The European Chronicles 2024.4 - Heiligenblut and The Grossglockner Part 1
A Moto and Hiking Playground
It's raining during our last breakfast at Innsbruck's Stage 12 Hotel, but by the time we load up, check out and suit up, the rain has stopped - but Ventusky shows showers all around us and on our route. That turns out to be accurate, we'd ride in and out of light rain all day, and mid-to upper 50s.
Our destination: The Nationalpark Lodge in Heligenblut, Austria, at the foot of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road. A non-motorway route, but still reasonably direct. Through some pretty little towns.
Ready to go!
And through the Felbertauerntunnel...3.3 miles long...
Pay the toll, out the other side...
She's still cold... 😂
Time to go...
Our hotel, the Nationalpark Lodge Grossglockner
Our backyard...
Roughing it waiting to check in. Notice the glass..."I like beer."
Mia once again with secure underground parking.
Great restaurant too.
Relive 'Solo on the Grossglockner'
The Grossglockner High Alpine Road remains one of the most beautiful places I've ever encountered. Stunning, one vista after another.
Interesting conversation with five riders from Munich who all used to work for BMW, three of the five for 40 years each...we bonded over the love of retirement. 😂
Edelweissspitze, the top, a tiny cobblestone twisty road leads you there.
Head out, get some gas, turn around and do it again...things are always different heading the other way.
Best Garage Ever????? Might get my vote.
It is attached to a restaurant, F.A.T. Mankei, described as a "great automotive community spot, with nice ambiance, great views and fantastic food." I'm thinking we'll stop on a 2-up ride and check it out.
Now for the hiking...
The Pillion POV
Sparkly rocks, rivers, wildflowers, waterfalls...SO much beauty.
Off I set for a walkabout, on a path the lovely gent at our hotel's front desk called "the most magical..." (When a stern-looking Austrian uses the word "magical" as a descriptor, these words I must heed...)
So, says he, turn right at "the rickety-rackety barn" and just wander.
Even tumbledown barns in Austria own beauty...
It was indeed, magical. I spent six or seven hours, and walked nearly six miles, completely entranced...Now, how DO I get the rocks home?? :)
And a final uh-oh...the weather is very changeable in the mountains and the long range forecasts are never very accurate. That said, I always keep an eye on the weather for the day we plan to leave, Sunday, and...uh-oh...snow...
And we head to Valdobbiandene, Italy just in time for thunderstorms...
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