Alpe Adria Cycle Path: from Bad Hofgastein to Möllbrücke

After a hearty breakfast at 08:00, we start on the final climb before crossing the Hohe Tauern mountains by train.

Most of the time, we have bright sunshine, with temperatures forecasted to reach 31°C today, and we want to have completed the tough climb in Bad Gastein by midday.

In Böckstein, there is the loading station for the Tauerntunnel transport. On the last kilometers, we had strong headwinds, which we didn't need at all after the climb in Bad Gastein.

The train runs every hour, and we will join the other cyclists on the next available one.

The bikes are simply placed in the carriage and secured with straps. Once the bikes are stored, you travel in the passenger compartment at the other end of the train for 11 minutes through the tunnel, and unloading is also quick and easy. Austrians know how to do it: Train punctuality rate: 96%. Ours was among them. The fare costs 10 euros per bike and person.

The station after the tunnel is Mallnitz. From there, it is about eight kilometers downhill on the main road - without a dedicated bike lane. But basically, only the vehicles that arrived by train drive there.

We still had strong gusty headwinds during the descent, so we had to slow down to 40 km/h. With front and rear panniers, the wind has a nice surface area to attack, so grip the handlebars firmly and tense your arms. ;)

There is a very charming station for cyclists at Penk. It has a tool station, useful things like band-aids, tissues, and cloths, a section for fruits, and sweets. Incredibly great.

In Möllbrücke, we set up our tent at Möll Camping. A small campsite operated by the municipality, with everything you need. Very similar to the site in Meiningen: Swimming pool use included, a refrigerator for guests, a common room, a washing machine and dryer, and a great meadow.