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A TANDEM BIKE TRIP ALONG THE
TAUERN BIKE PATH IN AUSTRIA & GERMANY
MAY 2002
INTRODUCTION
The route: By air to Munich,
Germany. By van transfer
from the Munich airport to the small Alpine village of Krimml, Austria.
By bike to Passau, Germany. By train back to the Munich area. Prior
to doing this ride together on the tandem, I (Brian) had ridden it the
previous year with my brother, Steve. Ginny and I have also biked part
of it again, in 2004, as part of our Czech Republic biking trip. A complete
write-up of that trip is also available
online. If you are looking for info on riding the Tauern, I'd suggest
reading this narrative first, followed by the relevant
pages (days 8-11) on the other trip report. In particular, on the
subsequent ride we rode the alternate
route of the Tauern path, which connects Zell am See to Salzburg via
a route through Bad Reichenhall in Bavaria, Germany (which we liked better
than the all-Austrian route).
Why is it called the "Tauern" bike route
(Tauernradweg)? The route starts in the Austrian national park called
"Hohe Tauern," which features beautiful snow-capped mountains
and glaciers (Grossglockner is the highest, at nearly 3800 meters/12,461
feet). It's the largest national park in the central area of Europe and
has some stunning scenery. The Hohe Tauern includes the highest peaks
in the Austrian Alps. Eventually the Tauern bike path joins up with the
Inn river bike path, and the two coexist until Passau. However, occasionally
you may see a sign for one or the other; as long as you are following
the river downstream to the Danube (Donau), you won't go wrong.
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| Route
map from the BikeLine Tauernradweg book. We rode the red route this
trip, and rode the orange alternate
route on a subsequent trip. |
When: Saturday, May 25
to Thursday, May 30, 2002.
Who we are: Brian and Ginny Wasson,
from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Our preparation: We researched and reserved
a van transfer from the Munich airport to Krimml, as well as our
first-night's lodging in Krimml. Apart from that, nothing else was reserved
or prebooked. Late May/early June is still off-season in this area, and
we did not anticipate any problems finding lodging each night. We used
the excellent BikeLine
map/guide (available only in German, but the maps alone are worth
the purchase price ) to the Tauernradweg, which I had purchased for my
previous trip.
The bike: Santana
Fusion tandem bicycle with S&S
frame couplers. 27-speed drivetrain with 28-38-48 chainrings and an
11-34 cassette. Blackburn Expedition rear rack and a Tubus lowrider front
rack. Ortlieb
panniers front and rear, and an Ortlieb handlebar bag with the padded
camera insert. We always bring along our mascot "Hans the Hase,"
a dollar-store bunny (Hase is German for rabbit); Hans has a Ziploc baggie
for foul-weather protection. Although our tandem is designed to be disassembled
and packed in two cases for airline travel, on this trip we decided to
just use the standard airline-provided cardboard boxes. We disassembled
the bike a bit to fit it in the box (well, we had to extend the box a
bit by sliding two boxes together). Upon arrival we disposed of the box,
and then got another one for our return flight.
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| Our
loaded tandem, with "Hans the Hase" providing mascot/tailgunner
duty. |
Notes:
If you see any mistakes, typos,
or other things that need to be corrected please e-mail
me and let me know!
ON TO THE TRIP REPORT >>
INDEX
Trip
home page
Day
1: Munich airport to Krimml, Austria, via van transfer
Day 2: Krimml to Zell am See
Day 3: Zell am See to Werfern
Day 4: Werfen to Salzburg/Anthering
Day 5: Anthering to Braunau
Day 6:
Braunau to Passau
Resources
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