MB & Snod Blatters Alpine adventure.. Slovenia and beyond... Part 4

motobiker's post:

the next leg...

We needed to get to Zell am See - at the north end of the Grossglockner.. a fairly easy days ride, the only fly in the ointment being Innsbruck - though as it was sunday it wasn't bad at all.

the ride out of Nauders took us over a really nice road. the L17 'Piller Landestrasse' a fairly minor road with truly excellent tarmac that climbed over a mountain. the views from the top were stunning, looking back up the valley towards nadirs and the swiss border. it was a beautiful day and that - as a start to it really boded well.

we could easily have spent all the day on roads just like that. up and down and round and round, not getting anywhere particular but enjoying every minute... but, Zell am See needed us. so.. soon we were back in the valley floor and galumphing along the 171 through little villages and with the motorway just out of sight for most of the time - it became very warm again.

Lunch was at an odd American diner type place with as it happened pretty awful service. it took a while for us to even be noticed. very strange place.. Austria just isn't like that usually. but.. it seemed very popular with bikers so we stuck it out, the food wasn't bad at all. about what you'd expect from that type of place. Very popular it seemed with H-D and cruiser riders..  which outnumbered GS's. (most odd)

but, like I say. the food was good.

A Ducati turned up - which everyone made a point of ignoring. Thankfully the owner didn't spot me taking a photo...

We passed through Innsbruck fairly quickly... lots of traffic lights. but.. nothing untoward and because time was definitely on our side had a little diversion over another high road...  which passed close to a reservoir and had the inevitable gift shop at its summit with viewing area.

from there it wasn't far to Zell. and we arrived in excellent time.. took just minutes to get ourself booked in. find a half decent spot to camp. (close to the showers)

This was probably the poshest campsite we stopped at. Snod went to investigate the facilities and came back declaring it wasn't a toilet block it was like something out of Resident Evil. The fact that you had to go down stairs under an innocuous building - gave me quite a turn.

This place had everything.. aside from a chimney belching smoke. (Snod thought i was being a bit tasteless)

Once we were set we headed for the restaurant.. the view from our table was, special.

 Snod turned his back on it with more serious matters to attend to.

 Paulaner.. a firm favourite. Sadly, because Austria insists on being highly civilised, shops are shut on sunday - so no cheapo Lidl beer that day.. but hey ho. it wasn't such a sacrifice.

I just gazed at the Glockner...

 when I want otherwise engaged...

after all that we retired inside to the bar and proceeded to get completely meringue.. which as it turned out was a great strategy.. the bill for the meal and food was a bit of a shock. I was sat down.. and don't remember much about it now.

Next morning.. up early. everything packed. first stop - macdonalds.. for a typical Austrian breakfast. then lidl to stock up with beer and food for dinner.. then a shell garage to fill tanks then off for the Glockner.

it was fairly quiet. monday. not many cars or bikes once we passed the last village. through the toll. and onto the road.

theres little that can be said about that road.. its just stunning. very easy to ride.. and ride quickly if you want. we rode its full length 3 times. Determined to get our moneys worth.

The highest point... The Hochtor.  2,504 meters.  air was thin. it was cold. 1.1c but.. it was fantastic.

The tunnel.. just below it.. the inside was coated with ice - really amazing. But, despite all this. the snow, the temperature and so on the road itself was super grippy. the work that goes into opening it and then keeping it open - extraordinary.

We went for a look at the glacier...

Followed by a small treat.

then back out again...

Below the snow line was even more wonderful...

so.. we rode its full length three times... and truly wonderful it was.  this road is a MUST for anyone with an itch to travel..  well worth the effort of going. you pay €24 for the privilege - but you really do get your moneys worth. its a stunner. But.. finally we had to say goodbye. and dropped back down to the Valley floor.

And went in search of a campsite.. the next day we were heading into Slovenia.

My post:

The American Diner place was a bit strange, with slightly nonsensical slogans dotted around on stickers but it gave a hint at the car culture Austria seems to have - it's tremendous. A bit like we had here in the UK in the late '90s (so I'm told by people old enough to remember such things). We also soon saw at least two people being fined by the Polizei, you have to be careful in Austria - none of the locals speed in villages, it's serious business.

Trying to find our way to Zell we stopped at a little place called Worgl to let MB disconnect himself from his earplugs which were attacking his ears. Just a normal view in Austria.. Looking towards Zell:

 And away:

 On to Zell, and after a bit of staring at the map of the campsite discover the facilities are underneath the main building. Open the security door by swiping a keycard and you enter a world of white tiles and strange rooms, flashbacks to the underground lab in Resident Evil 2 were had. Weissbeer was needed.

After packing up the tent in the morning dew (definitely didn't mention any dews) and MB having his bike looked over by some Czech Beemer riders we were off. The Austrian McDonalds breakfast was strange in that it was actually good, with deliciously crusty bread.. Breakfast is definitely important over there. No time for this though, there was a mountain to climb! To the toll booths to hand over a bit too much hard earned, which despite there being a bike booth still requires you to ride through it fumbling with money and gloves, then fumbling with the ticket and info leaflet they give you.. But it's always the same. Thankfully just after there is a place to stop:

Having not done anything like it before I didn't know what to expect, but 2504m above sea level is really high. The gear was kept on because it's cold, and even had a go at snowing on us. I now understand why so many high passes don't open until later, May is really pushing it. The thinness of the air is noticeable, poor MB being done in by a few stairs up to the cafe (I wasn't far off myself!) and some silly Japanese bike outside refusing to start on the button, needing a group of people to push it. It was on GB plates.. We carried on to see the glacier, and parked up with about eight other bikes. Further inspection revealed they were all on GB plates, the Brits really do get about and apparently we have no imagination. My bike was of course by far the oldest though which pleased me greatly and was becoming a running theme.

As MB says we went down to the other end, then back across again, and then across again because why not? Flying Mode was employed on the brick on the final run, at least up the mountain.. It loves it. Flying Mode was not employed on the way down though because it just doesn't work so well downhill, the forks get too compressed and there just isn't enough braking. MB has none of these problems and merrily ran along at his usual pace, surprisingly hard work to keep up!

Back to just another Austrian campsite, once we found someone in charge (it was otherwise deserted):

A great day.