Ross and my recharging station, high tech and well organised…
Today we started our ride from Zell am See and crossed the beautiful Zell Valley to the Salzburg Slate Alp range.
Headphones are apparently illegal for cyclists in Europe, but these are made to transfer the music through the bones into the ear, so I can still hear the traffic and talk with my friends. Having tunes whilst climbing makes life so much easier and the climb more enjoyable…
This range accounts for numerous flat stretches as well as the occasional ascent including the very solid climb up to the Dienten Saddle at 1370m / 4495ft. This route will give us a regular views of the popular Austrian onion dome churches. An influence from the east, this roof repels snow better than rectangular roofs and became a standard architectural form for most churches in central Austria.
John, Bev and I working our way up one of the steepest climbs of the day at around 15%. It was steep and lasted for nearly 2km…
We had a coffee stop along the way then followed a sweeping, fast downhill descent into the Salzach River Valley and turned north towards Salzburg. At lower elevations you find more of the classic church spires
Konrad, Michelle and I stopped in the little village of Bischofshofen and found this…
Further north we found the imposing, yet spectacular Hohenwerfen Castle where we stopped for lunch. Many of us paid our 16 Euro entry fee and joined the hoards in the castle for a look around
The field notes sounded impressive:
Certainly one of my favourite movies as a child was ‘Where Eagles Dare’, the 1968 Hollywood blockbuster with Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton leading a crack team of Allied soldiers stages a daring rescue of a US General during World War II. The castle they were rescueing the general from was Hohenwerfen….
Hohenwerfen Castle (German: Burg Hohenwerfen) stands high above the Austrian town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately 40 km (25 mi) south of Salzburg. The castle is surrounded by the Berchtesgaden Alps and the adjacent Tennengebirge mountain range. The fortification was originally built between 1075 and 1078 as a strategic bulwark atop a 155 m (509 ft) high rock.
In the following centuries Hohenwerfen served Salzburg’s rulers, the prince-archbishops, not only as a military base but also as a residence and hunting retreat. The fortress was extended in the 12th century and to a lesser extent again in the 16th century during the German Peasants’ War, when in 1525 and 1526 riotous farmers and miners from the south of Salzburg moved towards the city, laying fire and severely damaging the castle.
Alternatively it was used as a state prison and therefore had a somewhat sinister reputation. Its prison walls have witnessed the tragic fate of many ‘criminals’ who spent their days there – maybe their last…
Nowadays the bastion, enlarged and renovated several times over the centuries, functions as an adventure castle for its visitors. Among the numerous attractions offered by the fortress are guided tours showing its extensive weapons collection, the historical Salzburg Falconry with the falconry museum as well as a fortress tavern. The historic Falconry Centre is a special attraction, offering daily flight demonstrations by various birds of prey.
The best part of the castle was the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition with lots of hands-on exhibits for the kids. But not this one…
But did Leonardo come up with this one??? Steve and Michelle were impressed…
After lunching under it’s imposing form and having a tour of the castle we continued north through some brilliant gorges then into the lush green Austrian countryside dotted with heavy roofed farmhouses , it really was stunning riding territory… until the thunderstorm hit!
silly us riding towards the storm…
Our bikes were parked under that tree and luckily we managed to scramble to a country hotel just as the heavens opened….
It took about 40 mins for the storm to pass so we had some coffees and hot chocolates to pass the time before Sam arrived to pick us up…
The storm has passed on…
Unfortunately there was enough room in the van for all of our riding crew, so five of us decided to ride the last 20km to the hotel. Fortunately.the sun quickly came out and started drying the road and soon you could hardly tell that an inch of rain or more had fallen…
It was a stunning ride to the Vollererhof Hotel, which probably has the best views out of any hotel we have stayed at so far and we are just 20 minutes out of UNESCO listed Salzburg. Unfortunately, to get those views we had to climb up some of the steepest hills fo the whole trip, in some places over 16% which was brutal at the end of a 100km day. I was absolutely spent by the time I reached the hotel and wonder what the folk at reception thought when I wandered in!
