It was in keeping with the day’s weather forecast, woke up
to a very wet day and after one of the best breakfasts on this tour, got going.
The roads were seriously wet with rain falling persistently; the first stop was
to the railway station, which was on route anyway. I was tempted to take the train but it would
have meant a 45-minute wait. On reflect, I wish I had as I almost had a fatal
crash heading to Hallstatt and then on to St Gilgen from whence to Salzburg by
bus (which was the plan), that I managed to survive.
With rain getting heavier, a short while
after leaving the station the first obstacle was a steep climb of about 500m
which meant getting off my off my bike to push it up. After getting up to the
top, relief was in sight with a flat road, soaking wet, got back on my bike trying
to avoid the pooled patches of the water on the road with a steep drop on
either side in a heavily wooded area. Next, faced with a down hill a 100m or so
into it, I braked to slow the bike down (my usual practice) with the road
getting windier but found they were not gripping in the seriously wet
conditions. In the meantime the bike is
picking up speed, brakes not functioning; thoughts running through my mind, do I jump
off, do I force a fall whilst trying to hang on to the handle bar to keep the
bike upright. I made the call to get off my seat, stand upright and hang the
sole of my left foot on to the road to slow it down with a view to coming to a
complete halt. It took me somewhere between 100m to 200m to bring the bike to a
complete halt as I went from one side of the road to the other (like a downhill
skier) and as luck would be in my favour, there were no cars on the road. With
a sole of my left foot worn out, I walked the rest of the 1.5km downhiller with
a 14 per cent decline (sign posted warning) that brought me into the outskirts
of Obertraun. Back on the bike, after
checking the brakes which by now were functioning well, I made my way to the
ferry terminal to catch the boat to Hallstatt, a world heritage listed village
on the shores of Hallstätter See. I must say, it’s cute.
Would have loved to
see it in dry conditions. After an hour or so in the village, made my way back
to the ferry to get back on the road towards St Gilgen. With rain still
persistent, decided to catch the train to Salzburg instead, which was dry and
sunny for a change.
After checking into
my favourite hostel (warmly greeted as usual) went for a quick walk around the
old town, an hour or so later into it, the heavens opened up with lashing rain. On that note and based on the weather forecast (snow and more rain), after consulting
with my mate, Hartwig in Ljubljana, made the decision to pull the plug and take a train to Ljubljana instead, which I duly did the next day.
This will be the last blog of this bike tour. I may return
to complete the remaining 6 stages later.
As usual, I came across some really nice and helpful people
along the way; like the 2 Indian guys running the guest house in Wasserburg who
made me couple of the best curries ever for 10Euros, the lovely lady who made
sandwiches for me to take in Seebruck, my AirBnb host in Altmunster (Gmunden)
who drove me to dinner, made breakfast and gave me a pair of gloves, my mate
Ellwood for his support and my mate Hartwig for hosting and putting up with me for a tad longer than planned. Most importantly to my wife, Ursula for her support and encouragement.
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