Wow, lots to talk about today!
Waking in the heart of Bavaria, in the Gasthof Negele, after a good night’s sleep… Overcast, cool, did some taiji out the front, in the shadow (had there been sun) of the strange flagpole, festooned with images of community life, like some weird Germanic totem pole. It fitted well with the strange wooden carvings scattered around the car park and on the large and darkly lit main staircase.
I found Jim in the Shining-resonant emptiness of the breakfast room - we were the only people there for the whole meal, although one other table had places laid, nobody showed up. Two coffees seemed appropriate, to go with the scrambled egg on toast, it could hardly be more like a dream anyway. We rode away having exchanged only “Morgen”s with the breakfast staff, a young lady who was working hard to replenish the buckets of fruit salad, coleslaw, “fleischsalat” and other mysterious preparations.
We’d hatched a plan to make our way on smaller roads, using the previously mentioned technique. It worked really well until lunchtime - gulaschsuppe and a couple of large coffees in Mittersil, didn’t seem to be much point in changing something that worked really well. By that time we’d already taken a dodgy side road involving gravel, negotiated many hairpins, and gone up and over a couple of lower passes - surprisingly cold! However, it was when we set out to cross the Hohe Tauern, using the Grossglockner pass that things got interesting.
David’s email from Tuesday had indicated the Grossglockner was open, so in the interest of maximising the experience, we set out to find it. It wasn’t until we got to the point where you can’t turn off until you’ve actually crossed it that we noticed the large orange strips across all the “Grossglockner” signs, and finally a “Pass Closed” sign… Oops. Now what? A quick check of the map - should we go back to Mittersil, and take the conservative option? It would probably mean a couple of hours more travel, and we are already 5-6 hours in… Then Jim noticed the other pass, which involves a tunnel, to the east of Grossglockner. Easy choice! that way we don’t turn back on ourselves at all.
So some time later, we arrive at the tunnel. Strange! There’s a sort of portal, labelled Autokasse, what looks like a village railway halt, and further up the line, a large stone arch “Franz Josef MCMIX”. There is no more road… which we prove by going as far as we can, and having to turn around. Then it strikes - you go through the tunnel on the train!! OMG! Nah - too complicated, no sign of life, trains or people, no timetable on the building, let’s somewhat dispiritedly turn around and drive back through Mittersil and go the boring way.
Then a small car arrives, and forms a queue of 1 at the booth. Shortly after, another rolls up and makes it a queue. Then, amazingly, a funky red locomotive appears, pulling a surprisingly long train of low loader wagons for cars, along with a single passenger car. We quickly mount up and join the waiting cars - will they even take motorcycles?? It’s €17 each, so obviously they do…
We get to be first on, ride down the train, the nice man gets us to arrange them as required, and he then straps them down. We join the other passengers in the people car - why does everyone else seem like this is an everyday thing? I guess it is for the man in the HVAC company white van…
Erste Klasse! Where's the buffet?
After that, the journey through the tunnel is almost an anticlimax, with a longer section in the open on the other side. Jump on the bikes, set the GPS for David’s place, and off we go. Less than an hour later, after lots more twisty-turny-hairpinny roads, up and down, we get to Weissbriach 26. David's round at the jet wash, but Christina greets us generously, the bikes go in the garage, and the beer goes in the glasses en route to the tummies! Lovely spot, and we're glad and grateful to be here!!
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