Day 3, Admont to Schladming, 86km, Ascent 578m, Descent 437m 31/08/2019
We contine up the Enns valley, beginning with a 5km mountain bike type track . . . right beside the river.
There is, indeed, a trail ahead here, though somewhat overgrown.
Along with cobble stones, this is why fat, knobbly tyres are the very least one should have on the front wheel.
This is typical of farm and forestry road surfaces, Schotte. Gravel but no where near as slippery as Darling Scarp peagravel.
Now the way we would have gone if we had not gone offroad . . .
Yet another river crossing. We have lunch made from buns, cheese and ham from breakfast on some benchs not far from where Suz was waiting. I remember seeing a number of gliders being towed into the sky two or three times that day.
As you can see, the Enns valley is quite wide, with surrounding mountains being quite high. The landscape is simply stunning.
The cycleway is usually a minor local path. The major road along the valley floor is to the left.
With five hours in the saddle, it has been our longest day yet. The woman at the tourist office at Schladming is helpful but clueless about physical exertion. The quiet accommodation just out of town is 100m vertical metres up the steepest road we have climbed all day. The people there actually drive us down to town for dinner before picking us up again afterwards.
Day 4, Schladming to Salzburg, 88km, Ascent 460m, Descent 834m 1/09/2019
Out the front of the place we stayed, classic Alpine and too far up the mountain.
We continue following along side the Enns until we get to Reitdorf where the Enns flows down from the south. We continue west up the Litzlingbach valley where we crest the saddle, really just high ground where a glass factory was located at Schwaighof. The ground drops and we pick up speed before stopping for a chocolate sundae at Wagrain, a mountain town with narrow roads where Wagrain Ache river meets the Schwaighof stream. We continue west and it is a high speed descent with some lovely corners into St Johan on the Salzach, some 250m closer to sea level.
This is now the Salzach river and the Salzach valley. As this board at the dam power station illustrates, it is very heavily damned river. The dams have the effect of turing the river into a line of very long lakes.
We ride downstream as far as Werfengweg where Suz's old boss, Willie, has his mountain hut before hopping on the train to get pass a very tight section of the valley.
We have ridden this before and were in no mood for either the traffic or the ascent. We alight at Hallein for the now familiar run along the Salzach into Salzburg and Suz's apartment. We go along the traffic free, tree lined, very straight and flat Hellbrunn Allee after picking up a litre of milk direct from an adjacent dairy. Dinner is at the nearby Steigel brewery before the threatening rain drops from the sky.
The profile for the 4th day from Schladming to Werfengweg. The inital 100m steep plummet from our Alpine accommodation is clearly visible as is a clean 200m drop into the Salzach valley.
Day 5 is Sunday and, given the forecasted and constant rain, rest day. We do manage to catch a bus to a resturant for dinner with Willie and Roswita in the evening.
Day 6, Salzburg to Burghausen, 61km, Ascent 143m, Descent 280m 3/09/2019