Bob on BAC Trans Alps 2008

Please visit August 21 slideshow

Trautenfels Castle

It was the normal morning routine with a typical Austrian hotel buffet - lots of bread, cereal, cheese, cold meat, yogurt, coffee, juice, etc. This time we had a good melon.

Jeff and I were off at 8:15. It was a little cool and fog hid the mountains. Our morning route meandered past cow pastures, small villages, rivers and streams, and farm land. We saw a ski jump, a castle (Trautenfels), and horses and buggies carrying vacationers who did not have the energy to walk. We followed one of the cycling routes for several miles. Part of the time, the routes did not allow cars, but a lot of the time they did. It's not so bad, though, because they are narrow roads and most cars avoid them. We stopped a few times to take pictures. We made a conscious decision to sight-see instead of hammer. The route was pretty flat, so we made decent time anyway.

Apple Strudel Cafe

The temperature was rising as we progressed. We were also getting hungry. So we found a market and bought bananas. Jeff saw a church in the market's town that he wanted to look at, so we slogged up a short hill to check it out. Back on the route, we got to the 48 km mark and found a bunch of our tour mates sitting in a patio of a nice looking cafe. We sat down just as they were leaving. They said that the apple strudel was the best in the world. We needed some real food first. Jeff had some wurst while I had a bowl of goulash soup. Then we had the apple strudel with lots of real whipped cream. It was very light and and had lots of flavor.

Old Mill

It's a good thing we ate when we did because we started to climb right away. It was a gentle rise at first and then it became very steep for a mile. Near the top, we stopped to catch our breath at an old mill that had a water wheel (not working) alongside a raging stream. After cresting the hill, we could see that we were in real Austrian alpine country. There were enormous mountain peaks surrounding us, beautiful green alpine meadows and several ski areas.

Buffalo Near Ramsau

We went through Ramsau which is a famous ski resort and then started a steep descent. Before we went very far, I noticed a small herd of buffalo in a meadow next to the road. We stopped to take pictures of them and the surrounding countryside. Jeff decided to take some wildflower photos. He got down real low and poked his camera through a fence. I heard him shout and saw him jump back. I thought the he got a bee sting. Instead, he got a shock from an electric fence wire that looked innocuous. No harm though - just an adrenalin rush. He said that it was much stronger than the electric fences in Oregon which made me wonder how many times he has done this.

We continued down the hill thinking that we had done all of the climbing for the day. My altimeter reading, though, was about 1500 feet shy of the day's estimate. We found out why shortly after we reached the bottom of the hill. There was another climb before we reached our hotel. This one started gradually and then kicked up to 12% for 2 km's. Then we had a sort, fast downhill to our hotel.

Hotel Hotel Seitnalm is a family resort hotel. It is huge. There is an indoor pool (probably for the winter guests), a sauna, a kids petting area with farm animals, a fenced area out the deck from our room with goats, rabbits and chickens, several restaurants, etc. Our room is a small double. It's very clean and has a good shower.

Dinner on the Terrace

We had dinner tonight on the outdoor terrace. It was sunny and warm when we started, but dark and cool when we finished. Most of our group had to go to their rooms for extra clothes. The dinner was pretty good, though. I had prosciutto and melon, a clear soup with parmesan bread sticks, salad from the salad bar, chicken with pasta and biscotti with cream for desert. Jeff had the same starters. His main course was seafood with garlic mashed potatoes and vanilla ice cream for desert.