Our first rest day is behind us and it is time to hit the road again.
This morning we cut the corner across beautiful southern Bavaria in Germany before heading back into Austria taking us into the Berchtesgaden National Park. Decreed as such in 1978, it is a lush expanse of 218 square kilometres with Watzmann Mountain at its highest point (2670m / 8760ft).
There were 2 major challenges this morning as we headed into the park and climbed to the base of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. But most of us had ridden into the ride by now and the climbs were much easier than similar gradients earlier in the tour.
From the carpark we took a 10 minute bus ride up to the base of Eagles nest and then walked about 100m down a tunnel to a lift. It was quite strange for me as a history teacher who has extensively taught about the Nazi regime, to realise that I was in a tunnel, a lift and in a teahouse that Hitler had also been in. Regardless the views were spectacular.
Eagles Nest looking down from the lookout above it…
Field notes say:
The Eagle’s Nest (later named this by the French Ambassador) was a gift from the Nazi party to Hitler for his 50th birthday party.
Built by Bormann, in his Nazi grandiose style, it is an engineering marvel. Over 3,000 men worked day and night, winter and summer, for 13 months to complete the project. Heavy wooden gates guarded the opening into the mountain entrance, leading into a 124 metre (406 foot) tunnel cut into the heart of the mountain. An elevator shaft the same length as the tunnel was then cut straight up through the mountain to the peak itself. The house sits on the summit, at 1834 metres (6,017 feet).
Hitler’s Eagles’ Nest was used primarily to entertain visiting dignitaries. The Führer lived further down, in his Alpine mansion, the Berghof, on the Obersalzberg above Berchtesgaden. The trip into the long, dark tunnel and straight up in a deep elevator shaft cut into the granite made him uncomfortable; he reportedly had both claustrophobia and a fear of heights. Eva Braun spent far more time here, entertaining her friends and family!
I had been taught that he only ever visited it once, but this seems to be untrue as there were about 17 recorded visits made by the Fuhrer.
One of the views from inside…
Yes we went up in our Lycra and flip flops…
Looking back towards Salzburg…
The amazing mountain scenery…
Pete and Adam
Scotty enjoying the view of where we had ridden from that morning…
The view into the Berchtesgaden…
After heading back down to our bikes, we headed down a 20% + descent into the valley and began working our way south west back towards Austria and back into the national park. However, the temperature was now climbing into the 30’s.
Damo resting at the lunch stop…
After lunch we rode back into Austria via a recently saved bike path through the national park that rose to 30%! I had to walk a couple hundred metres on that baby as did most of us, but Chris, Megan, Deano, Steve and Sam all made it. Major kudos to them!
A dedicated bike path for cyclists through the Berchtesgaden National Park…except for the 2 buses that came through!!
Steep, hot and stuffed…
After winding our down and then through a series of valleys a small group of us including Sam, Steve, Dean, Sara, Michelle and I found a beautiful lake…and jumped in! It was FREEZING!!! But that did enough to revive us for the run through the Tirol Valley and into St Johann.
The final few km through rolling farmland and small villages was beautiful…
Hey where did Sara go?
we soon arrived in St. Johann in Tirol, a beautiful village nestled in the basin of the Leukental Valley between the majestic Wilder Kaiser and Kitzbuheler mountain chains. As a home to Celts and Romans over the centuries, this beautiful mountain village now hosts many winter and summer sports enthusiasts looking to challenge these magnificent peaks.
That night at an outdoor dinner, we were hit by a heavy thunderstorm and forced inside. It was a sign of some serious instability for tomorrow.