08 August 2014
Hallstatt to St. Wolfgang, Austria (30 miles; Total = 556 miles)

I’m dinging my bike bell but there is no Gina around to hear my SOS. Somehow, despite being the official map-reader on the bike tour, I have gotten myself lost. Lost in Austria. It has a nice ring to it and yet not. I’m stopped at an unmarked intersection next to Lake Hallstatt and by intersection I mean there’s a house to my right, a house to my left, and a lake in front of me. It’s a little bit funny in a not so funny way that I’ve managed to get myself lost on a section of the bike trail that we rode just 3 days ago. I’m sure Gina is wondering where I’ve gone by now, much the same as I’m wondering where I am. Okay, time to stop ringing my bell like the town crier, turn myself around, and backtrack up that hill I just joyfully whizzed down before discovering I was lost.

Up at the top, I see Gina entering stage left, a worried look on her face that quickly morphs into anger when she spots me. “I thought you crashed!” she shouts at me, and not very caringly, I might add, in the event that I had crashed. “I got lost” is my reply, which seems utterly ridiculous when I see that she is lecturing me beneath no less than 8 bike route signs pointing the proper way. I try to turn my mistake into hers with the tactic of “You shouldn’t ride so far ahead of me that you can no longer see me” but that was a weak effort at best, I’ll admit, since we were riding downhill at the time and I’m always the one that needs replacement brake pads first. With that failed effort, I decide that the best approach would be one of distraction: “Let’s stop here for a Caffe Latte.”

With bellies full of warm milk, we’re back on track, on our way to St. Wolfgang on Lake Wolfgangsee. We’ve booked another room in advance – something we are loathe to do on bike tours because (a) you never know if you’ll make it that far that day due to mechanics, weather, or, apparently in my case, getting lost; and (b) booking in advance means that Gina is not able to do one of her favorite European bike tour things, which is walk around town looking for the super cutest place for us to stay. However, we’re pretty convinced this booking ahead was a smart thing given that the gal from the St. Wolfgang Tourist Office told us over the phone that the town was a very popular place this weekend.

This is proved true as we bike in, people being everywhere and us trying not to run them over, and then nearly turns disastrous when we spot our hotel – without a doubt, us having booked “the last room”, we’ll be in the back staring at nothing more than our neighbor smoking a cigarette. But as luck would have it, our double zimmer has a view beyond the full ashtray next door, so we’ll take it and enjoy it as our own little pot of gold.