Song of the Month: June
Saturday, June 21st, 2014Song: On the Road Again by Willie Nelson
Why: I can’t think of a better song to describe our travels this month, and I’ve always liked it anyway. There is a 410km (that 255 miles!) bike trail from Salzburg Austria to Grado, a beach town on the Adriatic sea in Italy. It’s called the Alpe-Adria trail. Last year I wrote about a day trip that we rode from Villach to Venzone, but I really want to ride the entire length. While I don’t have time to do it all at once, we decided to ride sections whenever we have a few days. A 3-day weekend this month gave us the chance to ride from Salzburg to Spittal, 160km. The trail initially follows the Salzach River, so it’s nice and flat, but eventually if you go south you will have to cross the Alps. The hardest section was on day 2 with an uphill finish in Bad Gastein, but the views from the waterfall there made the struggle worthwhile. The trail cheats a little and takes an 8km train through a tunnel, rather than climbing 1000m over the mountain. (The train is really cool – you can drive cars onto it or bring your bike). You are then rewarded with a very long downhill glide into the valley.
The weather was beautiful, but unfortunately the hottest weekend we’ve had all year. A nice side benefit though, is that when you are riding all day you can eat whatever you want, including many stops for ice cream! The pace of bike touring really allows time to soak in the scenery, plus the trails and side roads that you take give a totally different view of the countryside than what you get on the highways in a car.
One of the views we were treated to as we rode up the valley:
Another “country road”… (that’s me on the right)
halftime