Day 19
Bad Gastein > Spittal an der Drau > Villach
88.8km
4 hours 47 mins
634m elevation gain
Rainy, wet, wet. We woke up to clouds in the hills and pouring rain. We thought about staying put for another night but the rain was also staying put for a few days, so there was no point. We had a big breakfast and we put on all our rain gear. Once we were through the car train and down the mountain, the rain did subside for a while, until lunchtime. The sad thing was that coming down the mountain, Shanky's pannier rain cover must have flown off as it was missing. We have tried two bike shops so far to no a avail, but we need to find something soon as his things were soggy this evening. After lunch we rode for two hours in the pouring rain, which was cold but luckily it was a nice cycle path along the river and we arrived in Villach, dripping wet but not too tired.
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| Rain and clouds in the mountains |
The car train
Today we had to take a train through the mountain 5km from Bad Gastein, there's no other way and the train carries cars as well as bikes. It's kind of like the Eurotunnel but through a mountain and not under the sea. It runs once an hour but we planned our departure accordingly. We were the only bikes thankfully and we put them into the special carriage and sat nearby. The train has a carriage either end and in the middle open side carriages for cars or vans. No passengers can stay in their vehicles, they go to either end of the train into the carriages. The train ride took 11 minutes and then we had arrived at the rainy station in Mallnitz.
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| The mountain we went through |
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| The middle of the train - car compartments |
Sights of note:
- A wide range of cacti in a greenhouse
- A couple of llamas
- Train bridges way up in the hills
- Other wet touring cyclists
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| My calzone in Spittal |
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