Gruneau, Austria
Never heard of it? Neither had I, and I had no intention of visiting until I stepped on my first busabout leg and the guide, Paul, was so enthusiastic and genuinely complimentary about the place that I added it to my itinerary. Anywhere that can make someone so emphatically endorse it must be good. Gruneau is half way between Vienna and Salzburg, a tiny little place hardly noticed by tourists. Louise and I were stopping here while Emily and Maya headed on to Munich, so it was another set of farewells at the stop.
We stayed at Treetops, a delightful hostel run by Gerhard and his team. They freshly cook every meal. I mentioned the amazing lasagna for lunch, well that night we had a home cooked meal of chicken and veggies. Their fare is simple, but tasty and it had everyone silent while eating. And it came complete with dessert, berry teacake. I had taken to drinking Sturm, which is wine before bottling, so fizzy, kind of like a grape cider. It's only available at the end of harvest and a tour guide in Prague had recommended it, though I hadn't tried it there. It was very tasty and I was one of the ones who helped to finish the massive bottle. Sadly the next bottle was more tart and not as nice, must be a bit of a hit n miss kind of drink.
The afternoon in Gruneau was raining, dampening spirits, but offering the perfect opportunity for a quiet night in. We spent the afternoon in the tv room bundled in doonas on couches watching Forrest Gump. After the movie and dinner, a number of us retired to the bar and cards came out. We ended up playing bastard/asshole/kings/whatever you want to call it. I've played it once before and picked it up pretty quickly. New rules were added, the games got faster and I found myself so frustrated with how it was being played that I gave running commentary just so people wouldn't miss turns and others could follow the game - there were some trying to learn and the game was just moving exceptionally quickly. After some more frustration from all, we took a break and I sat and taught the girls how to play slowly, at a pace they could absorb. In the end we didn't play cards again that night. A number of us sat around the fire - the start of autumn and we had a fire inside, so lovely. We might have watched another movie, or that might have been the next day, I'm not sure but we watched 3 in all. Thankfully it was an early night and I think we all enjoyed a good sleep.
The next morning Louise and I and another girl, Amanda, headed out to horse riding bright and early in the morning. Happily it was a bright and sunny day and we enjoyed the easy meander on horseback. To be honest, I'm not sure you could call it riding, we sat on the horses and they followed the leader the whole way, but it was a relaxing way to start the day.
Once we got back to the hostel and once Amanda's 3 other friends got back from their horse ride (max was 3 on the rides), we then all hired bikes with the plan of riding 'to the lake'. Almost everyone else was already out and about on bikes with the same plan. Since we were last to get going, we had the bottom of the barrel in the bike stakes. Mine had incredible yet crazy suspension. We rode the 3km in to town planning to buy something to make a picnic lunch with at the lake, but we'd arrived after 12.10pm and it's one of those small towns that closes for lunch, from 12pm-2.30pm or later. We were pretty ticked off and found Pringles and chocolate in the pharmacy and thankfully a cafe was willing to sell us ham and cheese rolls which they made for us. Then we were set and headed off towards the lake.
Now, I hadn't heard the instructions on getting there, I'd heard it was a 20km ride, but damn I did not expect what I was faced with. It was possibly due to the crap bike I was on as well as the 2 days of riding I did in Vienna only a day or two previously, but my quads didn't have the strength to get me up the many long slow rises. I became incredibly frustrated, fell so far behind, got upset and set off my asthma and generally was having a crap time. I was seriously considering just turning around, but the girls had stopped, waiting for me to finish pushing my bike up another hill I couldn't manage, and cheered me on, encouraged me and told me it would be worth it. Louise even rode behind me to give me a bit of a push uphill at one stage, she's such a gem. After what seemed forever, and another few hills I walked up, we finally found the lake, and had to ride to the other end of it. But it was one of those classic mirror lakes with an alpine mountain staring over the top of it, so yeah, pretty impressive.
We pulled in to the picnic area and smashed through our rolls, Pringles and chocolate probably in record time. I had to lay down for a while with my jumper rolled up under my back in an attempt to release my tight and painful lower back which has been a problem on and off for years. Normally I see a physio and a Chiro every 4-6 weeks, I haven't seen one for 4 months now, and after so much activity and carrying a 20kg backpack around Europe, I shouldn't be surprised I was in pain. I was just really disappointed it was ruining what should have been a lovely day. A number of others came back through on their shiny bikes that sounded like they were a dream to ride, so I decided the bike was also to blame.
We then set out along the lake path to go and check out the actual lake, it was bubbling! It's a mineralized, spring fed lake which was crystal clear and spectacular in hind sight, I almost wish I'd had a swim, but the water was bloody cold and I would have had to ride back cold and wet as well as sore and tired, so probably a good thing there was no swimming. There was a hut out in the water, I surmised it was an ice fishing hut for use in winter, it did lend itself to some cool photos too.
After a bit we turned back, stopped at the kiosk and had an Austrian ice cream to treat ourselves before we began the long, hard slog of a ride home. Thankfully more of it was downhill, however I knew the last 3km to the hostel was all a slow, long incline. Most of the girls told me it was flat, but I knew better, and I was knackered. I was pretty convinced I would just walk the bike back, it would only have taken me half an hour and I would have preferred that to riding at that point. At the perfect time, we saw Gerhard driving by to take some more people to the horse riding so Louise and I waited at a spot where he could pull over and watched for him to come back past. We flagged him down, put my bike in the back of the car and I hopped in the front for a lift home. Best decision I made really, the girls all said they were a bit jealous because, as it turned out, those last 3kms were killer.
That night for dinner, everyone devoured the pork and veggies without a word, everyone was exhausted. The Sachertorte for dessert was eagerly received by everyone and, unsurprisingly, was very tasty. The boys set a bonfire outside while many of us rugged up inside to watch a movie, write postcards and generally veg out. I had another early night with the intention of sleeping in, but I never do. No matter when I go to bed, I seem to wake up between 6:30-7am, damn Wonderboyf has turned me in to a morning person!
The next day was lounging around, packing up and waiting for the busabout bus to arrive, and another round of tasty lasagna. Gruneau, while not action packed in Summer is actually right at the bottom of some great ski fields and the hostel is a short walk from the chairlift. Gerhard told Louise and I about the cheap times of year to come skiing and we've begun hatching plans to return in January to go skiing :) it was a place of rest and relaxation (mostly) and really pretty countryside. Definitely an unexpected highlight - I'll even overlook nearly dying on a bike halfway to a lake...
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