So, I went home to prepare. The bike was ready, since it just got back from the 30,000km service. I packed a backpack with everything I thought I’d want, and a few things I hoped I wouldn’t need (tire repair kit, multiplier). And then to bed. Not to sleep, mind you, but at least to bed. I was up at 0500. As I walked up to the bike to start it, the time was 0558.
The first stretch was a 3-hour highway dash to Salzburg. Two stops on that stretch; the first was to take this picture of Melk Abby, about an hour from Vienna.
The second stop was maybe half an hour from Salzburg, for gas. I passed Salzburg right on schedule, at around 0900. I got off the autobahn just after entering Germany.
It’s back roads from here until well past the Grossglockner. The little bit of Germany I went through came and went in 20 minutes or so. Navigation went well; not a single wrong turn. I wanted to enter the pass with a full tank, so I topped off in Zell am See, Austria. From then it was just a few minutes to the turn that would take me to the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse (which literally means high alpine road, but would probably be better translated “pass”.
The flowers on the houses going up the valley were amazing.
This isn’t the absolute best I saw – the best was, coincidentally enough, right above a florists shop. It didn’t look like you could have stood on one of the balconies, there were so many flowers.
It took a few minutes to get to the ticket booth, and then it was off up the pass! The views along the way were spectacular,
but you had to pay most of your attention to the road.
A dozen or so switchbacks – they are numbered and named on signs along the road – brought me to the Edelweißspitze, the highest paved point on the pass. It’s listed as a spot reserved for motorcyclists, although there were a few cars. The view from up there was fantastic.
The lake in the center of the picture is the Zeller See. The town beside it is where I made my pre-pass gas stop. It’s about 6000 feet below this peak. The road up to the Edelweißspitze is cobbled, not paved, and has some turns whose radius could be best measured in inches.
I heard some English from a couple who got off a Goldwing, and talked to them a while. They were from Maryland (where my parents and my wife's family live) and were in Europe for six weeks of motorcycling. They took a picture of me.
So, picture on disk, I headed off along the pass. There was a holdup at Fuscher Törl because of a small rock slide. They had a dump truck with a blade pushing the rocks off the road, and a guy rapelling down from above knocking the loose rocks down. I took some pictures while waiting for the green light from the traffic tender. This one
is looking down from Fuscher Törl, and this
is looking back up at the EdelweiĂźspitze.
The stretch between Fuscher Törl and Kaiser Franz Josefs Höhe was the best part of the pass. Switchbacks may look great, but I prefer slightly larger radius curves. Maybe 20 or 30 minutes of this brought me to my first actual view of the Grossglockner.
Another 5 or 10 minutes, and I was at Kaiser Franz Josefs Höhe Visitors Centre, taking advantage of the reserved motorcycle parking.
They also have free lockers for you to stash your helmet and other gear in. There are flags of many nations in the plaza in front of the visitors center.
The views of the Grossglockner and the Pasterze glacier are amazing.
After grabbing a proscutto sandwich and taking in the sights, I headed back to the bike. A nice old gentleman in lederhosen took my picture
and told me a fair bit – in German – about the different approaches to the peak, and the ways to ski down after you’ve reached the summit. He’d done it three times. After thanking him and suiting up, it was time for the descent.
The first noteworthy site south of the pass is Heilegenblut, a town whose name means “Holy Blood”. The chapel is known for a small vial that contains what some believe to be the blood of Christ. The peak in the background is the Grossglockner.
From Heilegenblut, it was on to Villach, which is very close to Italy and Slovenia. On the way to Villach, I stopped on a turn just above Winklern to take a picture of another beautiful house. There was also a chapel with an onion dome on the hill above it.
Still beautiful weather, as you can see.
After Winklern, I passed by Lienz, which has some fantastic peaks above it.
They reminded me of the Organ Pipe Mountains in southern New Mexico. Getting down to Villach and Klagenfurt, it was hot. I’m glad I don’t live in Italy.
I stopped for gas on the A2 by the Wörther See.
Yes, that’s the view from the gas station by the autobahn. The soft turquoise color of the water is amazing. The picture doesn’t do it justice. I kept going on the A2 until Wolfsberg, getting off only to take a picture of the castle ruin in Griffen.
I’d have another great picture of a castle above Villach, but the motorcycle patrolman didn’t feel that snapshots justified pulling off to the shoulder and instructed me to move on. At Wolfsberg, I got off the autobahn and got on route 70, which parallels the highway for a while.
It’s a much better motorcycle road, and it was cooler down in the valleys than up on the highway. There was one stretch where the road was under construction, and I was on dirt for a couple of kilometres. I was probably amusing the couple of guys on big adventure touring bikes who passed me on that stretch. I took 70 to route 77, which was the best road of the whole trip. It reminded me of one of my favourite New Mexico roads (the Jemez road) at times. Great views, nice curves, and not much traffic. Beautiful road.
I stopped at a rest stop to stretch and grab a granola bar,
and put the Grossglockner pin on my jacket. Then it was off to Judenberg, where I caught the S36, which took me to the S6, which got me to Vienna. I could see rain up the valley when I got to the S36, so I stopped and pulled the rain gear out of the backpack. Good thing, too; I got some showers before getting into Vienna. They did cool things off nicely – having put the gear on, it got kind of hot, so I wanted a little rain. It wasn’t enough to really clean the mud off the bike from the dirt stretch, though. The sunset over the Vienna Woods was spectacular. I got off the highway earlier than usual to try and get a picture, but I couldn’t find a place to stop with a good view of the sun. It was pretty low by then.
So, I pulled back in to my parking place on Rilkeplatz just before 9 PM. Fifteen hours, 1013 km (629 miles), and a whole lot of beautiful scenery and great roads. Not a bad day trip!
Final note; I don't know WHY ($&!# it!) some of the pictures are different sizes. Sorry. If you'd like to see bigger versions, go to
my photobucket site and click on "Grossglockner".
Hope you enjoyed this post!
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