Really not all that much to say about our day off in Bled. We swam in the lake, generally hung around and went up to Lesce where there was a bike shop to pick up some replacement parts. It was a nice recovery day after crossing the Alps, but we didn’t get up to all that much.
This was the last day in Austria, we would be entering Slovenia but one more pass stood in the way. Despite not spending that much time in the country, we both agreed that Austria had held some of the best days of riding we had done so far. The scenery was always amazing and the climbs, even though they were tough, we really rewarding. That said, it was going to be nice to get down out of the mountains for a bit and have some days without big climbs.
The lake that morning was covered in a thin layer of mist as we left, a bit earlier than usual. We rode out along quiet Alpine back roads at first, up in the hills, before descending down into a valley an joining up with a main road.
Every descent we had to make was a bit disheartening, we knew there was one more pass to cross before we got into Slovenia. We passed through our last Austrian city of Klagenfurt, stopping for some breakfast out of an Aldi and then started out towards the pass and the border with Slovenia.
One long, curving descent into a wide river valley later and we were at the foot of the Lobl Pass which would climb, according to our map, up to 700 m, then descend, then kick up again to 1300m. There also seemed to be a tunnel near the peak, hopefully we could use it.
view of the last pass from the valley
this pass gets two thumbs up
filling up on water from a mountain stream
crossing into slovenia in the tunnel
descending into Slovenia
arriving at lake Bled
campsite at Bled
No pass to cross today! We did have to do some climbing, but it was all gradual, only about 600m vertical that was mostly an easy climb.
Leaving the campsite in the morning we followed the cycle route again through a golf course and some villages, back into the main road. The main road then took us downhill for a bit into the town of Stadl. From Stadl we started to climb up beside a river, that turned into a fast flowing stream as our surrounding moved from valley to gorge.
We crossed a dam and then everything opened up again. Before too long we were in the small village of Flattnitz at 1400m, a small village with a few chalets dotted around and a single ski run. We had lunch here.
The descent from Flattnitz was brilliant: long, flat stretches of road and no switchbacks. It always seems like the descents don’t last long enough for the work you have to put in getting up to them.
We then rode along rolling hills for two hours into the town of Feldkirchen. Austria, like Germany (at least the parts of Germany we were in) shuts down on Sunday, no stores at all are open, no supermarkets, pretty much nothing except a smattering of cafes. Feldkirchen felt like a ghost town as we rolled in. We got to the centre square and found one cafe open where we got some ice cream and cooled off from the heat.
We got out of town around 5.30 and cycled on, hoping to find somewhere to camp quickly but it took an hour and a slight detour before we came across anything. We ended up at a small lake that took a bit of riding off our route to get to, but ended up being really nice, well worth the detour. It was our last night in Austria, tomorrow we would cross over into Slovenia.
last campsite in Austria
The main event do today would be crossing the Sölk pass, a pass that would take us up to 1788m, if we made it. Yesterday’s pass had been quite difficult, but we mainly put that down to the heat. With clouds on the horizon there was hope yet that the difficulty of the upcoming pass wouldn’t be enhanced by the heat.
We had about 30km to ride before we arrived at the base of the pass and we covered that quickly, it was all on main road and quite flat – but still with great views of the surrounding mountains.
There were loads of bikers (motorbikes) at the base of the pass, having a coffee before the went over the mountain. I had a feeling their experience would be very different to ours. We were starting at 680, so we had 1100m vertical to do. The pass was 26 km long though, so it wasn’t going to be a steep climb the whole way.
It started with a 16% kick but soon mellowed out into a more gradual climb up through the mountains. We followed for about two hours, after an hour the clouds came in and it was nice and cool.
lovely clouds
Here the climbing got a bit harder and we really started to feel it. There was another kick that lasted about 1500m and we thought at the end of it we should be at the top. Pushing hard we got around the corner and…still 300m to climb of steep switchbacks.
It was lunchtime though so we cut the ascent in half and rolled into a hotel that happened to be right there that was serving hot lunch. As soon as we sat down there was a huge clap of thunder and big, heavy raindrops fell. We ate lunch (a great dish called Speknockrel) and started up again about an hour later, well rested and fed.
The rain was really coming down as we finished the last 300m but cleared up once we reached the top, and what a view. This was the biggest pass we would have to cross going over the Alps, it was really a relief to have it done now.
looking back at the pass from near the top
starting the descent
chuffed with the effectiveness of the tarp
better shot, the next morning
Today was Finns birthday and he got to spend it crossing our first Alpine pass! What a gift.
lake wolfgang
down into Bad Ischl
Nicely cooled down after our dip we had lunch in town and got ready to cross the first pass of our trip over the Alps. It was really hot still so we waited around as late as possible, hoping the heat would dissipate a bit. It did not.
We started climbing shortly after four and it was soon apparent this would not be easy. We had 500m vertical to do and the road was completely exposed to the sun. We both had to stop every couple of meters to cool down and so it was about 90min later by the time we reached the top.
almost at the top
At Bad Mittendorf we looked around for somewhere to camp. We finally spotted a small stoney beach on the other side of a stream, sheltered by trees. We carried our bags and then bikes over the water and set up for the evening, having a good wash in the stream.
In the morning we went for a swim before packing up and heading out. We had planned another relatively short day so that we could spend the afternoon in Salzburg before riding a little way out of the city to camp in the evening.
the lake in the morning
This scenic route brought us almost to Salzburg, where we then turned on to the Mozart cycle route that brought us all the was to the city. We crossed the bridge into the city and left Germany behind. We would be here in Austria for about a week while we crossed the Alps.
riding in the wood along the Mozart cycle route
coming into Austria, goodbye Germany
Salzburg old town
riding along the top of Lake Fuschl
Sunset at Fuschl
our campsite the next morning
It was pretty warm when we woke up this morning at 7, it was going to be a hot day. We cycled on the main road for a while which was a bit busy seeing as it was morning rush hour but after about 15km we got to Grafing where we were able to turn off the main road and get onto smaller back roads, similar to what we had been riding into Munich.
A short while outside Grafing we got our first glimpse of the Alps, way off on the horizon and obscured by the haze, but definitely there. You might be able to make them out in the photo.
can you spot the mountains on the horizon?
The route was really picturesque through more German countryside and small villages. We weren’t going very far today, we wanted to stop a bit outside Salzburg so we could get in early tomorrow and spend the day there.
casual frisbee break
Lake Chiem was a popular holiday destination and every beach or jetty was packed with people but it was still beautiful with clear blue waters and framed by the Alps towering in the distance. We rode along the shore for a while, hoping to find somewhere that wasnt packed with people by the lakeside where we could camp. We didn’t have to search long and after cycling for maybe 20 minutes we came across a stoney shore which some low hanging vegetation off to the side the blocked sight from the road, it was perfect.
We hung out here for the rest of the day, swimming, doing bike maintenance etc.
During our stay in Munich Finn had noticed his Dynamo hub was not working properly. He left it in with some mechanics on the morning we were to leave, and they were also unable to get it going. However, we were only a three hour train ride from Tübigen (in fact we had passed through it a couple of days before) where the hubs were made.
We decided to push our date of departure back a day, Finn took the wheel off his bike and locked it up and left for Tübigen. I went and found a cheap place to stay in Munich for the night nearby where I could keep all our luggage.
I went back to Finns bike in the morning before checkout and put his bags back on his bike and then locked them all up. After that I cycled back, loaded up my bike and checked the messages from Finn,meh said he had had a successful morning in Tübigen getting his hub fixed at the factory and would meet me around two.
His train ended up being delayed and didn’t get in until three. Some
last minute errands including returning to Guten Biken meant we didn’t get out of the city until six. We only had a few hours of daylight left, we wouldn’t get that far but we didn’t to at least get out of the city limits so we could start making progress right away the next day.
We rode through suburbs of Munich for about an hour until we crossed the Autobahn that circled the city limits and we were back into countryside. At eight we stopped into a pretty fancy Chinese restaurant by the road to fill up our water for the night. Not ten minutes further down the road we found a field just of it to camp for the night.
Our time in Municn had been the longest time off the bike and sleeping indoors since we started and it was nice to be out camping again, even if we had only ridden for two hours today.
camping just outside munich
Our last day before reaching Munich! We were going to take a whole weekend off in Munich, two days instead of our usual one and we left camp in high spirits.
“we cant keep taking photos of eachother taking photos”
Sunny weather and a minor headwind in the afternoon. As we were entering the greater Munich area and started to think about finding the right route into the city a cyclist came riding up beside us. His name Christoph and after asking us a few questions about where we were going, where we’ve come from he inquired where in Munich we were going. As it happened we were heading to the same neighbourhood he lived in and was returning to and offered to lead us into the city. We graciously accepted.
Christoph was a really interesting guy with a long history of cycle touring in his family, his father and grandfather before him were avid tourers. He told us of a contraption he had constructed so that he could haul his 4m sea kayak behind his bike on tours. He dropped us off right in the city, not 5km from where we were staying.
We were staying with a Warmshowers host named Daniel. A really welcoming and relaxed guy, he had been on many tours and understood completely what it meant to take a rest day. With two days off the bikes ahead of us we took it easy this evening and hung out with Daniel on his flat learning about the many trips he had been on.
Daniel lived on the same street as the Bayern Munich training ground
On account of the few little setbacks yesterday we had about an extra 30km we had to cover over the next two days to reach Munich (ground that we should have covered yesterday). Not too bad, nothing compared to the Strasbourg push we had to do. 
We rolled down the hill we camped on and cycled into Bad Urach, the nearby village. Out of Bad Urach we had a 4km climb up,to the next plateau, but the gradient wasn’t too steep and it was just a matter of time getting to the top.
From here we found the cycle network again and followed it a while, up over hills and along the edges of farmland and forest. There was a nice rhythm to the day, climbing up a hill, seeing a small village or town in the distance with the church spire at the centre and then descending down into the settlement, only to repeat the pattern again.
A bit before lunch we finished a climb and saw our halfway point, Ulm down in the plains below us with its cathedral standing well out, dwarfing everything around it. We later found out this was because Ulm Cathedral is the tallest in the world. And also not technically a cathedral.
you might be able to spot Ulm cathedral at the centre
He tried to offer directions to where we wanted to go, but it was too complicated and in the end he generously led us out himself. His name was Wolfgang and loved bike touring himself, had just returned from cycling around Italy. 30 min later he dropped us off at the edge of town on the right route. We said goodbye and set off.
Finn with out guide Wolfgang
it got a bit chilly in the evening
campsite in the morning
don't hurry the journey 