Well, the weather was indeed willing and so were the people, so we finally unpacked the bikes from the car. We had decided to travel with them upright in the back of the car (to save loading space for important things like barbecues and chest fridges); at home, this entailed removing the front wheels, saddles, pedals and handlebars – but they DID fit in.


 We didn't want to get anything damaged on the bikes or on the car so before we left I did a bit of up-cycling (no pun intended) and turned 2 old padded coats into "bit bags": for each bike the sleeves made covers for the handlebars and I made the back of the coat into a segmented bag for the pedals plus a large bag for the tools etc. An old tennis ball stopped the saddle post from impaling itself on the rear window, et voila – complete protection! Quite proud of myself really.


 



 Anyway, back to the holiday: after unpacking & reassembling said bikes (amazing how quick it was) we set off across the river at the back of the site and along the forest path southwards which seemed relatively flat. It was wonderful, wheeling along through the trees alongside the rushing turquoise river, surrounded by meadows filled with wild flowers, cream-coloured cows & birdsong and backed by high mountains.




 We came to a village where the path turned to tarmac and tried to continue our way alongside the river, but after several wrong turnings (passing an increasingly bemused German couple on 3 separate occasions from different directions) we eventually found the onward path was forbidden to bikes. But there was no problem, as this area is extremely well served with bike paths, and all we had to do was to cross the busy main road via a mini-underpass and access the cycleway on the other side. We set off for the next village, but it was a loooong way downhill (and therefore uphill on the return...) so we dipped out and decided to save that for another day.


 Riding through the village of St Martin was a delight: we passed alpine style houses with colourful window boxes and decorative shutters, everywhere looking very tidy and prosperous, and continued on to Lofer, our local town. This was even more delightful, with painted houses and cobbled streets; the village square behind the Rathaus (town hall) housed several inns and the local church, and we paused there a while to drink it all in – but that’s all we could do because being Sunday lunchtime, everywhere was shut, including the cafes, so we rode back to the site: 8.5 miles was enough for our first outing.


 After all the exertions of the morning (for “this area is not as flat as it seemed” read “we are not as fit as we thought”) we had a long lunch break then set off to visit the lake at Zell Am See in the car. It was 20 miles down the road with scenic views all the way – the mountains rise so steeply from the valley floor everything seems dwarfed by them. We were conscious of rainclouds behind us but ahead was sunshine, and we circumnavigated the lake on a minor road.


 



 It was beautiful, with motor boats criss-crossing, the town nestled at one side with its lake fountain playing and those wonderful mountains looming over everywhere. The lawns at the northern end were full of families playing, and walkers and cyclists made good use of the path; we stopped for a while halfway down and just enjoyed the views, but the skies got darker & darker as we reached the southern end, the mountains disappeared and the heavens just opened. Good timing! A tunnel bypasses the major part of the town, and when we emerged near those lawns, surprise surprise – not a person was to be seen.

We drove home well satisfied with our trip and had a chilled evening in the caravan after a nice steak bbq.