Austria, one of the countries on my list that i have been both excited for, but also feared how it would turn out. Austria got mountains, lots of mountains and it's no secret that with a loaded bike this might prove a challenge for a Dane who don't really have that at home.
Lucky enough I had a plan that I stringed together a few days before I reached Austria. I was told by a fellow biker that there was a river running through all of Austria that I could be following. Indeed there was, this green river was going to be my navigation for the next (800km?) and i was totally fine with that, in fact I was thrilled.
The river lead me through beautiful small cities, hills that eventually turned into mountains and mountains that just became bigger and bigger.
So as a tour biker you go slow, really slow and often you get your confidence smashed by fast road bikers who might as well move as fast as the cars. Now, when I took a break I noticed something from the hill I just climbed myself:
It didn't seem to move, but it was moving, just very slow. It couldn't be... Could it?
Yes indeed it was some fellow tour bikers!
This wonderful couple from Belgium were heading the same way as me and we figured we might as well join up with each other. We spent the whole day together biking, sharing meals and having a good time. I got to admit, it was really nice after so many days alone to travel along with somebody and even better they were just as slow as I was!
At the end of the day we found a nice and cheap campsite(first time using a camp site!) where we made some primitive burgers together and they shared with me cool stories about the many places they had been together biking, everywhere from many places in Europe to Thailand. I really envy them that they had been together for 7 years and had this great thing that they did together and you could feel they were so alive with each other. I was happy to be the third wheel(pund intended) with this awesome couple for a day!
After some hours of relaxing, eating and talking we called it the day! Next day our paths splitted, I decided to stay on the campsite to do some hiking in the nearby area. But they had a tighter schedule than me and had to keep going. Nonetheless I was grateful for their company and enjoyed every bit of it.
That's was it for now, there will be coming a part 2 of Austria since I still have a lot of Austria to cover(a lot of zig-zag through the country!) In the upcoming days I will have to climb with the bike over some passes in the mountains and its gonna be fun to see how that turns out.
Stay tuned for more!
Holm