Touring Center Austria (TCC2402)
Today we stayed in Austria and our main goal was to drive the famous Nockalm panoramic road. On the way there, we stopped in Gmünd, a small medieval town just north of Lake Wörthersee. Strengthened by a coffee, we first took a detour along the winding Maltatal country road up to the Kölnbrein reservoir with its impressive 200m high dam wall, the highest in the whole of Austria. Then we headed to the highlight of the day, the 35km long Nockalm road, which winds up through the mountains to over 2000m. Unfortunately, the weather there was rather poor, so we didn't have much opportunity to enjoy the great views that this road normally has to offer. Nevertheless, we had a good tour today and the sun came out again on the way back to the hotel.
Another great day is behind us. Completely different from the first, but both were fabulous in their own way. Today we headed east to Styria, the birthplace of the famous Austrian Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yesterday's weather forecast had actually predicted clouds and rain showers all day today. We were therefore very pleasantly surprised that it was dry in the morning and that the sun accompanied us at least until midday. The landscape in Styria is completely different to what we saw yesterday in the Nockberge mountains. No more high mountains and narrow roads, but hills full of vineyards and wide roads with long bends. One of the highlights of our tour today was a visit to the famous heart-shaped road in the Austrian-Slovenian wine region, and hearts seemed to be the theme of the day. As soon as you look out for them, you see them everywhere, even at a little coffee station. On this trip, we constantly cross the borders between Austria, Slovenia and Italy. Fortunately, there are no more border controls, so there is hardly any reason to stop at a border. But we had to do it at least once to take a photo with the Slovenian national sign.
After the weather forecast promised us perfect motorcycling weather for today, we set off to explore the motorcycling paradise of Slovenia. Our first highlight came just a few kilometers after leaving our hotel, the Loibl Pass, a north-south connection used since Roman times, which led us to Slovenia. After testing our motorcycle on this first mountain road, we made a stopover in Bled, a very beautiful small town in Slovenia with a beautiful lake, which is one of the main attractions in this area. Over many small roads through the beautiful Slovenian countryside and countless bends, we slowly made our way to the Triglav National Park, where we crossed the border into Italy before heading back to our hotel in Velden.
One of the great advantages of a touring center is its flexibility. After the weather forecast announced rain this morning for the afternoon, we decided to only do half a day's riding today to get back to our base hotel in Velden dry. After a hearty breakfast, we set off in a south-easterly direction for the first time tomorrow, crossing the Drau. Then we continued along the Karawanken over the beautiful Schaidasattel, which is not very busy. After a short detour into the Trögerner Klamm gorge, which is well worth seeing, we stopped in Bad Eisenkappel for a little refreshment before tackling the Seeberg saddle with its countless hairpin bends. Once we reached the Slovenian border, we turned around and made our way to our lunch stop on the Magdalensberg. The hotel on the hill not only impressed us with its local cuisine, but also with the impressive 360-degree panoramic view over this part of Carinthia. As the rain clouds were already approaching at this point, we decided to take the direct route back to the hotel and our plan to avoid the rain completely almost worked out, but 10 minutes before we reached our hotel, we were briefly caught out. However, the many great roads we were able to ride today were well worth the short downpour.
Unfortunately, rain was forecast for the whole day today. Having already ridden countless bends over the last four days and covered many kilometers in this beautiful area around Carinthia's Wörthersee, we decided to leave the bikes at the hotel today and instead enjoy a relaxing last day and do a little sightseeing. After all, there is plenty to see in the south of Austria. After a leisurely breakfast later than usual, we set off for Hochosterwitz Castle, a picturesque fortress from the 15th century situated on a hill. There is not only the castle itself to explore, but also a beautiful collection of weapons and armor from the Middle Ages. But that wasn't the end of our exploration for the day, so after a refreshing lunch in a typical Austrian inn, we made our way to the Museum of Technology in Ferlach, which luckily reopened yesterday after its winter break. There were all kinds of cars, motorcycles and machines from the last 100 years to admire. Thanks to Don and Rob for the great days here in the south of Austria and the good time on and off our motorcycles. Hope to see you again on another tour. Daniel