4 Down the Valley and Up Into Italy

 Spittal an der Drau to Tarvisio

Maybe the highlight of the day was meeting this lovely bike mechanic in the pretty town of Villach, about halfway between Spittal an der Drau and Tarvisio. Di had developed a bit of a wobble in her back wheel and I was keen to get it seen to before we went much further. As Villach is Austria’s seventh largest city it seemed likely that we’d find a bike shop there that would be able to do the job. Luckily for us, Di found this fellow who works on his own out of a small shop just off the Alpi Adria bike route. I called him and explained our problem and he said he had a customer with him but he’d be able to help us in between twenty minutes to half an hour’s time. 

When we arrived he was super friendly, meticulous, highly efficient and charged only twenty-five Euros, which is the standard rate for retuning a wheel if it doesn’t have a broken spoke. He said that he had a policy of helping travellers get back on their bikes as soon as possible and he sure did that. 

Another little glitch for the group that day was that Michael had discovered the day before that his bike computer had stopped charging. A bike shop in Spittal had ascertained that the charging port wasn’t working. However they didn’t have a replacement for him. In the morning he was able to purchase a new device so he could transfer all his ride files over and be able to know how to get to where he was going following a good cycling route.

Okay, here is a map showing our journey for the day. For about the first 45 kilometres we followed the Drava River on its journey southeast before we left it and turned southwest, climbing up towards Tarvisio just over the border in Italy.

The amount of climbing for the day was a lot less that either Michael’s route from Komoot or my route from RideWithGPS suggested, probably because of GPS errors due to the steeply rising hillsides close to the roadway in places along the route. Here’s the route profile which shows the route gradually gaining elevation after leaving the Drava River then climbing more steeply towards the end. My Strava feed tells me that I rode a bit more than 80 kilometres and climbed a little less than 600 metres.

The route along the Drava River was very pleasant, easy riding mostly on hard-packed gravel. Dianne and I rode together with the others until we got to Villach and then they went on ahead while we got Di’s bike sorted.

Here are a couple of images I took early in the ride along the way between Spittal an der Drau and Villach:

… wheat growing in the open valley floor before we got alongside the river itself …

… sustainable forestry in action …

… and a couple of random shots as we rode along …

… and here are a series that Jane took as we crossed from one region of Austria to another …

I’ve got more imagery from along the river I’ve included in a short (2 minutes video that I’ll include at the end of the post. 

We stopped briefly for coffee alongside the river and Jane took this photo of Dianne and me …

… and one of Michael and Duckworth that Di took …

Michael did a quick review of his route over  coffee and thought the easiest way to access the new variant he wanted to use was to go up a little ramp that would take him and the others up to street level. Here are a couple of pictures showing a)  Jane contemplating getting her bike onto the ramp … 

… and b) Michael pushing Louise’s bike up the ramp with her lending a hand behind …

… after the others had left and Dianne and I had finished our coffee and a little snack in lieu of lunch, we went in search of the bike mechanic. It didn’t take long to find him: as the crow flies he was perhaps only 200 metres from the riverside coffee stop. Here are a few photos Di took while we were there of …

… the mechanic in action …

… a poster inside his shop …

… and one of me admiring his precision workmanship … 

… the beautiful retro bike to the right is one he had built up from scratch by getting a local paint shop to respray the frame then he acquired all the bits to make a coherent whole.

When we exited the bike shop I spotted this sculpture in the square opposite and had to take a photo before we continued on our way …

There were some interesting man-made objects alongside the road towards Tarvisio, including this classic Volkswagen Karman Ghia which “ combined humble Volkswagen Beetle mechanics with elegant, hand-shaped Italian styling. Designed by Carrozzeria Ghia and coach-built by Karmann the car was marketed for its sophisticated looks rather than its humble performance” …

… this dilapidated villa we spotted when I’d sailed past an innocuous exit from the bike path up a ramp and around to a bridge we had to cross …

… and an elevated ancient fortress a couple hundred metres from the villa …

As we closed in on Tarvisio the scenery became increasingly impressive. Here are a couple of shots to illustrate …

As we came into Tarvisio we passed this quite attractive church with a fortified tower right alongside the bike path - which is a converted railway line …

… and then I noticed the sign which is effectively welcoming all the bike tourists who visitTarvisio so I had to take another photo, this time with Di in it…

Here is another scenic shot looking out the back of Tarvisio …

The collection of buildings in the bottom right of the photo is where we found our night’s accommodation after a bit of hunting about due to rather vague directions. We are actually located in Preisig, which is up above Tarvisio. Initially we made our way to the back way of a property that seemed to be the right place but when we came around to the front entrance it was actually quite an upmarket spa hotel. Before we took our leave to find our much more humble digs I took the opportunity to photograph this impressive wooden motorcycle sculpture …

Thanks to the very helpful receptionist in the hotel we quickly found our apartment just around the corner. As expected, it was not so palatial as the hotel. Instead of the amazing bike garage of the hotel (equipped even with many extension cords on retractable extension cords for e-bike users) we had to lug our bikes up to the second floor of the apartment block where we are staying for two nights. 

After a beer at the grand hotel along the way, we wandered down into town and had a very convivial dinner with the three Cliftons and Duckworth, and I explained why Dianne and I rode 10 kilometres than the others. We had to ride through a tunnel and I become geographically embarrassed and turned the wrong way, taking us back five kilometres. Hmm. Not great but no disaster either as we did not gain or lose much elevation in either direction, just got to see some of the beautiful scenery twice. Consolation prize maybe?

This morning we walked down the hill and had some breakfast, such as it was. It seems to be one thing the Italians and Austrians maybe generally don’t do so well, at least in the cafés we’ve been visiting. Back to the hotel, on to the blog, a little snooze and then back at it, finishing relatively fresh.

This photo that Di took a short time ago more clearly illustrates our accommodation (with our bikes ensconced in the only place than they would easily fit (other than lugging them up a steep and narrow staircase to the second bedroom) than my words ever could …

I will leave you with a short video montage of our day’s journey …