Let’s go cycling

September 7, into Austria!

Scuol to Imst, 86km and 640m elevation even though its mostly downhill…

The last km of Switzerland were a delight- gorgeous views and a fairly traffic free cycle route to the Austrian border..

Over the border it was a busy but wide shouldered road for a bit, and then the Austrian cycle paths kicked in.  Smooth, quiet and more stunning scenery to keep us in awe as we rode.  The Austrian Alps don’t seem quite as rugged as their Swiss counterparts but beautiful landscapes are everywhere.

September 8, 80km, Imst to a bit past Innsbruck

Another day of riverside riding- the “Inn” becoming ever wider (and faster flowing?) as we head downstream.  Austrian cycle paths are a dream- beautifully signposted, and designed to keep cyclists safe and away from the mainstream traffic as much as possible.

‘Twas a bit damp when we arrived at our campsite so we opted for the nearby Pizza restaurant for dinner to escape the weather.  Great choice, huge and delicious meals- a burger so big even Neil couldn’t quite manage to finish it (and usually he’s looking for seconds…)

September 9, 70km to Kufstein

An early start for me with a 7am zoom meeting for work, but I needn’t have set my alarm- we were woken on the dot of 6 by the rather loud bells inviting all to start the day in prayer.  I was more inclined to start the day with cursing…

It was an “almost” downhill sort of day, thought we’d be able to cover a few extra km today.

But, from the outset Neil’s bike misbehaved, after he changed the chain yesterday. Seems the front chain ring has done just a few too many Ks and wouldn’t cooperate any longer. So after about 15km we found a bike shop, where the cheery crew happily replaced the chain ring, sprocket and other bits for us, at great cost of course!  It took a couple of hours so we got to know the village, the coffee, and naturally the tiramisu…

All fixed and smooth riding along the river  bike paths for the afternoon.  And then the sky darkened and the rain set in.

By around 5:30pm we were wet, soggy, cold and thinking a campsite may not cut it for tonight.  So we stopped on the roadside and booked an OK looking hotel just a few km away in the Austrian border town of Kufstein.

May not have been our wisest move of the day.  The whole place was run remotely- and they wouldn’t send us our checkin code without forms filled out in triplicate.  No probs.  But our payment wouldn’t through- some glitch on their end.  There we were, outside in the rain, the office lady on the end of the phone refusing to give us the access code because we hadn’t paid, us having tried many times to pay but their system collapsed. 

We were wondering whether we’d have to pitch our tent under the stairwell but she eventually must have sensed that we were not the type to do a runner and let us in remotely.  Phew!  Quite a nice room all things considered…and now we can start tomorrow dry!

10th September, Kufstein to Griesstatt, 63km in the rain

Yeah. Today was one of those “Why am I doing this?” kinda days.  Drizzly soaking rain all day makes for a very uncomfortable ride.  And instead of sensibly stopping in a warm dry coffee shop for lunch we grabbed a baguette and sat on a bench in the rain to save a couple of bucks.  Smart, eh.

Anyhow, the Inn river continued to widen, with a couple of hydro dams making for some calm waters and even the odd boat! 

Crossed into Germany today for the first time- no fanfare, in fact not even any recognition that there was a change of country!

A very necessary self-contained room found for the night and a hearty meal of bratwurst sausages and saurkraut to warm and cheer us 🙂

11th September, Giesstatt to Marktl, 86km

Apparently it was national Warning Test day today.  We were riding peacefully along  at 11am when both of our phones began screeching at us loudly with some kind of message flasing across the screens in red. And in German, of course.

At the same time we could hear the the cut through sound of distant sirens wailing.  All a bit disconcerting for a while until we managed to decipher the text and realised it was all a drill.  Phew!

So other than that,  a rather pleasant day with very varied trails.

12th September– to Passau!

85km to the end if the Inn  river.  We’ve pretty much followed it from the source, back on a mountain up there in Switzerland, so it was a great feeling to see it through to the end.  Which also just happens to be the Danube and the start of our next little section!

They do all look at us blankly here when we mention our intention to cycle along the Danube.  Apparently it doesn’t translate that well into English – it’s the Donau here.

Passau is a charming town, full of cobbled roads and colourful buildings.  With a lovely little campsite on the edge of another little river!

6,371 km, 57,480 m elevation
Our route map so far is at https://www.komoot.com/collection/3509510/-uk-and-europe