Tour of Austria - a day at the bike race in Alpendorf

On stage in Alpendorf

Mathias Frank wins - riding a camera?

Stage 4 - Matrei to Alpendorf
We popped over to Alpendorf to watch  the the conclusion of a stage of the Tour of Austria. Our day was a bit less demanding than the riders and their helpers. Our route to the Finish Line encompassed a cycle ride to the Train station, a half hour train ride and a 5 minute bus trip. The riders had to make their way from the Osttirol, down near Lienz via the Grosglockner Alpine Road. About 3000m. of climbs and a total distance of 146km. We did a steep climb but we used the Alpendorf Ski Lift to ride up and then a walk to a Mountain Restaurant. Even then we cheated a bit by hitching a ride on the back of a tractor trailer for part of the route. My pre-race meal was a Sausage and Chips with Beer, TW had a Ham and Cheese Toastie. Important to take on a few calories before the excitement.

Up on ghost mountain - the Geisterberg

Alpendorf in Summer

There is new chairlift under construction at the top of the mountain so it looked a bit industrial. They have also put together a bit of 'Ghost Mountain' theme park up there to attract families in Summer so it was a bit busy. The ghouls certainly frightened us away. The views were still great though and no doubt some great walks to be had through the forests and pastures.
Anyway, we needed to get to the Finish Line before the riders so it was back to the Cable Car for us. The riders were due to arrive about quarter to three so we had time to look around. The Team Sky Bus and Service Wagon were parked right by the finish so we had a gander. They take a wonderful man shed around with them full of bikes and tools. They can park on my drive anytime!
We had good viewpoints near the uphill finish to watch the riders come in. Young ladies were handing out sponsors flags, sweets and rather un-appetizing looking sausages. They looked like something a pooper- scooper might collect, I took two but TW forbade me from eating them. Amusingly the riders on the podium were later presented with gigantic versions, the size of fence posts! Am sure it made their efforts seem very worthwhile. The winning rider was a Swiss chappie Mathias Frank from BMC. Ian Boswell was the first Sky Rider home, in highly creditable eighth place. I think he hung back to avoid getting a sausage. He gave me his water bottle later on - a more useful souvenir of the day. Quite a gap to the main group of riders of about 11minutes. We did our best to get a few pictures, mine were mostly of the marshall's backs, TW did a bit better. You would think the guys would have had enough of bikes and saddles but they were on the rollers for a warm down outside the Hotel. We warmed down with a cool beer and then it was back on the bus and train to Bad Hofgastein.

Setting up at the finish

Respect the drivers for getting this bus around the route

Ian Boswell looking for his mates

Chris Sutton - nearly there - time for a warm down?

Local hero - Bernie gets on the bus

On the Team Sky bike rack

Mathias looking for a sausage

Cancellara rolls up

Holding the yellow jersey's sausage

The mobile laundry

Austria - Summer in Gastein, out and about in Gasteinertal

Mercury rising and falling - out and about in the Gastein Valley

Flowers bloom in the snow on Stubnerkogel

We needed our thermals at the top of the mountain as the temperature dipped to 2 degrees. Amazingly it had been over 30 degrees in the Valley the week before. Happy to report that it was not long before the sun appeared again and burned away the snow. Time to head out on the bike.

Heading South out of Bad Hofgastein

Up to the Kotschachtal

Old Bockstein at the end of the valley

On the Archdukes Way

Hinterschneeberg

The quiet byways in Gastein

Idyllic Austrian landscape in Gastein

Relaxing after lunch at the Baerstein Alm

Signs in Gastein - Cows take top billing over here

Taking Steps - Stiegl at the Fundner Heimalm

A working dog always looking for a game at the Fundner

She certainly can yodel

In the shade at the Alpen Arena Bad Hofgastein

The festival for the longest day

Austria - Gastein Valley bike ride - on the Gastein Radweg

Good day for a ride

In full flow in Bad Gastein

Looking North in Gastein

With snow on the hills down to about 1700m it was never going be too warm.  After a couple of false starts, when heavy showers swept past our balcony, I headed along the river towards Bad Bruck. Quite a few people were out walking, keeping low in the valley where the temperatures are at their highest. The swollen river rushed past as I headed upstream.  I took my tried and tested route up through the horse stables and then a very stiff climb up a forest track towards Gruner Baum (abt 1000m). Had to remove a top layer half-way as I struggled up in bottom gear. There is very loose gravel near the top so I had to walk the last few metres, no grip being my lame excuse. At the top it was layer back on as I took the bike route down, and then up again, towards Bad Gastein. I had to join a road for the first time as I climbed through Bad Gastein. Plenty of cafe's on the route but, for once, I managed to resist them. Water was piling down the iconic waterfall. A lot of properties awaiting restoration, must have been lovely in its heyday but looking sad today. I made a quick exit North from town down the Archduke Johann Promenade then up over the Railway Line and another climb before a cruise round the mountain towards Anger. Time for yet another climb, this time up to the Angertal Ski Centre via forest road. There is snow at the top of the mountain but the Ski Centre at 1200m and its surrounding lifts looked very uncomfortable and out of place surrounded by deep green grass. I headed down the main access road and then swung left on an upward path towards today's Alm. Bit of a zig-zag up past the Baerstein Alm, the Middle Station and the Aeroplanstadl. I could soon see the Fundner Alm (1400m) ahead. It looked closed but cows and goats were in the field outside.

Bad Hofgastein

The family dog greeted me from the doorway. Ah good, its open. Have never sat inside before, normally in Summer its warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the view. It is only a small wooded structure but comfortable enough for me, the dog, the Farmer, his wife and a waitress. One other customer was there, a rep for one of the Scandinavian Tour companies that bring walkers to the valley. She was planning to bring a group the following day. Will be bit of a squeeze if the weather does not warm up.
Enjoyed my Weiss beer with bread and ham, think I earned it. A bit cold on the winding descent back down to Bad Hofgastein (850m). Cycling without traffic - wonderful.

Austria - Bad Hofgastein - Return to the Mountains in June 2013

It is great to be back

Lunch at the Baerstein Alm in Bad Hogastein

We used a different route this time. Ryanair to Klagenfurt followed by two train rides. Another 'on-time arrival' was preceded by the usual anguish over the baggage. TW stretches the boundaries on the luggage limits so boarding a Ryanair plane is always a bit nerve-racking. Her bag this time was clearly over-sized and would have failed the squeeze test. Luckily she spotted that only one of the check-in staff was fussy about bags so we made it to the plane without having to ditch my supply of porridge. Klagenfurt was in the high thirties, it was like arriving in the Middle East. Nice to get on to the cool and very pleasant train for the trip to Villach. Worthersee looked beautiful as we rattled past, lots of people sitting and cycling by the shore. We had about 90 mins in Villach where we changed trains. Just time for a quick look at the Altstadt and for a lovely Beer and Pork Meal in the Villach Brewery Beer garden. It was mighty pleasant sitting in the shade with a nice cool beer. We managed to drag ourselves away and headed back to the station for the one hour train ride to Bad Gastein and the bus to home. Now, where did we put that walking map?

Speeding North

Standing on the bridge at Villach

Villach - the old town

The River Drau - still high after the recent rains

Mayday - Mayday - castaway in the Chilterns on my bike

Club Run for One?

It's the 1st of May. Water bottle filled, shades on, tyres pumped.  Wednesday is Club Run day and the sun has its hat on. Headed for the meet at Burghers in Marlow. Ooh, not many bikes tied up at the Cafe, last week 12, this week only four! Ken and Steve were doing their own thing so that left just BJ and myself. We opted to head for a favourite hostelry, the Highwayman, near Checkendon. Great, lets go. Oh no, BJ find his tyre is flat and, as his tyre is shot to pieces, he heads home. So that leaves Billy no mates! Oh well, perhaps I should head home as well!  Anyway, once on my bike, I decided it was too nice a day so I headed into the Chilterns. Tail-end Charlie took the lead for once, phew its windy at the front. Mind you, nobody was around to complain as I headed uphill at Durlesdon Lane as the lone breakaway rider. My self led tour headed left at Christmas Common and, eventually, the lovely long down hill towards the Oxford Plain. I decided to give lunch at Checkendon a miss and followed Sustrans 5 towards Stoke Row. Lack of a Map meant I needed to head for Nettlebed and the main road to get to Bix rather than a nice cross-country route. I made it OK and headed down to Middle Assendon and then up to Fawley and home. Missed the banter, the sneaky coffee stop at the end of the day. Enjoyed the sunshine, the Bluebells, the smell of the Hawthorn Blossom and the Chiltern Hills.

Austria - Bad Hofgastein - Ski Season 2012/13 draws to a close _ April 2013

A Season to Savour - 6th April 2013

The day the Graukogel closed - 31st March - half a metre of new snow!

It is the 6th of April and 7pm and I have just looked out the window into the gathering gloom. A large group of skiers is heading down the home run to the village. I imagine they have been celebrating the penultimate day of skiing in a hut on the Schlossalm. They probably have seen the weather forecast for tomorrow and have decided to finish tonight. Skiing after 5 pm when the piste-bashers are doing their work is not terribly sensible. These days the machines often pull themselves up the piste with a cable anchored to a tree. It does not take a vivid imagination to visualise what happens if the ski's go under the cable and some part of the anatomy hits it shortly afterwards.

So the season that opened on the 7th December is now drawing to a close. The volume of snow this winter has not been that great but low temperatures have kept the snow firmly on the ground. Conditions this week have been perfect with very few skiers taking a share of the pistes.
Some of the Restaurants are already closed and the staff are taking the opportunity to hit the slopes. I was surprised to find that one waitress, known by us affectionately as the 'the Madonna with big boobies', is an actually a closet snow-boarder! Sometimes the whole team from a Mountain Hut can be seen skiing together, you'd think that after 4 months working together they would have had enough. That is plainly not the case.

The place to ourselves - Feldinghutte

Sportgastein - potted palms in the sunshine

Skiing with an Austrian friend this week has been both good fun and a little arduous. After 30 - odd consecutive days of skiing my legs are starting to scream for a rest. Franz has a superior technique and seems to glide over and through the snow whereas for this English skier it is more of a fight. My Salomon Mustangs are probably a bit long which is great on the ice but a bit of a struggle on the sloppy lower slopes on the Home Run. Have enjoyed skiing on them though. My planned purchases for the season were a new helmet and goggles but, in fact, I bought neither. Instead I had to buy new poles when one broke, bought new gloves to deal with cold, a new pair of ski's (second hand of course) as the old ones were getting soft and a new jacket as the old one started to fall apart. If you ski about 11 weeks a year I suppose you can expect a bit of wear and tear.

A window on Gastein

It has been a very sociable season. When we first had the apartment we would just turn up for weekends and I would often ski on my own. Now, with other English and Welsh friends, visitors from home and our Austrian friends and TW doing more downhill its rare to have a day in solitary. We also now know a lot of the staff in the mountain restaurants so we are made welcome on our many coffee stops and meal breaks.

Tom testing his Kaierschmarrn

Austrian Mountain food is pretty simple - usually. One of TW's favourite Austrian dishes is Kaiserschmarrn. It's a chopped up pancake which was apparently made for the Emperor by his Mistress. It means the 'Kaisers nonsense' apparently. It looks a bit too tricky for me but TW and Tom have now been trained to produce this nonsense by Maria, Franz's wife.

Nephew Tom with TW on the Haitzingalm

Plenty of snow in late March!

If you catch the ski bus every day you get to know the drivers. We know Wolfgang the best, we get a morning salute as his bus pulls up. We see other drivers at the band concerts that feature regularly at the Kursall. One driver did me a special favour when I was heading up to Sportgastein early one morning. I was a bit late and was going to miss my connection until he radioed head and asked the other bus to wait for me in a Bus Stop.

End of season skiing in Bad Hofgastein

And the final day on the Schlossalm - visibility is down to nil and it getting worse! 

We gave it a good go but we were beaten by the mist and headed for the Haitzingalm for a final coffee. It was empty of guests and the owners had started their end of season clean-up. We were made welcome and chairs were taken off a table. The best coffee on the hill with a tasty nutty chocolate was delivered. Tom, the owner, supplied a complimentary schnapps - Prost! See you in the Summer!

Back on the bike in the Gastein Valley in April

England - Cornwall in February 2013

A week in St. Ives in February 2013

Porthminster Beach

February is not really the best time to be in Cornwall but it is certainly OK for wandering by the seaside. The coldest and longest winter for a while kept us inside more than we would have liked. Mind you, if you are staying at Sapphire in Carbis Bay it is not a hardship. Found the cricket from New Zealand on Sky, pity its not on our 'council telly' at home. Plenty of wheels on board in the car but no room for the bike this time as we needed to bring a variety of accessories for TMIL. Not sure which is harder, pushing the wheelchair over the cobbled streets of St. Ives or pedalling around to Mousehole?

TW and TMIL scan the beach from Sapphire

What's for Dinner - Sapphire in Carbis Bay

Coast - TW striding towards Hayle