Day 22- Judenburg to Stadl an den Mur

Before I begin the blog on today’s adventure, I think I better update you on the events since my blog yesterday. When I wrote the blog I was on the train with the others on the train and I thought after writing it would be uneventful but that did not happen!

As I pointed out yesterday the train trip to Judenburg was a bit of a disaster with the bikes…. Our bikes were booked but others on the train had not pre-booked bikes and as a result there was no room to the chagrin of the train inspector. With a bit of thinking we managed to re-arrange the bike store to fit all the bikes making sure ours were getting preferential treatment…. This seemed to satisfy everyone thankfully.

As the train was running about 40 minutes late this meant we were getting into Judenburg at about 9.30pm and it was dark and raining. Getting all our gear plus the bikes off the train required real planning as the train stops were very short. To do this we enlisted the help of others who gladly helped. Then it was into the dark to find our accommodation which was only a short ride of a couple of kms…. All good we thought as a quick ride in the rain would be ok….well finding the accommodation was extremely difficult and finding someone to open the front door was even more challenging. After several attempts I managed to rouse someone who showed us where the real front door was( not where we thought it was!) I must admit the thought we through our minds that we were going to be homeless for the night! Anyway it all turned out great because the accommodation was great and the room was perfect.

This morning we were awake again early at 5.30am and packed ahead of breakfast in the dining room. The breakfast was truly amazing with a buffet style breakfast including cereals, bacon and eggs, toast and many varieties of bread. A great start for the day.

After doing a short video for Alkira on the day to come, we set off for the ride. This was at 8.15.. the weather started quite hot and sunny but as the day wore on the cloud cover made for cool riding with even a few spots of rain. It was a day when we were takin the rain jackets on and off quite a few times.

The ride was essentially along the R2 trail up the Mur River and as we were heading upstream it was and uphill all the way. We climbed about 830 metres over the 75 kms for the day. For most of the day we were also facing a headwind which was not strong but enough to keep us working harder.

The first stop for coffee was at the 20 km mark and lunch was at the 35 km point where we had a delightful Vienna Schnitzel with potato salad… it was really good!

The ride into Stadl was good with us arriving at about 4.15pm. The accommodation tonight is in 3 single rooms so we have our own spaces to enjoy rather than being in one room together as we have done since arriving in Europe.

The accommodation is a pension hotel with a lovely host who has made us feel most welcome. As I sit here writing this blog the weather has turned out to be quite sunny with a cool breeze and there is a group of young children eating ice creams laughing and enjoying themselves. They are dressed in Austrian costumes after doing some traditional dance practice I think.

The day today also begun the leg of our journey tracing the march of the former POW from Pols to Munich. Apparently he was working in the Pols paper manufacturing plant as an intern there with other POW’s. It is hard to imagine the hardship they must have faced during this time when working conditions would have been very primitive…. All good now though as the paper plan is still operating in very modern facilities. There also appears to be no evidence of the former POW camp in the area.

It all makes me feel so luck that our generation did not face the consequences of war!

Today’s pictures are:

The route yesterday from the train station to our accommodation….enough said!

Today’s route

A view of the Mur river. Note it is very brown …. But like the Yarra.

A church in one of the small towns

Lunch with Weiner Schnitzel

Afternoon tea parfaits!!!!

An interesting farm barn…. There was a lot of timber mills along today’s route

Our accommodation for the night