Euphoniums and Cornettos

June 19, 2025

We did yesterday today. The cycle ride that had to wait a day. We set off for the train station just in case it was easy enough to put the tandem on. It was. It was absurdly easy. We cycled to the station, put the tandem on a tandem shaped lift to convey it to the correct platform and waited four minutes for the train. (We hadn't bothered to look up any times) we wheeled the bike straight on to the train where there was ample space and showed the ticket inspector our voucher, meaning the ride was free.

The idea was that we take the train to St. Johannes, and ride back home - well, to the air bnb....

I plotted the ride in my cycle computer, but when I tried to write Johannes, it insisted on Johannesburg. So today we cycled from Johannesburg to Zell am See.

We had made a fairly early start and arrived at Jo'burg by 10:15. Good, we thought, we'll get some riding in before the heat really gets going. But the heat had already got going. It was intense. It was the sort of heat where, if there was shade on the wrong side of the road, you cycled on the wrong side of the road. Motorists would just have to deal with it. After all, they'd have thought nothing about it in England...

At 11:00, we stopped for coffee. (Like you wouldn't) I was already sweating copiously and Kate was 'glowing'.

I knew that the next section of the ride involved a fair climb. It just didn't seem wise in this heat, so I worked out a new route to cover the next few miles. It's not easy to do on the road, but it sort of worked. It did take us to a particularly remote section of road. Just a thin strip of tarmac through wooded valleys, babbling brooks and impressive peaks all around as we were accompanied by cuckoos.

Sorry for the geeky bit here, but why do cuckoos always produce an interval between the cuck and the oo, of just between a major third and a perfect fourth? It takes some doing. They need to take a few lessons from blackbirds. They sing with a staggering recognition of western tonality.

Talking of western tonality, we found ourselves cycling through a small town and heard a live band. Just like when we cycled on the Danube during a holiday. Obviously the moment there's a holiday, everybody grabs their euphonium! We did an about turn and dashed (like only a tandem can) in the direction of the music. We arrived just in time for the final cadence. Perfect. We grabbed the phone anyway, so there are some shots of the band in all their garb which is worth seeing.

Now the heat really grew in intensity. So did the gradient of the hills. The ride was along a river. The trouble is, we started off cycling upstream until we reached the water shed, and then, we would follow a river down steam for most of the rest of the ride. This was hard work in the heat. Sorry, have I mentioned that already? After much grunting and groaning as befits two cyclists enduring physical travail, we reached the top.

The bliss of riding for miles downhill with a cooling wind behind us along fabulous quality cycle roads surrounded by breathtaking scenery is hard to put into words. It was one of those 'we were born for such a time as this' moments. If the next hour hadn't produced pure bliss, it is time to give up cycling.

Halfway through 'bliss mode', we passed a very inviting looking restaurant. It sat by a babbling brook.... you get the picture.

We succumbed to its lure and ordered a meal. This time, I was determined not to eat Schnitzel so I Googled every word on the menu which I didn't know - which was nearly all of them. Ah, chicken strips with a salad and cranberry sauce. That sounds good. When it arrived, it was abundantly clear to us both that it was Schnitzel. OK it was schnitzel that came in different shapes. But it was schnitzel. We shared it, which is husband speak for 'I ate it all apart from a few lettuce leaves'. (Let me make it clear that Kate did have 50% shares in the meal, she just chose not to cash them in. I think she's feeling a bit schnitzeled.

The last eight or so miles were hard. But I won't tell you about how we thrashed it through the beating sun for mile after mile. I don't want to milk it....

When we arrived at the bottom of the lake at Zell am See, we stopped for an ice cream. This was the first place we've found where ice creams are a sensible price. And coffee! In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "I'll be back".

In the meantime, it's all about cups of tea, back at the air bnb. We could have walked down to the lake this evening, and probably should have, but we're not going to. Instead, I'm writing my blog earlier than usual so that I can relax and look at the view of the lake. We might go out on the lake tomorrow. Whether tomorrow happens tomorrow or the day after, remains to be seen.