You know how I told you that story about surprise snow in Austria last May. You may find it here, but a shortest possible version is that I went into Austria to be a best man on my best friend's wedding. While I was there I decided to ride legendary Salzkammergut route - 350 kilometres of cycling paradise among some of most beautiful landscapes in Upper Austria. On the first morning, I was surprised with 10 centimetres of fresh snow, so instead of cycling, I went hiking to amazing Hallstatt on one of most beautiful snowy trails I ever saw. This is a continuation of that story.
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On the second day, snow was just a distant memory. The weather was perfect with sunny 15 degrees Celsius, no wind, everything was dry and I climb my bicycle and started the ride...
No matter how strong I prayed for that scenario, in the morning, my hosts had a new lesson in 'how to swear in Serbian' while we cleaned the fresh layer of snow.
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Damn mountains, why I didn't decide to become sea surfer and move to California? I could easily broke the same bones on some hot beach while enjoying cocktails, I guess.
Anyway, I had another snowy day to fill with some activity, and cycling was out of the question. My previous choice was hiking, and it almost destroyed my knees once again, so I had to choose something else. After second schnapps, I decided to hike a little. As I told you a couple of times, I was never the sharpest tool in the shed.
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In near vicinity of Bad Goisern, where I was stationed, one small and insignificant mountain biking event is taking place. Under the name Salzkammergut Mountainbike Trophy, riders from all around the world gather together to race in more than ten courses for three days. With events like unicycle marathon, unicycle downhill and seven different marathon distances for those who still use two wheels, this small event really needed something called Daredevil Extreme Course - 211 kilometres long race with 7100 meters of climb.
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If you are not into mountain biking, let me try to explain you - that is another circle of Hell. Dante didn't describe this circle of hell due to a simple fact that he lived few centuries before cycling was invented. Otherwise, he could replace all seven circles with this one. Easily.
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Usually, MTB courses are 30-50 kilometres long. The hardest race I ever rode was 81 km long, with 2450 meters of climb. After that race - I died. The end. Really, no kidding, I was so sick after that race that I decided to never race again. Enough is enough. To ride 210 km and 7100 meters of climb in one day, even for me looks absolutely impossible. Current best time for that impossible event is amazing 12 hours and 22 minutes. People are wondrous creatures from time to time.
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As you can imagine, riding that route was not on my itinerary. But there was one crazy climb and one scenic view I wanted to see.
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If you do not know that this path exists, you may believe that there is nothing special in the small line on the map named Ewige Wand. Still, this path is carved into a mountain wall with some of the most beautiful views of Goisern valley and Hallstatt lake in the distance is must see! And the translation of its name is "Eternal wall"... there must be some legend behind, isn't?!?
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Amazingly, there is a legend. Actually, I could not make my hosts stop telling me legends once they started. Amazing imagination has those Austrians, believe me. So, let me tell you Legend of the King Goiseram as I heard it from my hosts:
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Once upon a time, there was a mighty town called Goisernburg, placed on the Reichenstein Mountains. King Goiseram lived there with his family, knights and lords. It was a very rich kingdom as mountains give a lot of vines, juicy meadows, corns and precious metals to the kingdom.
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People had everything, but with time they become dissipated and irresponsible to nature. During one very long and very noisy fest, they were so loud that they woke up lindworm who lived in the depths of the mountain.
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Rudely woken up, he bit a great hole out of the mountain and thousands of gallons of water streamed out until the whole kingdom was sunken. It was the end of King Goiseram and his kingdom.
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Today, that mountain is called "Wormstone" and stream leading down is named "Wormstream". Also, lindworm is a part of the emblem of Bad Goisern. So, it must be a true legend. Anyway, with snow in May, I can imagine the nightmare of avalanches and streams of melted snow in the past.
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This amazing path, carved into the vertical mountain wall, is one of the amazing views which Austria offers. As mountain biking course, the climb is almost impossible, but as a hiking trail, it is sweaty and hard, but very fun. I believe that anyone can do it. And I strongly believe that everybody should do it. The reward is astonishing. A view of Goisern Valley, even on the day full of fog and clouds, is simply wonderful!
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So, if you are in the area, climb the damn mountain and enjoy the view, even if you have to use two fresh bags of frozen peas on your knees second day in the row.
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I hope you will enjoy in these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.
This blog entry is part of My Travel Blog series.
I have many more travel stories in my bag, so stay tuned.
All my posts are !originalworks and all my photos are @originalworks
To see all entries featured on @SteemitWorldMap, click here to visit my author link.
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