Day 3 – June 28, 2025
As for me, even if I go late to bed, I get up relatively early - so we were in the saddle by around 9:30. We bumped into the Brazilian girls - well, let us say so, they looked a lot better the previous evening, them having slept like two hours. I had at least one hour advantage on them. Levente had slept rather well.
A year before this trip in 2024, I had started a 6-week trip from Salzburg that took me all the way to Bordeaux in France. We started following my one-year-old footsteps, better, treadmarks.
We had to cross Salzburg, Levente was impressed by some modern architecture.
The roof of the central station
The building is winking at us
We reached the Salzach, crossed it and were riding towards Germany, well, for a little while at least. This place is called the "Kleines Deutsches Eck", the "Small German Corner" - the border forms sort of a bulge - so if you want to go southwest from Salzburg towards Tyrol, you will have to roll through Germany for a few dozen kilometers, before crossing back to Austria.
Pleasant atmosphere along the Salzach
Riding towards Germany
You gotta love such roads (Levente and I do!)
Just before the border, still on the Austrian side, we reached a nice pilgrimage church in Grossmain, with origins going back to the 15th century. We found votive images painted on wood.
Pilgrimage church of Grossmain
Votive images
There was a shy yellow sign proclaiming we were in Germany, these are probably the only remnants of the once-famous Schengen area - now that even Poland introduced border controls to - surprise, surprise - Germany. The weather was pleasant for riding, some clouds, but not all too hot.
Perfect riding weather in Germany
Pleasant countryside, a glimpse of the author on the left
History repeats itself, reaching the outskirts of Bad Reichenhall, I made the very same navigational error as the previous year - instead of rolling down a mile or so on a rather busy major road, the bike path veers waaay uphill for multiple kilometers - with erroneous signs - then drops back. On the first incorrect crossing, we decided to turn around and roll down the major road. Suddenly, we both heard an unpleasant loud sound coming from Levente´s bike - luckily, it was nothing too bad, it was just that his luggage shifted and was grinding on the frame. Pheeew, it could have been worse had the straps gotten caught in the wheel.
We reached the Saalachsee, an artificial lake formed by a damn on the small river Saalach.
Saalachsee
...as really nice, here on more!
The bike path next to River Saalach
...and yet again history repeats itself - similar to missing the "real" Grossalmstrasse, I promised Levente there would be a really exciting section, where the bike path goes on narrow planks next to the raging river. Alas, I must have suggested a wrong turn, we never reached this section in path - the one I have been raving about. We were, however, compensated by wonderful nature all around us.
Thank you...
...Mother...
...Nature!
Anyhow, even without noticing, we got back to Austria and continued our trip on the bike path. Here the road widened and we were greeted by the view of a waterfall - at the foot of which was a pond with crystal-clear water. Are we gonna take a dip there? You bet we are!
The inviting pond
Happiness
Energized after the dip
We eventually reached Lofer, a pretty town tucked into the mountains. Yes, the town is pretty, but even prettier is the mountain pasture world (Loferer Almenwelt) above it - I had hiked and biked there a couple of years back. Highly recommended!
Close to Lofer
Lofer and its vicinity
Downtown Lofer
No traffic jams
Similar to Mondsee, we thought we were going to have a quick break, but it turned to be much longer than anticipated. We bought some supplies at a local store, then noticed a nice pasture opposite the store and we watched the clouds fly past above us.
When we finally got our act together, we basically had two options - to continue westwards, towards St. Johann, (like I did a year before) or head south in the direction of Zell am See. Back then, we were toying with the idea of crossing the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse.
Now we were riding in a wonderful area where I had not been to earlier. There was a beautifully-kept bike path next to the road - as with all bike paths, it was a bit of a roller-coaster. Levente was listening to music, I was trying to keep up with the happenings of Pride in Budapest, which my fearless government prohibited - despite this, roughly 300,000 people attended it. This gives me the smiles, the political part, but we both had smiles on our faces looking at the wonderful nature around us.
Peace...
Fellow bikers
Small chapel
A chateau on the hill (if you look closely)
Above us, was a high mountain peak, just below its summit was something glittering in the sunshine. Levente checked out it was a mountain refuge called Peter-Wiechenthaler Hütte, high up in the rocks of Persailhorn, at 1,752 meters.
Peter-Wiechenthaler Hütte (if you look closely, it´s the white thing to the left of the summit)
The bike path was not only well-kept, they also made sure to pay a tribute to the arts.
For artsy bikers
Levente captured a wonderful afternoon sunshine, mixed with some clouds.
Afternoon sunshine
We arrived to Saalfelden, which probably used to be a nice town - there was not much love lost there, so we continued towards Zell am See. We had a beautiful view of the snowcapped peaks of Grossglockner, right in front of us.
Wonderful view of the Grossglockner hiding in the clouds
Talking about wonderful views, on a tiny road, I believe we have found what might be a contender for the Most Beautiful Spot in Austria. To the left, mountains, high above in front of us a pasture with cows, a small village with a wonderful church, to the right, the Grossglockner. Not sure how videos work out in a blog, but I will make an exception and try to paste it in. Here it goes.
The Most Beautiful Spot in Austria
Here is the small church from up close.
The church
The small road went next to a pen with very "unshy" sheep - they literally ran to us, greeting us with loud "baaa" (as I found out, this is called bleating, thanks, AI).
Baaaa-llooo!
Finally, we reach the lake Zell am See, on the northern shore of which was a campground - very full and not really attractive. We decided to ride another couple of kilometers to the south shore - and yes, this place was a lot nicer.
Our campground
We ordered a sosolala pizza and while it was getting ready, we pitched our tents. The tenant was a rather unfriendly Austrian lady, helping her was a young guy from Bangladesh - he was, quite to the contrary, very friendly, ever offered some fresh chilly to spicen up the otherwise mediocre pizza.
Our neighbor was Peter from Switzerland, a psychologist who just retired and now was enjoying his freedom, riding around in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Levente struck up a conversation with him and we talked quite a bit that evening and the following morning. He had a very gentle personality and reminded me of Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting - maybe they made the movie based on him? Who knowns...
At around 10 pm, after a nice bath, we retired in our tents, hiding from the mosquitoes.
After 8 pm...still an amazing view
Here is the link for the route of the day: Day 3 - June 28, 2025 - about 89 kilometers.