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Zell
am See, Austria to Krimml, Austria (42 miles by bike)
Day 8: Saturday, May 29
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After the deluge of the night before, we were happy
to see some blue sky peeking through the clouds when we woke up after
a good nights sleep in the cozy, down-comforter-covered bed. The hotel's
breakfast buffet was large and comprehensive, and we enjoyed a relaxing
hour drinking tea and eating while we discussed the day's plan. We knew
we wanted to head up the Tauern valley to the small ski town of Krimml
at the foot of one of the highest waterfalls in Europe, but we weren't
sure whether to ride to it today or take the small, narrow-gauge tourist
train that regularly runs between Zell and Krimml (we were planning to
ride back to Zell the next day). The Pinzgaubahn
train parallels the river and the bike route all the way to Krimml, and
would be a fun excursion, I'm sure.
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| Outside our
hotel (Lebzelter) in Zell am See, ready to ride on to Krimml. |
Since the weather promised to be nice and
we were in a good mood after the good breakfast, we decided to ride rather
than take the train. We stopped at a Billa supermarket on the Zell am
See town square near the hotel, and I waited outside guarding the bike
while Ginny wandered the store's aisles procuring the fixings for our
lunch and some Ritter Sport chocolate bars for on-the-road fueling.
After provisioning for the day, we headed off on the
lakeside bike path along with a few other early-morning joggers and bikers.
We were surprised at first how few bikers there were on a nice Saturday
on a holiday weekend, then we remembered that most riders take the train
to Krimml and ride back to Zell, because the path is almost continually
downhill from Krimml to Zell. Of course, we were (knowingly) riding it
uphill all day, which despite the subtlety of the grade impacted our speed.
The path dropped us off in a residential neighborhood
at the edge of the lake (near the youth hostel we'd stayed at on a previous
trip), and we followed the signs to pick up the Tauren route toward Krimml.
We came upon a large horse show sponsored by Porsche that was taking advantage
of the holiday weekend, and we had to dodge a lot of pedestrians, horses,
and horse droppings in the vicinity of the show arena.
As we followed the Salzach river on the small farm roads
and bike paths that make up the official route, we often elected not to
take the route detours that led up into the towns, since most things were
closed anyway. The riverside path tended to be more scenic and serene,
offering vistas of close-in snow-capped mountains and contented cows.
Sadly, the wonderful Alpine views are occasionally marred by high-tension
power lines and towers bringing electricity to the valley from reservoir-driven
turbines up in the mountains.
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Ginny took
this photo from the rear seat of the tandem while we were
riding in the Tauern valley toward Krimml. |
We stopped at a riverside bench just past
the town of Mittersill to
enjoy our lunch of Semmels (rolls), meat and cheese. Mittersill's restaurants
were quite busy with hordes of day-tripping motorcyclists, bikers and
other tourists (it's an easy day trip from Munich).
So far, though, the cows, horses, goats and sheep we've seen easily outnumber
the bicyclists.
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| Lunch break
along the Tauern bike path, just south of Mittersill. |
After lunch and a few more miles we came to
the hardest part of the day: the long uphill from the town of Wald
to Krimml. We opted to ride on the road, as we knew from our previous
trip here that the Tauern path route to Krimml takes you along dirt logging
roads through a forest (pretty, but not the greatest for tandeming). We
simply paced ourselves, spun our low gear, and made occasional stops to
take in the beautiful views while gasping for air. We were reminded how
much fun it is to ride a heavily loaded tandem up a long hill! We had
a sense of accomplishment at the top, not to mention a great view down
the valley.
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| Halfway up
the steep hill to Krimml, with the Alps in the background. |
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| Arrival at
the small Alpine town of Krimml. |
Krimml is a nice, small Alpine town nestled at the
end of the Tauern valley, surrounded by the high peaks of the Hohe
Tauern National Park. The park is the largest in central Europe, and
is really beautiful. One of its most well known features is the Grossglockner
Alpine Road, one of Europe's first roads into the Alps. It's a beautiful
drive or ride up into the Alps, complete with glacier views. Krimml is
most known for its impressive waterfalls, some of the highest in Europe.
Most people drive to Krimml via the town of Mittersill, but it is also
possible to take the steep, switchbacked toll road from Krimml over the
pass toward Innsbruck. We have not ridden this particular pass, but I
know others have (even on a tandem). It's not for the weak-of-lung or
those without seriously low gearing!
Before we left Zell am See that morning I called Haus
Waltl, the pension we've stayed at before in Krimml.
They were holding a room for us, so we went directly there and were given
a good-sized room with a balcony overlooking the valley and the town (actually,
the same room we had stayed in on our previous trip). We highly recommend
this family run pension; they are always friendly, the rooms are spacious
(most have kitchen facilities, too, if you want to book them as an apartment),
the balconies have good views, and the breakfast buffet is good. They
cater to bike tourists, and have several garages in which you can store
your bike. They even send us a Christmas card every year via air mail!
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Haus Waltl,
our pension in Krimml. Ginny is in the foreground in the
shadows with the tandem. |
We paid our 48 euros for the night, and decided
to add "halb pension" (half board) for an additional 12 euros
each, which allowed us to eat dinner at the nearby Hotel Krimmlerfaelle.
The half board wasn't the greatest deal, as it didn't include drinks and
we probably could have done better price-wise just ordering off the menu.
But, it was convenient. We sat outside on the terrace despite the nip
in the air. We were the only people eating outside, and the waiter seemed
somewhat surprised that we weren't cold, but it was a beautiful evening
and we wanted to enjoy the mountain air. After walking about the town
a bit, we returned to the room, did some laundry in the sink, and retired
early to our comfy bed and down duvets for an excellent night's sleep
after a long day.
Daily costs 5/29
(euros): Lunch: 4; Pension (Haus Waltl): 48; Dinner: 29. Total: 81 euros/$100
USD.
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