E-bike circuit taking in Reith, Going and Oberndorf

Lying awake in the middle of the night the heavens opened to one hell of a downpour. The rain was forecast during the night and I couldn’t help but get up and have a peek from the balcony. The inclement weather had changed the outlook dramatically and there was a lot of rain falling in such a short time.

It was still raining quite heavily when we got up. Today we had booked an e-bike tour and we weren’t sure if it would be going ahead or not (I was secretly hoping it would be cancelled as I was a bit nervous about it).

The rain had left the landscapes very atmospheric

 A Happy Birthday table welcomed us at breakfast with a lovely chocolate marble cake with six candles and some birthday confetti (apart from two thick slices, the cake was demolished at the top of Hagstein later on in the day).

As we ventured out after breakfast you could see from the skies that it was going to brighten. With only half an hours delay we formed part of a group of six heading off on our e-bike tour with our guide Paul (a Mancunian). 

The tour was to be approximately four hours and Paul advised that we would be cycling anything between 30 and 40km (18-25 miles) depending on the group and route we took. We did have to keep stopping for the slower members to catch up so it was difficult getting momentum going.

Lunch was at a fantastic Alm with eye level views of the Wilder Kaiser, albeit smothered in passing cloud.

View from the restaurant at lunchtime

Both of us had a mountain speciality of cheese dumpling which came with a dressed salad and tasted absolutely delicious (we have learned in our last few days that Austrian cuisine is mostly fried fare - not the most healthy or nutritious).

The ride back down from the Alm was downhill all the way and I was brave enough to get up to 42km an hour! Blair got up to a hair raising 52km per hour. The thought of falling off was never far from our minds.

Tour over we had about 2 hours left to use the bikes if we wanted to so we headed off on our own up to Hagstein (1034m). We stopped here at Gastof Hagstein, which was the restaurant - here we sat on the grass and demolished the aforementioned birthday cake.

Second stop on our second tour of the day

Gastof Hagstein and Blair hiding in the shade

Again, the ride back was downhill all the way. What probably would have take us 45 minutes to an hour on a normal bike took us about 15-20 minutes. You try to keep the bike on ‘eco’ and use your leg power but the boost of the e-bike really helps to propel you up these steeper hills.

We had a couple of beers before dinner to celebrate Blair’s birthday. We were pretty knackered having been out for another full day but we managed a walk after dinner.