20th August 2010

Today we had to say goodbye to Annabel and our wonderful little apartment at Forstau and head towards Innsbruck. One of the sights that I did not want to miss seeing was the Grossglockner Hochalpinestrasse, but to date, the weather was not good enough to go and see it at it's best. So, I just had to hope that the Gods were smiling down on us and gave us plenty of sun today. I had read so much about this road and seen heaps of photos on the internet, I was hoping that it lived up to it's reputation. And it excelled all. We had to pay a toll to drive on the road, Euros22, but I think you will see from the photos that it was more than worth it. The section of the road subject to the toll is about 35km long. Right from the toll booth, the road starts to twist and turn as it makes it's way higher and higher. The mountains preside on one side and the road snakes it's way up on the other. The goal for everyone is the Grossglockner, the highest moutain in Austria at 3798m high, part of the Hohe Tauern National Park. It is a stunning setting and the effort to build this road must have been enormous.

The highest mountain is the Grossglockner.

One of the things that amazed us, was the number of cyclists who rode the strasse. I can think of better things to be doing than sweating my guts out riding up to the top. Incredible. We were in awe of these guys. Girls as well. They also encourage motorcycles. They even have a section called 'Bikers Point'. At the information centre overlooking the Grossglockner and the glacier, you can see the blue lockers that they provide for bikers to lock up their gear while they go sightseeing or hiking or walking on the glacier.

This is a small town at the southern end of the Hochalpinestrasse, Heiligenblut. The mountain in the background is the Grossglockner.

Well we had to drag ourselves away from the Hochalpinestrasse and head to our next apartment, at a small village south of Innsbruck called Grinzens. I hope we can find it.