Austria, Stonkered on the Grossglockner!

Rosenheim, Germany - Walchsee, Austria 40 km
We crossed the bridge over a river leaving Germany for Austria. The first person we talked to was an elderly man, he spoke no English and was not sure we understood him so he left his gardening, jumped on his bike and led us 2 kms down a road to a cycle path. A friendly introduction to Austria.
A lovely ride to Walchsee, a popular holiday spot by a lake. The first campground asked us for 36 euro to place our tent on some stones, (plus it cost to swim in the lake! ) it did have a nice view... But we continued a bit further to a more reasonably priced place.
Walchsee - Fieberbrunn 45 km
Stunning scenery, great bike paths and a nice place to stay though somewhat chilly overnight. Austria is exactly as you imagine, big houses with gorgeous flowers on every deck, very clean, rivers, lakes, mountains, green grass, cow bells..And we even saw men wearing trousers with a cuff that stops just below the knee as well as the typical Austrian hat on their head.
More expensive than Germany, (which we found quite reasonable.)
Fieberbrunn - Fischhorn 50 km
We followed a bike path that was a loop encompassing about 20 sculptures then continued up to the top of a lake. It was still quite early in the afternoon so we put the tent up then biked another 15 km to the local attraction, a walkway around a gorge and waterfall which was spectacular.
We stopped to get a few supplies for the next day but not much on offer on a Sunday. But I did get to help a number of women who appeared to be recent migrant arrivals. They asked me to show them how to weigh the fruit and vegies, which was fine,  then they wanted to discuss each purchase to make sure it was what they thought it was. I am not sure how they picked me to be the English speaker... And considering I can not read German I am not totally convinced I was much help but I did my best. 
The weather forecast for Monday looked pretty good and the locals told us it would be the only day possible that week to cycle over the Grossglockner high alpine road so that became the plan for the following day. 65 km up over and down the other side.
Fischhorn - Heiligenblut 65 km
We were on the road by 7.00 am, a cool calm morning, 15 km of fairly flat riding before the climb began. Then it was up up and up. A toll booth not far from the start, a whopping 35 euro per vehicle and 27 for a motorbike. Thankfully nothing for bikes. The steep gradient was punishing enough but as we got higher the wind really picked up, huge gusts blowing us all over the place. There were quite a lot of cyclists going up, most just going to the top and back down on a day trip. No others that we saw with panniers. The wind got so strong I could not ride my bike, (nor could a lot of others) on the outside corners of the switchbacks it was particularly bad, at one stage I had my feet planted, both hands on the brakes bracing myself and hoping I wouldn't be picked up and blown away.
So there was nothing else to do except walk pushing my bike... Far out it was soooo  exhausting. Trevor managed better than me but still had to walk a bit as well.
I totally focused on just getting to the top, quite a few kms...  what a relief to finally get there, (about 2500 metres high) then put on all my warm clothes for the descent, gingerly heading down being buffeted about. After dropping quite a way down the road then went back up, nearly as high as the summit, really demoralising! By then we were also in the clouds making it difficult to see.  Through a small tunnel then down, only to go up again. By then I was totally over it, exhausted with not an ounce of energy left but in the cold alpine environment there was not a lot of options.  It was probably the only occasion on this trip where I just wanted to be somewhere else!
At that point preferably at home, sitting by the fire with my slippers on enjoying a cup of tea!!
We were both pretty stressed, unable to eat any of the food we had with us, the bread buns were really stale with a fennel flavour, the bananas over ripe, nectarines mushy...  Even the Wetherals original caramels, (that have helped me over a lot of mountains!) did not do the trick.
I was ready to flag down a campervan and beg a ride but McGyver was having none of that so he joined all the bungee cords together and towed me the last 500 metres up to the 2nd tunnel.  I wouldn't say we conquered the Grossglockner, it felt more like we survived it...
Finally the descent, a couple of kms down the wind dropped and it was a pleasant ride to the ski village of Heiligenblut arriving about 3.30 where we had a cappuccino and a pizza, found a campground, showered, crawled into our sleeping bags and slept, woke to cook a late dinner then straight back to sleep, another memorable day cycle touring!
Heiligenblut to Lienz - 50 km
A lovely descent in cool weather with nice scenery,  joining a bike path after about 20 km. A bit of a climb over a small pass, our tired legs protesting then down into Lienz.
We have become somewhat destination driven as the year is rushing by and there are still a few countries we want to visit so we organized a train from Lienz to Trieste in Italy. No more Alps this week... But Austria is a great country to cycle in, we would love to come back.
The train left at 6.30 am so it was an early start but a lovely scenic trip. We arrived in Trieste early afternoon, crazy chaotic Italy with little cars zapping about parking anywhere and everywhere. A quiet day Thursday, resting and sightseeing,  then a boat trip Friday morning to Rovinj, coastal Croatia. The Balkins here we come.