Cyclist
Gravel Big Ride: A symphony of gravel in Austria
Salzburg is a city of grand heritage, resplendent in baroque architecture and famed as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It’s a must-visit for lovers of art and music, and better still, once you’ve had your fill of culture the Austrian city can now add gravel cycling to its list of attractions.
The Salzburgerland region has created two multi-day gravel routes that start and finish in central Salzburg and head deep into the surrounding mountains. The ‘soft’ route clocks up a total of 460km and 4,700m of elevation gain and can be completed in a week depending on how energetic you’re feeling. The ‘hard’ route is 660km over ten days and packs in a total elevation of 12,200m, including ascents of monsters such as the Grossglockner.
Just for a taster, Cyclist decided to try out the opening two days of the tour, tackling a route that follows creeks and forestry roads, with plenty of rollercoaster climbs and the occasional stop at a Hollywood film location.
Day 1: Salzburg to Fuschl am See
It’s around 8am in downtown Salzburg when I’m joined by my ride partner for the next two days, Katrin. As a local, she’s familiar with the city’s streets and guides us swiftly away from the centre, avoiding the rush hour traffic.
As we turn onto the embankment of the Salzach River, the route is lined with advertisements for classical concerts, most of which go unnoticed by the city workers and schoolchildren hurrying along the bike path. We weave over and under bridges and it’s not long before the buzz of Salzburg’s old town recedes and the loudest noise is the clicking of our gear shifts.
A short rise up through some woods transports us well and truly into Alpine country. All of a sudden we are surrounded by dairy farms, piles of timber and chocolate box-perfect wooden houses. A buckaroo of short climbs and descents funnels us into Strubklamm, claimed to be one of Austria’s longest river canyons, and we slip along a balcony road high above the cacophony of crashing water.
Eventually the river leads us to its final resting place, Lake Hintersee. With a right turn we transition onto gravel for the first time along the lakeside trail, passing by the pastel buildings that dot the shore before arriving at a village of the same name.
Its few streets are peppered with flowers, and we stop at a small restaurant clad with old signage in Germanic calligraphy. While I settle in, Katrin orders us traditional apple strudel and a Cafe Melange – an Austrian adaptation of the classic cappuccino.
Hunting a red bull
Refuelled, we clip in and continue our off-road odyssey. Now the roads are getting rougher and the climbs longer and steeper. Piles of logs greet us at every corner of the gravel trail and as we advance deeper into the forest I begin to notice small wooden structures on both sides of the path.
They resemble treehouses with a small platform connected by a roughly five-metre ladder. I ask Katrin what these are and she responds by simply making a shooting motion. ‘Jägerhochstand,’ she says. ‘They’re wooden hunting blinds.’ That might help explain why wild game seems to be a fixture on every local restaurant menu.
After the climb, the road opens up and flatter gravel tracks lead us towards a small body of water in the distance. The trail leads us through more woodland and past the occasional farmstead. It’s all very bucolic and Alpine until we turn a corner to be met by a huge edifice of glass and steel fit for a Bond villain.
‘This is the headquarters of Red Bull,’ Katrin informs me. It’s an elaborate Tracy Island-like compound, far from the industrial setting you might expect for a company that sells 11 billion caffeine-filled cans a year. At the front sits a pair of volcano-shaped structures rising from the artificial lake that surrounds the complex. A herd of metallic bulls guards the building’s foyer, offering the only obvious reference to the brand in question.
Just beyond Red Bull HQ we arrive at the finish point for day one, the lakeside retreat of Fuschl am See. The town has a reputation in the region as a resort for outdoorsy types, which becomes evident as we ride through the town centre. There are people carrying climbing gear, tents and paddleboards among other bits of equipment I can’t even begin to identify.
At the lakeside we roll to a halt while ducks swim up to shore, perhaps in anticipation of being fed. I know exactly how they feel. My only thoughts are for the wild game stew that will surely be on the menu at dinner.
Day 2: Fuschl am See to Golling an der Salzach
The following morning our journey takes us away from the banks of Fuschlsee and turns southeast towards another lake. ‘That’s Wolfgangsee,’ Katrin tells me, and I nod in recognition of the name. ‘It’s named after a Bavarian bishop who went into isolation on the lakeside.’ Ah, a different Wolfgang, then.
Across the water sits the town St Wolfgang im Salzkammergut, nestled on the banks of the lake, spread across the slopes of the adjacent Scharfberg mountain. Katrin detours off the route so we can ride to the end of the jetty to get a better look at the place.
‘Many tourists come here for The Sound of Music,’ Katrin says. A number of scenes from the movie were filmed here, and I’m just about to break into a heartfelt rendition of ‘The hills are alive…’ when Katrin cuts me short.
‘The Sound of Music is not Austrian at all,’ she says with a sigh. ‘People here don’t know about the film. I’ve never seen it.’
We move swiftly on, rolling away from the lakeside to face the main challenge of the ride so far: the Postalmstrasse climb that will take us upwards for 12km and 650m of vertical ascent. At least it’s all on smooth tarmac. It’s also a private road, charging cars at a toll booth to reach its summit, so at least the traffic is quiet. For cyclists, there is no charge – we have to pay in sweat.
In its opening phase, the Postalmstrasse latches onto the banks of a stream heading up a moderate incline. As the water turns whiter in colour, the road’s gradient gets redder until we’re weaving around hairpins at 10% on the now spaghetti-shaped course. Each switchback is furnished with an altitude check and it’s not long before we pass the four-figure mark. Looking out, we now catch glimpses of the snow-coated crevices on the neighbouring mountains, a reminder of the altitude we’re clocking up.
The run for home
‘Alm,’ Katrin points out, is a local suffix meaning mountaintop meadow. Sure enough, when we reach the top of the climb at Postalm we’re greeted by a broad, grassy pasture ornamented with cattle and an unassuming chapel the size of a campervan. It looks nothing like an Alpine summit 1,200m above sea level.
‘Every cow in Austria must be named,’ Katrin reveals, prompted by the chimes of cowbells ringing out across the summit. Whether this is required by law, she doesn’t know, but she does know that the most popular name for cows locally is Frida.
Leaving Frida and her friends to their grazing, we rejoin the gravel roads that take us away from Postalm’s meadows and into a fast descent through thick forest. When we emerge from the trees after around 15km, having dropped 600m in height, the transition back onto tarmac is met by the first drops of rain falling from dark clouds that hang over the surrounding mountains. Luckily there’s no need to worry, as a glance at my bike computer tells me there’s only a handful of kilometres to go.
The damp roads eventually lead us to Golling an der Salzach, which lays claim to be the hometown of Joseph Mohr, writer of festive hymn ‘Silent Night’. We give it one last dig along the town’s high street to reach our finishing line, Golling’s austere church where local folklore has it the tune was first played.
As we reach the church’s gates, my computer rings out to signal the end of the ride. After two days of gravel trails, Alpine air, mountains, lakes and canyons, I could do with a silent night myself.
How we did it
Travel
Cyclist flew directly from Gatwick to Salzburg. Flights from Stansted and Gatwick are available all year round and seasonal routes from Manchester, Edinburgh, Luton and Heathrow operate during winter months.
Accommodation
We spent the night in central Salzburg at Hotel Auersberg (auersperg.at), where we set off from on the first day of the ride. In Fuschl am See, we stayed at the cycling-friendly Hotel Jakob (hoteljakob.at), which is ideal for cyclists, offering bike storage, a workshop and even a vast range of pro cycling memorabilia to gawk at. As for our final destination of Golling an der Salzach, we checked into Hotel Adler (adler-golling.com) for the night.
Thanks
Many thanks to Katrin and Miriam from the Salzburgerland tourist board for their support during our visit. Salzburgerland can help with transfers, bike hire and accommodation during your trip. For more info go to salzburgerland.com.
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