Vienna!

Well, we made it! We've crossed the Alps 2 1/2 times now, and will be following the Donau towards Salzburg for the next couple of days. Let's see, where were we... Ah! Our last update was in Bozen, Italy. Since then, we have followed a series of bike paths east along the Drau and north along the Mur over the center of the Austrian alps. Yes, we did pick the longest possible path through the core of the alps once again, but let it be known that this was ALL STEF'S IDEA. ish.

Day 10. 85/850 km. Bozen-Bruneck.
What a spectacular day! We climbed hard into a headwind all day, but what scenery! It really felt like we were in Austria already, as we passed through rolling hills and farms, surrounded by the alps. We were again reminded that grocers are closed on Sunday. Oops. The route takes a detour west toward Innsbruck, to a really wild and labrynthine old fortress that is now a modern art museum. Very weird, the modern art. Very cool, the fortress. We pushed to get to Bruneck so we could buy food, but no luck. We did find a campground though. Yahoo! and a pizzeria - YAHOOOOO! where we ate two pizza (not small ones) and a pasta dish, and drank a liter of wine. The campground was a longer walk back than I had recalled...

Day 11 - 83/935 km. Bruneck - Lienz.
After a few hundred more meters of climbing, we crossed into Austria and began descending along the Drau. A major bike route, the road and signage are great. Yet another unexpected score! Stealth camping and cheezy pasta by the river. The snowfall this year here was 10 meters - up from an average of 2 - and the downed timber everywhere belied the fact.

Day 12 - 88/1023 km. Leinz - Spittal.
A gorgeous downhill cruise today! Clear skies and the Dolomites made a great backdrop for grillded bacon-wrapped sausages, soon to become a staple lunch. :) Campground action in Spittal, we just beat the rain.

Day 13 - 85/1110 km. Spittal - Maltschachsee
Yet another stunning day! A couple of warm showers int he campground, and another great day rolling down the Drau. We had a six-pack-o´-weiners for lunch in Villach, and got alittle lost after that, after our route left the signed bike route which stuck with the Drau. We found yet another major bike route though, and ended at a great lakeside campground with a frothy pint and a plate of fries. Fantastic!

Day 14 - 68/1178 km. Malthschachsee - Neumarkt?
We had a spectacular day, and outran a huge storm after stopping to eat a chicken, a pig, and a cow, and an acre of potatoes. It was a holiday though, again, and thus we found to our dismay that the grocers were closed. We were unable to get food for dinner after seeing an amaying castle, so we stopped at a tiny bar to eat. What a time! After we began to talk/pantomine with the locals, and shared our plans, things got really interesting whenI asked what a good beer from the region was. Talk about opening a can of worms! The mayor, a dairy farmer sitting across from us, was a fan of Muraurbier, so he bought a round for the foreigners and for everyone else there. The owner of the bar insisted on making us sandwiches, and of course real Nuemarkters only drink Pultigamer beer with their sandwiches - another round is poured... The tunnel inspector insisted on a local weissbeir for his round. It flowed freely until every brewery town on our map was covered, at half a liter each... It was a map of Austria... And Then, when the locals started to stumble, they broke out a bottle of in-house pine-tree moonshine that, let me just say, was really good. Chef insisted that we sleep in the garage. All in all, a teriffic time.

Day 15 - 100/ 1278 km. Neumarkt - Kraubath.
It was so nice today that we just couldn't stop riding... We made sausages in Judensburg center for lunch, and a 35 kph tailwid half the day along with the general awesomeness pushed us into Kraubath for a stealth camp. We stopped and picked stawberries at a farm in the afternoon for a fun snack.

Day 16 - 103/1381 km. Kraubath - Mariayell.
We slept like logs despite the trains, and took a long stint on a side road today through rolling hills and farms, working our way to the headwaters of a branch tributary of the Mur. A nice steady 2%, upwind, to gorgeous Seeweisen at the very steep Alfenze Seegerg pass. Oy! We rolled down the back at twilight to a camp at Erlaufsee where we ate, drank, and were merry. Slept like the dead again. We hadn't even started the real climbing until 80 km into the day, but what a day!

Day 17 - 92/1474 km. Mariazell - St. Polten.
After a nice cup o homebrew joe, we dropped the bags and rode back to Mariayell for the morning. Our ride started with a nice big pass to exit the alps proper, and then we rolled easily down to St polten. We stopped at a festival of some kind and enjoyed a pint of ale, and watched a tractor parade. Dinner by the lake with a swim.

Day 18 - 0 miles. Vienna!