Monday 14th May (Rest Day Bovec)
As I said at the end of the last post, I was going canyoning in the afternoon. For any one who does not know what that is. You put on a wet suit and a helmit and slide down waterfalls and jump off them all the way down stream through a canyon. Of course you have to walk up to the start first which is quite hot in a wet suit on a sunny day. It was a fantastic afternoon. The group I was ment to go with cancelled so it was just me and the guide in the canyon for the afternoon. No one else was around, and it was a beautiful sunny day. I think it has to be one of the, or the best highlight of the trip so far. I had so much fun jumping into the pools. Some quite high for me as well. Think I may of built up the confidence for Holne Bridge. So Slapton people fancy a days play out on the Dart when I get back.
I know you have already seen this mountain in the last post but the weather was so much better on Monday I thought I would take it again.
Tuesday 15th May (Day 49)
Aim of the day, to cycle to Austria. I had to cross a couple of passes first. The first one was quite a high one of 1611m in the Triglav National Park. From my camp site the pass was 25 km away and I was only 400m high. So I set off quite early and started to follow the Soca upstream. I was begining to get a little concerned because I was not going up hill much. I had only climbed to just over 600m high after the first 14-15km. I then saw this sign and was mildly disheartened.
To put that into context, that is one hell of a hill streaching for over five miles. That is like 5 mile lane carring on at the same gradient as when you first leave the village. Needless to say that was very tireing. There was loads of hairpins on the way up.
You can see from the difference in the picture that the road was steep. The funny thing about the bends as well is that they were numbered with signs that also told you the elevation, so you knew exactly how many more you had to cycle around and how much more you had to go up. I got to the top and had a little stop for lunch. It then started to rain so it ment that I had to be a bit more careful on the bends on the way down.
Especially when I found out that on this side of the pass all the bends were not tarmac but a load of cobbles (As you can see in the picture above). Wet cobbles with a fully loaded drop handlebar touring bike is not the best combination. So my descent was very slow. I then got to a section of road works where they are obviously resurfacing the road. This ment that my pace quickened because it was nice fresh smooth tarmac. You can see how fresh because it is still warm enough to cause the rain to evaporate
Any way when I had got to the bottom of this pass (800m) I then had to climb over another pass which is the boarder with Austria. Only 1043m this time but I was knackered from the previous one. I got to the top and crossed into Austria at 4pm.
I then cycled till I found the first camp site by a nice lake and here you can see me waiting for dinner in the rain.
Wednesday 16th May (Day 50)
Not the best of days. In Austria what I am doing is trying to head due north straight though the mountains, so I am going over a lot of passes. I was a little bit late setting off so I did not bother stocking up on food where I was, I could see on the map that there was a little town before I would start to climb up the pass so I though I would get some food from there. I passed a nice little place on the was but I could not find Eve.
When I got to the road I was going to take over the pass I find that the town that I thought it was, was only a couple of houses and no shop and no where to get any food. I evaluated the situation. I was at 800m high, the pass is just over 1400m with 15km worth of cycling up and 24km of cycling down on the other side. I checked my supplies, an apple, half a bottle of tomato source and a pot of black pepper. So I ate my apple and set on up. I thought it is less than 10miles. I have cycled that on an empty stomach before. This was a long day. I was tired from the day before and the energy levels soon started to drop and I needed food. To cap it all off it started to rain as well. As you can probably tell not many photo´s from this day. Survival was my top priority. I was even wondering what the large snails would taste like if I heated them up a bit. There was lots on the road due to the rain. I then saw one get run over and that put me off that idea. I eventually reached the top after much pushing of the bike and started my descent. Because I had no energy I was not generating any heat as I was descending into the wind and slight rain so I got quite cold. But at the end I found a shop and bought lots of food and then stopped at the first camp site.
Thursday 17th May (Day 51)
I had a big pass to cross this day, 1790m. I did not want to make the same misstake as the day before. So I got up early and cycled to the nearest town on routs to buy lots of food for energy. When i got there it was quite wierd because all the shops were shut. Everything, I was looking at there opening times and they should of been open. This concerned me, but I eventually found a patisserie that was open and they told me it was a bank holiday. Not a good start, so I got a couple of pizza slices and some pastries and started on the up. I was extremely happy when I found this on the way so I had to squeeze out a bit of a contribution.
Slightly concerned that the composting chamber was right next to a small stream, risk of contamination and all. Should be a regulation about that. Again I had some nice hairpins on the way up and I had a little more energy so it was not so bad.
I got to the top in reasonable time and as you can see there is still alot of snow.
So I had a little play in the snow and then started on my descent. Being carefull because it was quite wet and very cold.
It got to the point where I was shivering so much that my right shoulder was hurting and I could not grip the handlebars without it hurting. I was not in the best of spirits at that time but just as I had about given up hope I see a small road side mountain hut/cafe
So I went inside and every body laughed at me because I must of looked a state. But they soon dirrected me next to the stove to warm me up and dry me out a little. So I sat down and had a nice bowl of soup
Sorry about the quality of the picture but the camera obviously did not like the temperature differenctial between the wet cold mountain pass and the nice warm mountain hut, so it fogged up a little. When I finished the soup it had stopped raining out side and not only did the clouds lift, but also my spirits as well.
Friday 18th May(Day 52)
As you can probably tell there is a running theme in this week and that is another day, another pass. But this day it was only a little one of 850m and it presented no serious problems. I also bought lots of food as well just incase. Because of all the little thing that have dampened my spirits I had not really enjoyed Austria to this point. But this day was the best yet (As in Austria). I was in a lovely green valley and I was quite supprised at how much logging was going on.
I wounder how many trees will be left on that slope in years to come. I also had a fantastic view of a nice U shaped valley that must of been a tributary valley to the large broad one that I was in.
I then cycled over the pass and had a lovely descent down thrrough some wood. Not overly steep and no majorly sharp bends. So I got away with out using my breaks if I used the whole road to make the corners. Much fun.
This should of been quite a momentus day because I passed the 3000mile mark. But I did so when I was outside Spar just after I bought some more food.
Saturday 19th May (Day 53)This day put the nail in the coffin for my time in Austria. I am sure it is a nice country. But when you are extremely tired, both physically (Crossing 5 passes in 4 days) and emotionally, combine that with bad weather and lake of food your spirits are low and you do not appriaciate things very much. Add to this mix a lack of or very poor road signs and I started to get a little bit annoyed. I was in a place called Steyr in the morning and it sould of only been a 3km ride out of the town, about 15 minutes. But when you spend over an hour trying to find your way around and cover 14km in the process you do start to get a little cross and shout some very nasty words at the top of your voice at the road signs. Especially if you have already seen that exact one before a couple of times. But when i got out things started to look up. The aim was to get to Linz by mid afternoon and have the rest of the day off and sort out a couple of things from the shops. The roads where quite nice, just rolling hills that reminded me very much of B category roads in Cornwall
It got to the point where I realised I was not going to see the Alps again on this trip. No more mountains on this trip, so I had a litle look behind to get one final memory
You can just about see them in the far off distance. I was both sad and happy about the prospect of no more mountains. I then saw the sign for Linz and thought that I would make the centre in good time. Again I had an episode like that in the morning. Quite stressful, a bit more shouting and cycling through an industrial train yard. Not so sure if I was allowed there or not, but I am regretting not taking a photo of it now. But at the time I think the thought of seeing a train coming towards me or some angry guards was at the top of my list. I still managed to get to the city centre by 2:30pm, so I thought great the afternoon of to get a couple of things sorted in the shop and I can have a rest day on Sunday. But in Austria there is always a problem for me. All the hostels were closed and the check in time was not till 6pm. I was hot, smelly and needed a shower and I had to go and sit down in the park for the best part of 3 hours and wait for the hostel to open. I could not do what I needed to do because it would of been to much hassel walking round a busy city centre with my bike and worry about my kit every time I wnet in the shop. Plus I think that people would start to turn their noses up at me. Basically the washing situation was despirate so I had been going comando for the past day. But all is well that ends well. It is a nice little hostel, very cheap and close to the town. Only cost 1 euro for the washing as well and it felt so good hanging it out on a washing line rather than stuffing it in a dryer.
Sunday 20th May (Rest Day Linz)
Have done bugger all really. All the shops are closed on Sunday, so the city center is dead. No supermarkets either, so I have had to buy all my food from street stalls. The only thing open. Found a nice place which does a mean slice of pizza and an amazing patisserie. I have read my book and sat in some gardens and had a look and a sit down in some churches and cathedrals. That is my favourate bit of sightseeing on this trip, going into churches. You do not have to pay anything and they are nice quite places to think.
The plan now
I will cross into the Czech Republic tomorrow and keep heading north. I will avoid Prauge, it will not be the same going there again, so I do not want to lessen the momories of the trip with the Cornwall Boys 2 years ago. I will then cross into Germany and hopefully be in Berlin for the end of May.
Cheers
