Day 7

August 10, 2003

Sillian, Austria to Reisach, Austria

70 Kilometres

On Sunday we continued on the bike path. It was a nice downhill run. We stopped at a little fish pond, with a miniature Viking ship. And we paid to go to this place with a big waterfall.

In Lienz we found another bike path heading east along the Drau River. We found a shady bench to have lunch, and then continued. We got to the beginning of the pass just at the peak of the heat, so we stopped for a nap before tackling it.

There were tonnes of motorcycles going up and down it. In fact, I thought I saw the same motorcycle twice. I think they must just go up and down the hill all day long.

It was another very hot climb. At the top, 982 metres, we stopped for ice cream. Then down the other side.

We rode to Reisach. The map showed the campground just at the edge of town. When we got to town there was a sign for the campground, so we followed it. It led up a hill, which was quite steep. I figured the campground was on the plateau above the town. But there was only another sign for the campground. We followed it, to another sign. And another. Finally, we were at the edge of the valley, and the sign was pointing us up the mountain. The road was very narrow and steep; probably 20%. We were too drained to ride it. We got off and walked. It was a tough slog up, but the campground was beautiful.

When we checked in we asked how late the restaurant was open. The guy said it was open late, but the power was out, so they couldn't make any hot food. As we were setting up the tent, the guy came around saying that the power was out in the whole valley, and that the showers weren't working. By this point, it had gotten quite windy, and it was actually cool. It looked like a storm was heading this way. I was in the bathroom when the power came back on. We were able to have showers. After being swelteringly hot all day, we were cold at this point. But the showers were glacier cold. I guess the water heating had been knocked out by the power outage. At least the restaurant could serve hot food. I had the calamari.


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