On the Road: Salt & Lake Trail 2023

The area is well known. The Salzkammergut is synonymous with homeland, tradition, and idyll like no other corner of Austria. Andrea Friembichler and her team, who themselves come from the area, decided after participating in the Tuscany Trail last year to organize a similar event themselves. Because there's nowhere as beautiful as home, they quickly put together the well-known local routes. After just under a year of preparation, the event starts on September 30 with nearly 150 participants, and I am one of them. The mood at the ship landing is good, the weather is acceptable for the end of September, and the adventure starts at exactly 9 o'clock. At the start, I meet some acquaintances, including Markus Zimmermann, whom I know from the Seven Serpents event. Daniel Pettinger, the locomotive from Leonding, also looks good with his freshly cleaned 3T Exploro.

The beauty of the Salt & Lake Trail is that it is not a race. There are no timekeeping, no lists of finishers, and no time penalties for rule violations. According to the regulations, it is even undesirable (to forbidden) to ride at night, as the federal forests, through whose area a good part of the path leads, have stipulated this as a condition. As usual, however, there are always a few motivated individuals, and so right from the start, it's full throttle until the bottom bracket is dusty. Unfortunately, I am also like a young dog, always up to 180, and of course, I have to be at the front.The euphoria lasts for the first two hours. As soon as hunger kicks in and the legs get heavy, I fully embrace deceleration again. "Beautiful area," I think to myself and take a look at Hallstatt and the lake. Even from the opposite shore, you can recognize the tour buses, sense the tumult in the town. There is certainly no shortage of lakes. Wolfgangsee, Hallstätter See, Altausseer See, Grundlsee - those who do the tour in summer have plenty of options for a quick dip in the cool water. At the end of September, my problem is rather not to completely cool down. Thanks to my Castelli Unlimited Puffy Vest (a gift from the gods!) it is somewhat bearable even for me.

Since lakes are only half the rent, there must also be a source of salt, and there are plenty of opportunities to break a sweat. Slower than expected, the journey progresses. Only in the early afternoon do I reach the Ennstal valley. Although there are no significant hills to climb, my progress is sluggish. After nearly ten hours, darkness sets in. The highest point of the tour is still on the menu for today, the Dachstein south face. However, after a short while, I come across a closed path; a fence and countless cows behind it suggest to me that it's enough for today. "Night riding ban," rings in my ears. "Fine by me!" A hostel in Radstadt is quickly found, and shortly after, I fall into a warm bed, freshly showered. FKT is out of the question now - no matter.