A Tandem Tour of CZ and Austria

Zell am See, Austria to Krimml, Austria (42 miles by bike)
Day 8: Saturday, May 29

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.