I’ve been in bed, sick for the week up to yesterday. I could hardly move and slept most of those days. While I didn’t feel too bad, I really couldn’t move at all. I didn’t have any terrible symptoms – a slightly sore-ish throat, a bit of a cough and sometimes a bit of a runny nose, but I was confined to barracks. If I got up and went out for food, I’d have to sleep straight away. Thankfully, now, I’m on the improve.
When I arrived in Zell am See, I found a hotel because I needed to sleep immediately and ended up staying four nights. My plan was then to get to Fulpmes near Innsbruck so I could catch up with Timo and Kath who serendipitously were in Austria too. I also wanted to ride through Kitzbühel, a place that I spent some time while backpacking many years ago.
After leaving Zell am See, I only made it about ten kms before realising that I couldn’t go on and caught the next train.
Kitzbühel was a massive disappointment. There was a bikie festival going on – there were hundreds and hundreds of harleys and similar – the types of pointlessly loud bikes that I hate – especially when I’m sick. I should have left because sleep was almost impossible. The only thing worse than the sound of the bikes was their owners choice of music. The result was that I felt more ill when I left than when I arrived.
The next morning, hardly a mouse was awake at 9am, so I got a train to Innsbruck, grabbed breakfast and the caught a tram to Fulpmes. It was only 17kms to Fulpmes but there were over 500 metres of vertical along the way. That’s a day’s work in a very short space of time and something that I simply couldn’t face at that moment.
I stayed three nights in Fulpmes and gradually improved each day. I went for a three hour hike with Timo and Kath on my last day and rode 46kms today before stopping early. I’m careful not to push myself too far just yet. I don’t want to feel as bad as I’ve felt, ever again.
If I was hoping for an easy downhill to Innsbruck, it wasn’t to be. I had big hills to climb before the fun began, but as is usual in Austria, the outlook was superb.
Innsbruck had average coffee and second breakfast and then I had an easy and flat ride west. I wasn’t sure how far I’d get but with rain expected by 3pm, I didn’t plan to get too far.
I followed bike paths which are everywhere in this country and at one point, about ten cyclists stopped on the path ahead. The bike path was blocked off due to roadwork for a short distance. I thought there must have been an issue because they all seemed concerned and confused and were pointing at the road ahead. I asked them what the problem was and they said it was very dangerous. I looked and still didn’t see the issue, and asked again. A school aged girl said it’s dangerous because the cars can drive here also. I couldn’t see any cars about, so I took off, rode around them and down the road. It was about 300 metres before I was back onto the bike path, but the whole exercise says a lot about these riders.
I stopped in Telfs and found a hotel, ate, washed gear and slept like a log.
It’s good to be moving again.