Cycling UK Forum

Antbrewer wrote:Suffice to say that my trip was a success albeit incredibly hard at times. The Salzgkammergut route officially is graded by the Austrian Tourist people as 'Intermediate'. God knows what 'Hard ' must be like as I found this really tough in places. This probably says more about my fitness than the route though.

Maybe not - I've ridden one of their "easy" routes near Kitzbühel and concluded that their gradings are done by mountain goats!

mjr wrote:

Antbrewer wrote:Suffice to say that my trip was a success albeit incredibly hard at times. The Salzgkammergut route officially is graded by the Austrian Tourist people as 'Intermediate'. God knows what 'Hard ' must be like as I found this really tough in places. This probably says more about my fitness than the route though.

Maybe not - I've ridden one of their "easy" routes near Kitzbühel and concluded that their gradings are done by mountain goats!

Living in Norway, I've learned that this is definitely a matter of perspective!

Antbrewer wrote:Accommodation was also difficult at times as there are fewer 'Zimmer frei houses available now . So Gasthauses and small hotels was often called on.

One way in which the world has changed is that, since the arrival of online reservations, there's a lot of accommodation available that's completely invisible on the street, and you'll only find it by looking at booking.com or similar apps.

Also with the advent of the mobile phone, there are places that you find, but there is no one there, only a phone number or some form of auto pay/check in with instructions in the local language.

I certainly do much more pre booking nowadays.

nirakaro wrote:

Antbrewer wrote:Accommodation was also difficult at times as there are fewer 'Zimmer frei houses available now . So Gasthauses and small hotels was often called on.

One way in which the world has changed is that, since the arrival of online reservations, there's a lot of accommodation available that's completely invisible on the street, and you'll only find it by looking at booking.com or similar apps.

Glad you had a good time subject to excess hillage. I noticed that a lot of municipal campsites in France have closed now and there are more of the campsites with swimming pools and facilities but it seems to be leaving a few areas blank for organised camping. I'd recommend the route I did from Geneva to Beziers or Marseille for a river route via Rhona, EV17. A few hills at the beginning but basically from Lyon it's flat ( I believe that the true start which is in the Swiss mountains is hillier. Trains available all the way to solve that depending on what works for you.