats, cereal, cakes and muffins, fruit and yogurts. We definitely had a good start to the day. There was another group of touring cyclists staying at the hotel. We think they were from Austria (by the accent) and riding e-bikes. We met up with them a couple of times during the day.

$\"\"$ The route today was fabulous. I knew it was going to be a good route and that is another reason I wanted to stop yesterday when we did. Yesterday with the weather and our moods we would have blown by all the great sites. We would have missed seeing this very large snail, it would have fed a family of four 🙂

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The scenery was stunning and we lost count of the amount of tunnels and bridges we crossed. On one section we came out of tunnel onto a steel bridge and then into another tunnel – we did this three or four times – tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge. My two sisters Wendy and Nikki would have hated that section, but I loved it and so did Ralf – the bridges were amazing.

Most of the tunnels had lights on as we went through.

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One tunnel the lights were activated as you cycled through. However, there was one tunnel the motion sensor was really slow and at one point we were in pitch dark. That would be the time that my front light decided to stop working. We had to cycle really slowly so the sensors would activate the lights.

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The longest tunnel we went through was 950 metres long and the temperature dropped by 3 degrees inside the tunnel. It was very foggy inside and quite eerie.

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The route for the most part was gently downhill, a few pedal strokes and you were coasting for the next 500 metres.

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Of course, we had earned this downhill from all the climbing we have done over the past few days.

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This section of the Alpe di Adria Route is the only section that is on an old rail-line and is very easy to follow and very kid friendly. There were a few areas where you could get off and go into a Town. However, this old train station had been converted into a cafe and rest stop – it even had a small work-station.

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As we cycled through and above towns we could see the difference a by-pass makes on a Town. We have noticed this phenomenon many times around the world. The Town-folk want to detour all the trucks. However, by putting in a by-pass you also detour the cars and the town slowly dies.

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Past this derelict train station is a multi-highway intersection.

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There were a few little hiccups to the day. One set of stairs we had to climb and push the bikes up the gutter and an umleitung (detour) at the end of the route. This took us on gravel paths and back up hill. Oh well you cannot have everything.

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We arrived in the Village of Venzone at about 12:30, time for lunch. We stopped at a small bar and I managed to order two panini’s with formaggio and proscuittio (cheese and ham) in Italian. Of course she had to throw a wrench in it and asked if I wanted it cooked. I asked for one cooked and one not cooked. It turns out she was asking if I wanted baked ham or prosciuttio ham. I got what I wanted, Ralf wanted Prosciuttio and I wanted baked ham. I knew that Fanta and cola were ridiculously expensive and I asked if she had non-alcoholic beer. She looked at me dumb-founded. I laughed and said “yes what is the point” we both laughed.

We then cycled over a small bridge and entered the wonderful historic Town of Venzone. It is the only medieval walled city in the Friuli-Venezia Region. The Town dates back to the Celts 500 BC and the Romans who came after them. In 1976 the Town was devastated by an earthquake. The rebuild took many years, any remaining structures were reinforced and restored using anti-seismic consolidation methods. The ruins were rebuilt – putting the surviving stones together like one giant jigsaw puzzle.

The square is made up of marble stones – it would have been dreadful to cycle over that yesterday in the rain. It is nice to find these wonderful little towns along the route.

We are camping tonight in Gemona, a small camp site that is about E20, free hot showers. Internet is only available at the bar near reception. At the moment there is thunder rolling around the mountain and the clouds are very grey. We prepared our pasta and as were getting ready to eat it, the rains came. We rushed to the tent and ate in the tent, the first (and last) time for everything.

The storm passed and we tidied up and went down to the bar for a drink.

A decision has been made!

We have given up on the camping – the rest of this trip is going to be hotels or warmshowers – the budget has already been shot to pieces, if we are going to continue on this trip without taking the train, we need to be comfortable at night.

There are a million different reasons not to continue camping and only a couple to continue camping.

Reasons not to camp –

it makes us miserable,
showers – after having a shower you are then in a tiny cubicle trying to get your clothes on.
you have a nice shower and then you get hot and sticky again because you have to sit outside in the heat
you have to eat outside
sleeping on an air mattress in a tent is not comfortable, no matter how hard you try to get comfy.
I can go on…

Reasons to camp –

It is cheaper than staying in a hotel
In the other places that we have been to everyone talks to each other especially other cyclists, this hasn’t been the case so far in Europe.

Despite sleeping on a slope, with the decision that we have made tonight, I think I might get a good nights sleep.

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Villach to Malborghetto – 55.39 kms

Posted on July 14, 2018 by thewintersride

July 14, 2018

What a day! Our plan was to get south of Venzone (Italy) to a small campsite – a distance of about 100 kms.

But, the day started bad from the get go. We were up early, as usual, and were about to leave as there was no sign of Angelina. However, she appeared and proceeded to make us breakfast. Breakfast was called “mish-mash” a Bulgarian dish she told us. The base recipe is peppers, tomatoes, eggs and feta cheese, but you can add whatever left-overs you may have.

First disaster – Angelina, was cutting up a pepper (jalapeno) and rubbed her eyes – crying, we managed to rinse her eyes and made sure her hands were well-washed. When the dish was almost ready, she asked me to keep my eye on it while she quickly got all her climbing gear ready. I had a taste, it was good.

However, unbeknownst to me she had added some shrimp – I am allergic to shellfish – not deadly allergic, just enough to make me sick. As we ate the “mish-mash” I had a strange tingling in my mouth, then I chomped into a shrimp! I stopped eating immediately and told her I was allergic to shellfish – it is on my profile on the website- but not everyone reads the profiles. Angelina didn’t read my profile. “OMG I am trying to kill my guests” she said.

I threw up after breakfast, but Angelina was in a hurry to get going and Ralf and I headed out to follow the Cyclio de Alpe Adria Radweg (CAAR). I felt dreadful, sweating like a pig and ready to throw up. I told Ralf I was fine, as I knew we had a long day ahead of us.

Then the signs for the CAAR route disappeared and we didn’t know which route to follow.

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We got totally turned around and eventually headed back towards Villach and found the route again.

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The signs for CAAR were non-existent in Austria – we followed the R3C route instead.

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The route was a steady climb for 15 kilometres, nothing too strenuous, constantly upwards.

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Eventually we came to the Italian border crossing, although there are no official crossings, this one could very easily be reopened or closed if necessary.

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We stayed on the road after crossing into Italy towards Tarvisio, we didn\’t want to get turned around and head into Slovenia! We stopped for lunch at a little café in Tarvisio and then joined the real CAAR route. This route used to be an old railway, which has been paved.

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We are in Italy, time to carry toilet paper in my jersey pocket. I had read that no washroom or campsite has toilet paper, My first visit to a washroom – no toilet paper, glad I have my little stash in my jersey pocket again just like in France.

Then to cap the day off the weather turned nasty and started to rain. We had only cycled 50 kms. The mountains were covered with angry grey clouds and it started to rain, lightly at first then very heavily, the wind was picking up and a few thunder claps were thrown in for good measure.

Fortunately along this route all of the B&B’s, hotels etc advertise along the route. We stopped at the next advertising sign, spotted the village and headed towards the hotel. Bugger the budget, neither Ralf or I were having a good day and we needed to stop.

The hotel is lovely but a little expensive E87 per night including breakfast. We were told by Angelina that English is not widely spoken in Italy, that’s o.k. it is part of the adventure. However, in this area German is widely spoken and we were able to reserve a room.

By the time we had showered and washed our cycling gear the grey clouds had disappeared and the sun came out.

Sods law, we could have cycled on, but we were not feeling very happy I think it was a good idea to stop and recharge the batteries.

We had a lovely walk around the small Town. Which has several things going for it.

An old fort at the top of the hill which is part of a longer walk and a fun animal walk through the Town. The Town has placed wooden carvings of animals throughout a walking path. These animals can be seen through the seasons in this area.

Tomorrow with recharged batteries and feeling better we will continue on the CAAR. We actually get a lie-in tomorrow as breakfast is not served until 8:00 a.m.

Finalizing the blog tonight, the thunder is rolling around the valley and the rain is pouring down. A good end to the day to stay in a nice room instead of the tent.

Mallnitz to Villach – 85.58 kms

Posted on July 14, 2018 by thewintersride

July 13, 2018

Friday July 13, 2018 uhhmm, got to be careful today.

Our ride started with a switchback downhill of 8 kms descent dropping 800 metres. The owner of the hotel told us to be careful going down the hill as last week there was an accident between a car and cyclist. An air-ambulance (helicopter) was flown into take him to the hospital.

It was a little chilly this morning (10 degrees) and we had to wear our thicker windbreakers as we hurtled down the hill.

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My top speed was 49 kms, on my brakes all the way down.

The ride today should have been “downhill all the way”, but as we were climbing again Ralf said “This is a great downhill I am climbing”. Eventually, we were going downhill and it was a lovely ride, although the signs left a lot to be desired.

$\"\"$ We are supposed to be following the Cyclio de Alpe Adria Radweg (CAAR). This morning we followed the R8 signs as well as the CAAR and this afternoon we were following the R3 signs into Villach.

We came across this early Christian church (343). The Romans who had converted to Christianity, spread the word throughout the areas they conquered. A mosaic was donated and was found on the south side of the building. It is protected by a building and the museum was only open on week-ends.

We stopped for lunch in Spital an der Drau, and carried on through farm fields.

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As we were getting closer to Villach, we noticed this “ferry” you had to ring the bell and this small boat came over to pick you up. I am not sure if he could have managed both of our loaded touring bikes. We didn’t need his services as we needed to stay on this side of the river.

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A very large quarry has cut out most of this hill-side as we were entering Villach.

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We arrived in Villach at about 2:30, we called our warmshowers host, who was at work and told us she wouldn’t be home until 5:30.

That is a lot of time to spend drinking ice-coffee and then finding her apartment and drinking more coffee. Eventually, I set my chair up and waited for her next to her apartment.

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When Angelina came home we put our bikes in her lock-up, had a glass of beer with her on the balcony, showered and headed out for dinner. When we told her what time we usually got up and started riding she almost had a heart attack. However, when we were chatting to her friends at dinner, she found out that they were planning to go climbing on Saturday at 8:00 a.m. As she was going to get up with us to cook us breakfast, she decided to go climbing with them.

We chatted to her friends for a while and then went back to the flat at about 9:00 p.m. and I was asleep by 9:30. Angelina stayed with her friends and we didn’t hear her coming home.

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St. Johann im Pongau to Mallnitz – 52.24 kms

Posted on July 12, 2018 by thewintersride

July 12, 2018

Look at that elevation gently rising hill – easy peasy – 1,012 metres (3,320 ft) elevation gain, over a 54 km distance. Boy, it was hard work today but totally worth it.

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We left the empty Hostel at 8:15, it was a little odd being the only people in a very large building.

We followed the Eurovelo Route 7, Ciclovia Alpe-Adria Radweg and the Tauern Radweg again today. We were only misplaced once, when we crossed the river too early. Once we were back on the right path it was an easy route to follow. Let me correct that, the signs were easy to follow, the route was tough.

As I cycled up one hill I said to Ralf, I am a little conflicted, I love the scenery that hills bring, but I am not a good climber. Although I can now cycle up hills of over 5% quite easily anything above 8% and I am off and pushing. Ralf corrected me – he said that I had just managed to climb a 12% hill. It was only short about 50 metres and I was dancing on my pedals and talking to MrsSweetcheeks to get me up and over the short rise.

The scenery was beautiful, hills covered with mountain flowers and houses clinging to the hillsides. The small towns we went through were very pretty, everything you can imagine Austrian mountain villages are like.

The weather was not what was forecast. It was a little cool to start, then the sun came out and although it wasn’t hot it was a lovely temperature to ride a bike. No rain and no rain for tonight – we could have camped, but we had already booked our accommodation on-line for tonight.

We cycled through road tunnels today. The first one was short only about 500 metres, the second was called the Klamm tunnel and was 1.5 kilometres and the third was another short tunnel. All of the tunnels had a separated bike lane, wide enough for two loaded touring bikes to pass each other. The Klamm tunnel was really noisy with cars whizzing by us at 80 kph. We were safe, however, it was rather unnerving.

After we had negotiated the tunnels we had a slight downhill to Bad Hofgastein. The time was 11:00 and we had definitely worked off our breakfast. We spotted a small café, stopped immediately and I had ham, egg and cheese with salad on a sesame seed crusty bun, and Ralf had salami, with a shared pastry to follow.

$\"\"$ I knew we had more climbing to do to get to Bad Gastein, it was the toughest part of the day. The hill up to Bad Gastein was really steep, even Ralf was pushing!

However the waterfall in the Town was stunning.

We got to the train station in Bad Gastein with about 20 minutes to spare. I had assumed that we could get a train from Bad Gastein to Mallnitz and not have to cycle the extra five kilometres to Bockstein. There was no-one at the kiosk to get tickets from so we tried to use the machine. The machine would not sell us tickets with our bikes!

Ralf called the number on the machine and the guy on the other end tried to get us a ticket. The train came and went with us waiting to see if we could get on the next train. The problem was that all the trains stopping in Bad Gastein were fast trains, we needed a local train. We had to cycle to Bockstein to get the car shuttle to Mallinitz.

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Now, before anyone accuses us of cheating because we took the train, it is the only way to get through this mountain range. We spotted the train waiting in the station at Bockstein and headed towards it. Again no-one at the kiosk to sell us tickets. The conductor was finalizing the loading of the last few cars and told us to get on the train. We cycled like crazy to get on the front of the train and realized we would have to lift our bikes up to the train – four feet from the platform to the bike-train car! We hoisted those bikes fully-loaded up to the bike car with seconds to spare.

We hadn’t had time to buy tickets. The conductor told us to get them in Mallinitz, which we did. E10.00 for two people including the bikes.

This car shuttle takes bikes and cars through a 1 km long tunnel to the other side of the mountain range. The journey is about 13 minutes, the train is unloaded and it returns with more cars through the mountain range.

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Salzburg to St. Johann im Pongau – 75.36 kms

Posted on July 11, 2018 by thewintersride

July 11, 2018

We were up early ready for an early start and a few hills to climb to St. Johann im Pongau.

Ralf had said it had rained in the night, lo and behold it started to rain at 7:30. That’s o.k. we could wait it out. Not so lucky it continued to rain. We left Salzburg under grey skies and a light drizzle at 8:30. Farewell Salzburg we enjoyed visiting you.

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We were both wearing our heavier rain jackets and I was wearing socks. I am such a fashionista, yesterday red plastic poncho today socks with my cycling sandals! I am so glad I was wearing my merino wool socks as it was rather chilly today – average temperature was 12.5 degrees (54 degrees F).

However, despite the rain and drizzle the scenery was lovely. We cycled through small towns and villages with window boxes overflowing with flowers. The houses were perched in the hills like photos on a chocolate box. We crossed one stream where the water was so clear, it looked as if it could be used for an advertisement of Evian Mineral Water.

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We were so enthralled about the scenery in one valley that we cycled through we got misplaced. We have to be very careful reading the signs, as there are a few different cycle routes. We are following the Tauern Radweg, Ciclovia Alpe-Adria Radweg and the Eurovelo 7. We followed a different sign which could have taken us on a mountain biking route. We spotted an old fella near a small trout farm and Ralf asked him for directions back to the Tauern Radweg. I asked Ralf what he had said as I didn’t understand one word of what the fella had said, his accent was so strong. Apparently neither did Ralf, he said “I don’t understand Mountainese”. We turned around and headed back to where we think we made the mistake and found the Tauern Radweg sign. This route likes to take you through the small villages, not away from them.

We also broke the law! We came upon a tunnel or you could push your loaded bicycles over a steep incline. We looked down the tunnel, it wasn’t very long and there was a sidewalk, although it said no cyclists or pedestrians we headed through, rear lights flashing and within 500 metres we were safe on the other side. The tandem riders that were pushing their bike up the steep incline were no where to be seen.

About a kilometre on the other side of the tunnel there were road works. I pedalled like a demon so that I didn\’t hold up the car drivers. Fortunately, they were very patient.

$\"\"$ We arrived in Werfen, where there is a large castle and lots of tourists.

We carried on to Bischofshofen and stopped for lunch and some coffee to warm us up. There were about 6 other touring cyclists. One lady had a lot of stuff on her bike and a bike trailer with a dog (Shar Pei) in the trailer. I complain about what I am carrying, but a dog – no way.

Leaving Bischofshofen we spotted this art work. I especially liked the world showing Australia.

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The route today was mainly on roads with a few sections on gravel paths, about 20 kms on gravel, it was well compacted and quite an easy ride.

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Then onto the campsite in Saint Johan im Pongau, which I had read about from another blogger, who did this route last year. At 3:00 there was no-one at the camp-site or gasthaus. A note in the reception area stated they would open at 5:00p.m.

We knew we weren’t going to set up the tent, we would freeze in these cool temperatures and more rain on the way for tonight. Finally the Garmin did its thing and Ralf was able to call several hotels/gasthauses in the area to see if they had rooms for the night. One had apartment style rooms but didn’t rent for less than three nights, the other was over $150.00 for the night, even the Youth Hostel was E80 ($120 for two people).

We had passed a youth hostel coming into St. Johan and realized the hostel Ralf had called was half way up a beejesus mountain, not the hostel we had passed. We cycled back to the hostel – they didn’t open until 5:00. We sat on our bikes wondering what to do, it was only 4:00 but it would be nice to settle in to a room and have a nice hot shower. It began to rain and then the hostel door opened – the receptionist let us in early. We registered, secured our bikes in the bike room and were having hot showers by 4:30. This hostel costs E55.90 ($82.00) without breakfast.

We are the only ones in the hostel, it feels a bit odd. The reception is supposed to be open from 5:00 to 8:00, but nobody is there. Just a phone number to call. Ralf cooked our pasta on the terrace although it says smoking is forbidden. He wasn’t smoking he was cooking!

Due to the rainy weather Ralf didn’t take a lot of photos, but I think he got the essence of the day.

Tomorrow’s weather is going to be much of the same, we have already booked a room in Mallnitz.

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Salzburg Rest Days – Walking 11.5 kms

Posted on July 10, 2018 by thewintersride

July 9, 2018

The first of two rest days in Salzburg. Yesterday I had picked up a free city map from the Tourist Information office at the Train Station. While Ralf was in the shower I checked on-line to see what the top ten things to do and see in Salzburg. We are within walking distance of the Old Town and all of the Top Ten Things to Do!

A relaxing breakfast of cheesy omelet and good coffee.

At 9:30 we headed out to be tourists. Our plan was to do this side of the river today – Mirabelle Palace and Gardens, Mozart’s House and wander the streets and do the other side of the River tomorrow.

That didn’t quite work out. We had a lovely walk through the gardens of the Mirabelle Palace.

Mirabelle Palace

In the movie, The Sound of Music this is where the kids were hanging from the trees after Maria taught them the Do, Rae, Me song and there father came home with the Baroness. We didn’t see any kids hanging from the trees, but we did see the dwarf garden.

Dwarves

The gardens were beautiful and very peaceful. The nuns did not burst into \”How do you solve a problem like a Maria?\”

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As we emerged from the gardens, almost directly in front of us was the house where Mozart lived in Salzburg. It is a museum, and is supposed to be really nice. However, it was a little expensive E11.00 each (about $33.00) and you cannot take photos inside.

We continued our walk through the city streets.

We realized that we had plenty of time to get to the top of Festung Hohensalzburg castle. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the street to get up to the top and took a lift to the Modern Art Museum and a smaller castle in error. It was a “nice” mistake, we were able to walk across the ridge to the Hohensalzburg castle.

Salzburg was a highly fortified City in the 15^th Century. The Hohensalzburg Castle is the highest point and is protected by walls and the mountain. There were other smaller battlements and fortifications that enemies had to overcome before getting to the Hohensalzburg Castle.

During the thirty year war the castle was besieged and the inhabitants of the castle were down to their last oxen. The Commander paraded the oxen on the city walls, then he painted it black and paraded the oxen again. The enemy assumed that the castle inhabitants had lots of food and it would take a long time for them to surrender, so they left. That is why the nickname for people from Salzburg are called oxen washers – “Stierwascher”

The walk across the ridge bought us to about half way up to the castle. The road was very steep and when we got to the entrance there was an entrance fee of E18.60 for the two of us ($30.00). That included the price of the funicular going down. The castle inside is massive. It could hold a small town and did during the various invasions. It was originally built as a church for the Archbishop in the 10^th Century. He must have been a pretty fit guy to hike up the mountain everyday with his shopping.

We took the funicular down and emerged at the Dom Square – the main cathedral in Salzburg.

We sat and had a coffee and a bun and watched people for about an hour, before slowing meandering our way back to our flat.

There is a lot of art throughout the City. Often created by famous artists. The Man on the Sphere – represents the ordinary man. The Gherkins also represent the ordinary human – some are tall and skinny others are short and fat!

Back to the apartment at 4:00 with more wine and dinner of pasta, smoked trout and bread. It is nice to stay in a small apartment in Salzburg and have the time to cook and relax after a day of being a tourist.

July 10, 2018 – Walking 7.6 kms

We could have left Salzburg today but it was nice to have more time to clean the bikes and be tourists.

Breakfast today was avocado with poached eggs and good coffee. We cleaned the bikes before leaving for another walk of the City.

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This time Ralf wanted to walk up to a “castle” on this side of the river. The Kapuzinerkirche and Kloster was closed for filming for a murder mystery. The Austrian Crime Series – Stockinger is filmed in Salzburg and the Kloster was the setting for an episode.

As we walked this side of the river we noticed some small plaques on the ground. They are called Stolpersteine or stumbling blocks, they denoted the houses that Jews lived in and what happened to the family. So many people did not even notice these small brass stones.

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Here lived Karl Sonneleithner – born 1897. He was “deported” a euphemism for being sent to a concentration camp and murdered in the camp – Castle Hartheim.

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The Zweig/Winternitz family were Jewish, by family history, but did not follow the Jewish faith – not even high day and holy days. However, that would not have made any difference to Hitler – if your Grandparents were Jewish then you were Jewish. Stefan Zeig was a famous author in the 1920’s in Europe and the U.S.

$\"\"$ Olga Zweig hid Jewish families during the war. She was arrested by the Salzburg Police in 1941 and released in 1942. She was \”deported\” in 1945 to Theresienstadt where she survived.

After negotiating a very steep road down from the schloss we wandered around the new part of the city for a while, trying to decide what to have for lunch. We eventually went back to where we had lunch yesterday. Then it began to rain. Not again, we are going to get wet. However, we found a Kitschy tourist place that was selling E5.00 umbrellas, which seemed a little extravagant to buy umbrellas for one rain storm. However, they did have plastic ponchos for E2. Donned in the height of fashion we headed back to the apartment.

One little boy said to his Mom “Mama what are they wearing?”. We made quite a few people smile with our bright yellow and red plastic ponchos and our own very large grins! We are keeping these ponchos for future use, I am sure they will come in handy. I will keep them in my bag for when we are next caught in the rain.

On our way back to the apartment, I spotted a phone shop. We have been having a few problems with the phone, because it is in German and we couldn’t get it to switch to show in English. I was the “stupid” tourist and asked the nice young man if he could help me. Lickety split, he switched it to English, now I think we will be able to send text messages and maybe even call people if the need arises.

Tomorrow we are heading south to St. Johann im Pongau. A few hills to climb and hopefully the cycle path will be paved. This is the projected elevation for the next few days!

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Renshofen to Salzburg– 64.86 kms

Posted on July 9, 2018 by thewintersride

July 8, 2018

Again we were awake early, the tent was soaked inside from condensation and dripping on the down covers! We got up, washed, ate breakfast of peanut butter and jam sandwiches and were on the road by 8:15.

We were on gravel as soon as we left the campsite/gasthoff and joined the river path.

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About 5 kms along the path, Ralf took me away from the gravel path and onto the L501 and the L205. Both of them were paved roads with little traffic. It is Sunday and he figured that even if they were usually busy roads, on Sunday they would be quiet. He was right, there was some traffic but nothing too busy, only old folks going to church. Some of them were obviously late considering the way they were driving.

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We had time to stop and take pictures. There was a sign for a \”lookout\”, this is where the River Inn and the River Salzach split. The River Salzach we follow into Salzburg.

Most of the villages/towns we cycled through had a cycle-path which disappeared as we left the village/town. However, most of the cars waited behind us as we struggled up the hills.

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As we crested one hill we spotted this lovely old Citroen – referred to as “The Duck” It was advertising a Gasthaus called the Enten (The Duck in English). The license plate on the car was Ente! As we came up the hill and spotted the old duck, I told Ralf I was heading down. What a great downhill and up the other side without needing to pedal. You cannot do that on gravel roads.

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What a lovely ride, it was hillier than if we had followed the river, but we could enjoy the scenery because we didn’t have to concentrate on the gravel and the soft spots when we were cycling up the hills. I didn’t have to get of my bike once to push.

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I knew we were getting closer to Salzburg and started singing the songs from the Sound of Music – the Hills are Alive, Raindrops on Roses and whiskers on kittens. Fortunately. Ralf was far enough behind me he couldn’t hear me singing.

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At one point we knew we would have to follow the Radweg into Salzburg. The road was getting busier and there was no shoulder. We stopped and a young boy came across the road and started asking us questions. \”Where are you going, with all of that package? Where did you come from? How many kilometres\”? He was such an inquisitive young fella. Eventually, we were able to ask him if the radweg (cycle path) was paved or should we continue up the road. He told us the radweg was paved, but if we went up the hill it would direct us onto the radweg to Salzburg. We followed the radweg, little shit, within 500 metres the paved road turned to gravel. Fortunately, it turned back to paved all the way into Salzburg. Except for one 250 metre section where we negotiated this tiny path. How did we know to follow this tiny path, because an older couple on E-bikes told us to follow them. The radweg came to a T-junction, (right or left) nope, straight on and within 250 metres the paved path was there again.

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What a difference a day makes. The weather was good, we were cycling on roads and we had a tail-wind coming into Salzburg.

However, as we reached the outskirts of Salzburg we had to call the owner of the apartment we had arranged to rent. We had booked it through Bookings.com but I think it is also advertised as an AirBNB, E76 per night.

In Europe there are no roaming charges for the phones. But . . . we couldn’t get through to the owner of the apartment on our “not very smart phone”. We tried to text him, but that didn’t work. Ralf programmed the garmin and we found the apartment. We were at the apartment but had no way of contacting the owner. I had spotted a Gasthaus which I thought was open, we headed back to that and I was going to be the “stupid” tourist to ask for help. The Gasthaus was closed, of course, it is Sunday! Then we spotted a “phone booth” remember those things, there is a phone in a box, you dial a number put money in and get connected to whoever you might want to speak to. Unfortunately, the owner of the apartment had given us the number as if we were outside of Austria!!

Ralf was about to rip the pay phone of the wall, because it wouldn’t give him the money back. Fortunately, there was a lady in the parking lot near the tram line. I had the phone number and I asked her what we were doing wrong. “If we were calling from outside of Austria we needed to use the + before the number” I said “The +” she meant we had to use the international 001. “O.K. I am in Austria do I need to dial the + and the 43? what number do I need to dial.” All the 12 numbers of the phone number plus a 0 in front. So, 0 area code and then the phone #. “Yes” she said. Thank God, she spoke English and Ralf had not ripped the phone of the wall by the time I got back to him. Dial this number , I told him – finally we were speaking to the owner and he would be at the apartment in 15 minutes. Ralf being arrested for public vandalism was avoided and the phone gave him his E1.00 change.

We cycled back to the apartment, Wolfgang arrived 15 minutes later and showed me the apartment. We have a lovely place to stay for the next three nights. We decided to stay an extra night to enjoy Salzburg.

We settled in, showered and headed out to the main Train Station where there is a Spar open 7 days a week. We got supplies – beer, wine and even some rum! Oh and some food for dinner, then back to the apartment. We got the washing out of the way. Another translation issue, I put too much money into the machine – E1.50, I had enough for two washes and possibly another wash. It was 10 cents for 20 minutes of washing – one wash was 1 hour and 10 minutes. My brain wasn’t working to do the math and I thought E1.50 was really cheap. Maybe there will still be credits on Tuesday night and I can do another wash before we leave.

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I spotted two windmills – one I happened to turn around and there it was in the garden, the second Ralf was trying to find the route and I spotted the second – all is fair in love and windmill spotting. Running Total is Ralf 15 Jacky 8

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Passau to Renshofen – 76.2 kms

Posted on July 9, 2018 by thewintersride

July 7, 2018

We were awake at 6:30 and out of bed by 7:00. We tried to be as quiet as possible not to wake the rest of the apartment, but it is very difficult with old wooden floors. We ate breakfast and tidied up and we were away by 8:15 a.m. No-one else was awake. I left a note thanking all of them and inviting them to stay with us in Canada if they get the chance. I will definitely leave a good recommendation on the warmshowers website.

We crossed the Inn River and followed the R3 Radweg.

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Again the route was mixed gravel and a few paved roads. I am getting really fed up with gravel paths, it is hard on the hands, shoulders and butt. We are both hoping that crossing the Alps will be on paved roads otherwise I have told Ralf I am catching a train. The other thing today that really annoyed me is that we are heading south – we should have tail winds. The last 20 kilometres we were struggling against a head wind.

We met up with another cyclist today – Alberto from Italy. He asked if he could join us. It was early on in the route and we were still on paved roads. Ralf told him our average speed and we liked to stop to take photos. He was happy with that and told us he had been on the road for 3 weeks from Denmark down the Elba, through the Czech Republic and into Germany. I think he needed some company.

Cloisters Along the Route

We chatted for a while and then we hit the gravel paths and we had to concentrate on the soft gravel. With all the rain yesterday the gravel paths were really soft in places.

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I helped Ralf push his bike up these stairs, Alberto helped me and Ralf helped Alberto – Team work.

Alberto stayed with us for about an hour and then dropped off the back and we didn’t see him again.

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There were some hills to climb today which is fine it is good practice for the Alps to come. However, climbing a hill that is soft gravel is a real pain – I did say some bad words today.

$\"\"$ We crossed into Austria within a kilometre of crossing the river from Passau.

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As we cycled through the few villages we noticed that all of the stores were closed – Closed on a Saturday – Yes, at noon all of the stores were closed in the small Towns.

We were in this Town and all of the houses were a different colour. It was decreed (way back when) that because most of the inhabitants were illiterate, the colour of the house would denote what the business was i.e. – butcher, baker, pharmacist, etc. We were going to stop for lunch, however, the cafes were preparing full lunches of bratwurst and potatoes. That is a little heavy when you have some more miles to do.

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Fortunately, around 2:00 we were in Brennau am Inn – the end of the day for us (or so we thought). The bigger chain supermarkets were still open. I popped in to buy our evening supplies and something to eat for a late lunch.

Then everything went pear-shaped! The first camp-site was obviously closed. The second “camp site” was for camper vans only and looked very sketchy. The Youth Hostel had disappeared off the face of the earth. I was about to throw a temper tantrum as we had no place to stay and everything ached from riding on gravel for 90% of the day. Then an older guy in a red car stopped in the middle of the intersection and asked if we needed help. He pulled up on the side walk (as you would). We told him we were looking for the Youth Hostel or a camp site. No idea about a youth hostel, but he did direct us to the campsite that I had found on the internet last night – Gasthoff Pruster with five tent places. It was another two kilometres. He gave us directions and then asked if we understood him and gave them to us again. Thank you kind Sir.

When we arrived at the Gasthoff we saw the camper vans on gravel sites. Ralf went into the gasthoff and the owner came out and showed us a sloping grassed area. I was ready to lose it completely. However, we set up our tent on the only flat spot and after showering in a clean and new shower block we headed to the restaurant for a beer, to relax. We noticed one couple eating this lovely bratwurst with roast potatoes and sauerkraut. We got the menu – E5.50 – that was a no-brainer. We would eat dinner in the restaurant and watch the footie at the same time – England won! The camp-site was E12.50 – Ralf paid for dinner including four beers and the camp-site for less than E40.

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This cheeky little sparrow was hoping for some scraps. He wasn\’t going to get anything from two hungry cyclists.

The day started off well, and finished well but the middle bit left a lot to be desired.

Brannau am Inn is the birthplace of Adolf Hitler- surprisingly there is no statue of him, no plaque on the Rathaus that says “Hitler was Here”. However, ironically there is a centre for Muslim relations, a centre to help refugees integrate, and a large muslim population. I think Hitler would be turning in his grave (lol).

It is 7:05 Ralf is gently snoring in the tent and I am relaxed, at last.

Although we got totally turned around in Brannau am Inn, we are 5 kms further along the route and the radweg continues about 500 metres from the camp-site. Absolutely no idea how that happened. Tomorrow should have been a 75 km day, now it should be 70 kms. Ralf has plotted two routes – one along the path and one along a road that may or may not have a cycle path running next to the road, but the road route will be paved.

This flower is for my next door neighbour, Diane, who is not a gardener, but is looking after our house and house plants for us while we are away. Maybe we could \”plant\” these in our front gardens.

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