The big balkan cycle adventure

Yesterday evening a tired-looking young man arrived by bike and setup his tent next to mine. The theory of personal space was not something he mastered well, although plenty of space he placed his tent no more then 2 meters from mine. During the night strange sounds erupted out of the young man’s  tent ; a mix of farting, rambling through plastic bags, heavy sighing,….In the morning I friendly said hello but the only response was a short grunt… Today I planned to visit Salzburg and had a slow start with a lengthy breakfast of coffee and sandwiches with “schinken”…Around 10.15 I walked to the bus stop which conveniently connected the camping with Salzburg city center in 15 minutes, in addition the camping-lady explained me that today public transport was free…. I got of the bus at Salzburg Old Marktplatz and headed to the Salzburg’s Museum der Moderne , the modern Art Museum, to visit 2 exhibitions. The first a solo exhibition of Richard Kriesche and the second a photo exhibition of...

I left Bad Gastein around 8.It was grey and colder then expected and was happy to wear a fleece. Today I would be heading to Salzburg, mostly following the Alpe Adria Cycle route. I was lucky to pass by a bakery which was open. Everything was closed down, either as it was off-season or that someone took off some time ago on this day…. Today I followed most of the time the valley of the river Salzach, mountains and alps to the left and the right. Sometimes the valley was to narrow to have a dedicated cycle path and I need to cycle on the road, a rare exception in cycling walhalla Austria…. I passed the old town Hallein, where I had the best Amarena icecream in years….the Malaga was not so impressive. A lot of cyclists , most of them again heading opposite of me.  During the day the weather improved, more sun, but the temperatures had clearly dropped. The last 20K I followed a busy cycle path along the river to arrive in Salzburg. I didn’t visit the city center today and although I d...

Wow…day 75…tempus fugit. Last night a thunderstorm went through the valley, a lot of lightning, thunder and shaking of my tent..the tent and I survived but I must say I was happy when the storm headed to other places. I woke around 6.30, a shy sun was enough to dry my wet tent. I packed Black Horse and started riding to the horizon…correction to the mountains.  My aim today was to cycle to a camping close by the train station of the Tauern tunnel which connect two valley’s (the Möltall and the Gastei valley). The sun disappeared after it has dried my tent and the rest of the day it was grey with often rain…. I’m still on the the Alpe Adria cycle path towards Salzburg which is really beautiful. Most people I met came out of the opposite direction (Salzburg). A lot of organised cycling touring groups, with my 55 years I probably was the puppy on the path….. The tunnel is located at 1200 meters so most of the day I had to climb. Although  bad weather, the views were great. When I...

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 ...