Day 15 - 52 miles - Gemeinde Kössen
I Scrooged my way out of the tent in the early morning still angry at the family of party goers who made me move my tent in the dead of night. I decided to ditch the usual coffee and breakfast routine and get on the road before anyone else woke up. This mood mixed with a steep climb out of the campsite in the now pouring rain made for what I think may have been a new lowest point. I stopped briefly when I met the main road to put my raincoat on and in floats Sapp, my own ghost of Christmas past who was sent here to teach me how to have fun again.
I can't quite remember how or why we first spoke but within a minute we'd agreed to travel together east through the valley. I think partly because Sapp loves everyone and partly because he needed help navigating. He was on a mission to pick up his son from a sleepover in a village that was vaguely east from us with no phone or money, not because he didn't own them but because he planned it this way. Two days prior he'd blagged his way onto a train going west from his hometown to a festival and was now cycling home to his wife with the instructions of picking up their son en route.
Sapp loves side quests, so we never road in a straight line for longer than 5 miles before he'd say we need to turn off to say hi to a friend of his (that he'd never met) or to take a dip in the river. He screamed hello and waved at every stern looking passerby and promised to teach me how to make tea from the wild flowers and get everything for free through the art of storytelling.
At one point we stopped in on a kayak shop where he launched into conversation and laughter with the owner, borrowed the owners phone to call his wife and then grabbed us a couple of free cornettos out of the staff kitchen.
As much as I enjoyed the 4 hours we spent together laughing and stumbling into funny encounters, we'd only covered 17 miles and so I had to head on without him to make up the distance for the day. What a legend.
The rest of the day was hard miles constantly climbing or descending on busy roads until I made it to Zam el See, one of the biggest tourist hotspots in the area. There was again no chance of wildcamping here with the amount of holiday goers (I told myself) so found a cheap site just out of town.
Day 16 - 62 miles - Zell am See
I'd now joined the Eurovelo 14 route that spans from just south of Salzburg to Budapest connecting the rivers and major lakes of the Austrian Alps. It was immediately obvious that I was in cycle tourist country. Although we had on and off heavy rain and thunderstorms, I was constantly in eye shot of at least one other person traveling by bike as I followed the rivers and perfectly signposted cycle paths along the water's edge.
I made it into Schaldminy soggy and hungry so chose to grab something quick in the town centre for dinner rather than cooking the same pasta dish I'd had near enough every day for the past 2 weeks. I settled for a kebab with a view of the town center then rolled back into bed.
Day 17 - 58 miles - Schaldming
As I was packing up I noticed that one of my rear bags was a lot easier to seal than usual, something that was becoming a common occurrence for me as I keep losing things along the way. After ripping everything out I worked out it was my mini down puffer jacket which is also the only warm mid layer that I had with me for the trip. I figured I must have left it at the kebab shop last night and sure enough, I cycled over and could see it taunting me from the balcony on the chair opposite my table. Famously a drunken late night food spot, it's not in the interest of kebab shops to open at 8am for English tourists. I had to break in by climbing up and over the balcony from the floor below in full view of the town square and all of the early rising locals on their way to get the milk.
Buzzing from the success of my heist, I ripped through the first 35 miles of the day at over 14mph average which is insanely high for this trip considering it wasn't flat. I definitely paid the price for this and learnt my lesson the hard way when I started to feel dizzy and faint in the midday heat with only a little water left and the biggest climb of the day just ahead. I pulled over in a disused bus stop next to a busy highway and sat for over an hour trying to cool down and begging for water from passing cars. I was instead given a warm coke zero and endless dirty looks from passersby. I later realised that this bus stop is also where I lost my puffer jacket for the 2nd time in 24 hours, it's probably still there hanging up to dry now but I couldn't face tracing back 20 hilly miles in the heat for it.
I pulled into an Aldi 4 miles from camp to stock up on dinner and breakfast for the next day and noticed the sky was turning as I locked my bike up. When I came out 10 minutes later the valley was surrounded in dark storm clouds. Thinking not much of it with only 15 minutes of riding left I set off down the road ready to get a bit wet but was flagged down on the road by a lady who screamed at me to get off the road and take cover. I followed her to an underpass where the wind and rain picked up strong enough to blow me and my bike backwards nearly falling over. She told me about the golf sized hail stones in the area that regularly smash their car windows. I need to take the weather far more seriously here.
The storm eventually passed and I made it to my camp just next to a local football grounds where I cooked dinner as the men's first team joined for their post-game beers.
Day 18 - 46 miles - Gaishorn am See
As I was packing down the tent in the morning, still half asleep, I unclipped the centre pole that pinged up at me and busted my lip open, I knew it was going to be a stinker. I stropped through the rest of packing up and got on the road and immediately felt like I normally do after 40 miles, not able to push any power through the pedals. By this point I realised that my appetite had been fading the past few days and at this point was basically gone and I hadn't been eating enough to sustain my rides. I love the simplicity of bike touring, but eating the same food every day really starts to get to you. However, out of ease, sticking to the same few things works. Breakfast: Pint of unflavored yoghurt Banana Chocolate croissant Coffee Lunch: DIY sandwich - salami, brie, tomato or cucumber if feeling zesty Paprika crisps Dinner: Pasta + tomato based sauce, 2 veg and a meat It was also around this point that I realised I was already completely desensitised to the scenery, something I've since heard from other bike travelers who also planned an Alps stint. I feel bad for admitting it, but it started to feel very repetitive. As I was traveling down a corridor valley, the riding lost a bit of the spark of adventure as I didn't have many decisions to make along the long line of similar, pristine villages in a row.
I found a cheap campsite and shared beers and stories with my German motorcycle tourist neighbor who was taking his yearly allotted week away from the family to 'go super crazy'.
Day 19 - 47 miles - Brick an der Mur
Wanting to switch things up to bring back some excitement on the route, I trawled through Google maps looking for a hefty climb that was on my rough route and found Straßegg, a 3500ft pass that began just 15 miles from my camp and had a few nasty switchbacks towards the top. I knew that this climb would take me hours, so got up and out of camp early to get to the foot of the hill as fast as possible. I made it to my planned supply stop just at the foot of the climb when I realised Id lost one of my newly purchased cycling shorts that was drying on the back of the bike. I called the campsite from last night but no luck, £100 down the drain. I pushed on.
All in all, the climb itself took just under 3 hours with stops along the way, definitely the longest continual climb I've ever completed and exactly the challenge I needed. Of course, at the top there was the most quaint Austrian pub, complete with an accordion playing owner who appeared out of nowhere to see me off with a tune as I awkwardly stared him in the eyes, smiling. The only other patrons were also cyclists, Michael and Anna who were definitely in the uber fit category of weekend riders. We had a good chat and a laugh over a beer before descending the other side of the pass together at over 35mph, probably the most exciting section of riding the whole trip.
Day 20 - 45 miles - Stubenberg
This felt like a real turning point in Austria - the quaint villages and mountains disappeared leaving me on busy A roads in the pouring rain with impatient lorry drivers. I had some of my first real sketchy close passes of the trip and decided to ride non stop until I crossed the border to Hungary. There wasn't really anything worth talking about in this stretch other than what I thought was a Shell petrol station, but inside was full of truck drivers drinking fanta and smoking whilst playing cards at 10am.
At 3pm I sailed through the border into country 4 without much of a plan, I'd been so hellbent on making it to the Hungarian promise land that I hadn't thought about where to sleep and also ignored the huge storm that was chasing me since lunch. This was probably the best mistake of the whole trip so far. I stopped by the side of the road in Kőszegszerdahely to try and work out where I was going as the wind really whipped up, to my right I heard the calls of Bori and her son Miklos inviting me inside. Miklos speaks pretty good English and helped translate the conversation between the three of us. We watched the lightning roll in from the living room and were soon joined by Bori's husband Istvan who also spoke no English. Over the course of an hour we went from drinking coffee to beer and before I knew it, Bori and Istvan were making me a bed in their home as we communicated mostly through gestures and Google translate. By this point, word was getting around town and I'd been told that the town's priest wanted to meet me as well as Anita, a friend of Miklos' who came by to help with translating and absolutely anything else I needed.
Even with the language barrier, we had a great evening drinking Pálinka (very strong schnapps) and talking about our families, countries and the future. Really blown away by their kindness, considering they happened to be the first Hungarian people id even seen let alone spoke to, great start to a new country.
Day 21 - 39 miles - Köszegszerdahely
I slept the best I had for a while and woke up late. Over breakfast Miklos was holding the day's newspaper which he was featured in as part of his work with the Köszegszerdahely firefighting department that was entirely supported through the voluntary service of brilliant people like Miklos. Both he and his father had served the department for decades alongside their other full-time work and it was clearly a massive source of pride for the family.
All around good guy Lloyd, the local priest and comedian of the town also swung by to meet me in the morning and see me off as I started riding east in the vague direction of Budapest.
The roads were such a fun change of pace from the hilly and hectic roads of the last week. I strung together a route from small town to small town on pancake flat B roads with minimal traffic. Even in the mid 30s heat I was able to comfortably cruise over 15mph for most of the day, flanked by sunflower fields the whole way.
