Today was essentially a rest day, as we did a short flat ride (48km) from Villach to Spittal, all along flat cycling paths alongside the river Drau.

We had a leisurely start (9.30am) after a good breakfast at the hostel. We were interested in observing a school group of German or Austrian adolescents (mixed races – Indian kids – all speaking fluent German). They were very polite towards us – good kids.

River Drau near the start of the day’s ride

Some of the paths were beautiful wide tarred path, on other places they were unsealed. However almost the entire route was separated from the traffic and well sign-posted, so Kris had a real break from navigating as well.

I liked this mermaid bike route sign

Crossing the river alongside hydro turbines

Kris had to make an emergency stop for this snake lying in the middle of the road, Jenny almost rode into the back of him. She just managed to get the camera out for a picture before it disappeared into the grass alongside the river.

Jenny was told off by a passing cyclist for parking her bike in the middle of the path – it was actually just posing for this photo!

It was muggy and Kris rode with his scarf over his mouth to avoid swallowing too many flying insects.

Pit stop

Roadside ornaments for sale

We arrived in Spittal around 1pm and headed to the tourist information for more information on cycle paths. Then we looked around the town a bit, ate some snacks and had some beer at a local restaurant/bar. The proprietress gave us a taste of every beer on tap, about five beers, before we chose one each.

Spittal castle

Crocodile sculpture Sittal

Our final choice of Austrian tap beer

We headed out to our accommodation around 4pm. We have a spacious apartment, that includes a kitchen and a washing machine – it is a real luxury to put our clothes through a wash with detergent after a few weeks of hand-washing. Across from our accommodation is a huge Alpine mountain, with a very challenging ski slope – however we were told that this has been unavailable during the last season due to a lack of snow (the climate change theme comes up yet again).
Kris made some good food on the stove, using up some dried tomatoes we had been carrying since Italy. We then spent quite a bit of time planning our route for crossing the Alps in the next few days – Jenny became very anxious after reading Internet accounts on the crossing and did not sleep well.