//Day 74 /24-05-22 /Bled-Anneheim

I slept as a rose.It rained during the night until 5 in the morning. Around 6.30 I started to breakup camp….The tent was wet from the rain but luckily the sun appeared and I was able to dry the tent reasonably. I had breakfast at the shores of lake Bled with croissants and orange juice….the view hard to beat. 

Today I would be leaving Slovenia, and as such the Balkan…Slovenia may be geographical part of the Balkan but cultural  I felt I left the Balkan already when leaving Croatia. Today the cycling was just great, following most of the day a part of the fantastic Alpe Adria cycle way, which runs from Salzburg to Grado in Italy, partly on an old railway track.I cycled small roads with the mountains as a the decor, all the  time on dedicated cycle paths. Thanks to the European Union I crossed the frontiers of Slovenia, Italy (yes, I spend 15 kilometer in Italy today) and Austria without any hassle. The only notice between Slovenia and Italy was a signpost indicating I was leaving Slovenia and entering Italy. The frontier infrastructure between Italy and Austria still exists but was altered in an art work…the old border buildings were painted gold….

A lot of cyclists, individuals, groups, locals and tourists passed me, I’m clearly no longer the solo Zorro cyclist in a small Bulgarian or Romanian village…but one of the many in cycling Disneyland…..

I made a small detour to vist Villach city, definitely ‘vaut le detour’ ; an a old castle overlooking the town, most of the center pedestrian, old buildings, bars, restaurants, relax atmosphere….and  great icecream. After another 10K I arrived at camping in  Anneheim located at the shores of  Ossiacher See (lake).. During the day it had became warm and sunny so it was great to finally have a swim, the water temperature of the lake  was better then expected and as result I had a second swim in the evening. 

In the evening I had dinner in the camping-restaurant…which tasted as it should do in a camping-restaurant….Tonight rain I

Is forecasted….I’m looking forward to the sound of rain falling down on my tent, I’m not looking forward to pack a wet tent tomorrow morning…

The bike shop in Salzburg, where I planned to change my front gear also informed me that the required part will be available the soonest in 2 to 3 weeks, even if I was a big family von Trapp fan 2 weeks Salzburg seems a little to much.

Tomorrow I wil cycle to a camping in Mallnitz to take the day after the Tauern tunnel-train and avoid a climb to 2350 meters, a little bit to much of a climb for Black Horse, I have to spare the old horse don’t I.

Lessons Learned :

• An unexpectedly you are in Italy.
• The last 2 days 3 people recommended me to cycle home via the Bodensee.
• There is more chance to win the lottery then to get bicycle parts you need.

Song of the day : Night Swimming - REM