Wild strawberries line the path. In clusters. You only need to hold out one hand and pluck them with the other. Then, with the sweet fruit on your tongue, look back into the panorama: 600 metres below, the blue strip of Lake Weissensee rests. We can't see the eastern and western shores from here, even if we turn our heads - the fjord-like body of water at the foot of the Gailtal Alps is so long. However, trees also obscure our view. The mountain peaks around the lake are not particularly high - perhaps 1600 metres - and are densely forested. Some of the peaks also have names, but you don't need to memorise them, because there's nothing like a Matterhorn or a Zugspitze among them, even visually. "Ah, look!" Peter points to the lake, through which an eight-person rowing boat is cutting lengthways. "The German national team. They're training here for the Olympics." I'm still wondering how our medallists came across this remote training location when a mountain biker passes us. She beams: "Like in the Caribbean, right?" We look down at the lake again: it's true. Its azure blue water is framed by white chalk banks on the shore, which also gave the lake its name. Its transitional depths alternate between the colours turquoise and bottle green. Surrounded by lush greenery, it is also warm enough for the South Seas today.
The Caribbean could hardly be further away. We are in the southernmost of Austria's federal states. Carinthia is less known for its imposing peaks than for its many beautiful bathing lakes. There are 1270 standing bodies of water in total, of which Lake Weissensee is one of the four largest alongside Lake Wörth, Lake Millstätter See and Lake Ossiach. Lake Weissensee is also 930 metres above sea level, almost twice as high as its brothers. However, this also makes it more difficult to reach. Only a serpentine road winds up from the Drau Valley to the Weißensee. Once at the top, guests head for their accommodation and leave the car behind for the rest of their holiday. The only road in the valley ends at the centre of the lake - where the large nature reserve begins. It's not possible to drive around the lake by car or on rattling motorbikes. Those who come here want to have their peace and quiet and get around on foot or by bike. Just like us.
The GPS data the Two-day tour around Lake Weissensee in the download area below this article free of charge download.
Peter Schwarzenbacher, the landlord of the Hotel Arlberger Hof, has been a mountain bike guide in the region for many years. The 50-year-old has planned a long tour around the lake for us. We are to experience the highlights of the region and spend the night in a particularly beautiful hut. It goes without saying that we don't have to be asked for long.
The tour started in the morning in Techendorf in the middle of the Weißensee bridge. Where the flower pots dangle from the railings and the tourists climb into the excursion boat. But then it's straight down to business: a consistently steep gravel ramp stretches from the northern shore up the mountain range. 600 metres in altitude to the first viewing point - the wild strawberries are a perfect place to take a break.
"Three years ago, this loop would not have been possible on a bike," explains Peter, letting the last berries roll from his palm into his mouth. Because of some age-old dispute, this link to the east bank was simply not built. So if you wanted to get from one place to another on the north shore, you had to cycle all the way round the lake. "Until the younger generation took the whole thing into their own hands and finally built this gravel track into the mountain." I am particularly pleased that the path is now more or less flat. Until, after a few kilometres, it finally heads down to the eastern shore, where the water now looks even more Caribbean. But when white chalk banks meet crystal-clear water, it's bad luck for the fish. We can watch the lake trout napping directly from the shore. This is certainly not a particularly tricky task for anglers.
The route now leads us away from the lakeshore again, as there is initially no path at all in the steep mountain forest on the southern shore. Instead, we soon find ourselves on the final stage of the 2015 BIKE Four Peaks race. Oh, they were here too? "Yes, but unfortunately it was pouring with rain that day," says Peter. It must have been quite a mud fight on this forest track with 1000 participants, but you can't see any of it anymore. No tyre tracks, no gel bags, no directional arrows, nothing.
The forest path soon turns into a tarmac road. The three of us follow it side by side until Weißenbach and don't have to avoid a single car. Then the gravel track branches off into the Bodental valley. A sign warns us "Bear area". "Yes, the bears from nearby Slovenia sometimes wander over to us. They usually raid our beehives," says Peter and stops us at the next cattle gate. On a pleasant incline, we now roll on into a wide meadow area, where the Bodenalm is waiting for us at the end with salad, bacon and mozzarella. Everything on the hut menu is home-grown or at least from the region, and the daisy on my salad has just grown wild in the meadow.
In the afternoon, Peter stops at a rocky bank. "This is where they shot the Bond film back then." Wolfgang and I look questioningly. "Breath of death?" Peter tries again. He shrugs his shoulders. They filmed Timothy Dalton here for weeks in his Aston Martin, shooting across the frozen lake and cutting up the ice with the bare rim. That was a chainsaw, of course. Then they would have chased the car over a ski jump. Later, in the film, the jump represented the Slovenian border and the Aston Martin ended up in a mountain meadow. In reality, however, it wasn't in Slovenia, but up on the Naggler Alm. That's the direction we have to go now. But that's another hour and a half of cranking uphill for us, especially as our destination is the Kohlröslhütte, which is a little higher up.
Our host Heinz is already waiting for us when we slow down in front of his viewing terrace in the early evening. We sit outside in the sunshine with a wheat beer until half past eight and look out over the Gitschtal valley. On particularly clear days, you can even see as far as the Three Peaks, Heinz explains with pride. I think briefly of the hype surrounding the Three Peaks and am immediately happy to be sitting here with a handful of other hikers in the middle of this idyll. We have almost circumnavigated the Weißensee today, but have not yet come across a single umbrella bar or bouncy castle. Not even the cows wear bells around their necks. "How do you entertain your guests' children?" I ask. Peter and Heinz ponder as if this had never been a question before. Then Peter points over to a high plateau: "Over at Nassfeld, there was pig cleaning for children the other day. They let the little ones loose on the piglets with special shampoo and brushes. It was great fun. At the end, the pigs were clean and the children were covered in dirt." Around half past nine, three men walk onto the terrace. They don't look like hikers or bikers. "Ah, the lift drivers!" exclaim Peter and Heinz almost simultaneously. "We'll meet them again tomorrow morning at the Naggler Alm. They should put our overnight luggage in the lift, then we can pick it up at the bottom after the second stage." Good idea, because tomorrow the freshly created singletrail descent is on the programme right after breakfast. After that, another 800 metres in altitude await us to the Weiße Wand and on to the Gajacher Alm. This completes our tour of the lakes. Speaking of the tour: Heinz is handing out the first round of yellow gentian and a guitar is playing at the lift table. We'll probably start later tomorrow.
INFO WEISSENSEE
The region
Lake Weissensee is located in the southernmost Austrian province of Carinthia, at an altitude of 930 metres. Only a third of its 23 kilometre-long shoreline is built on in the west. The rest of the area is a nature reserve. The surrounding mountains belong to the Gailtal Alps. The highest peak is the Golz (2004 m) on the south bank. The other mountains are around the 1600 metre mark and are also heavily forested. Most of the paths are well-maintained gravel roads with a pleasant gradient. There are also some trails, but you need good riding technique for these, as they are often steep and riddled with roots. Exception: the single trail descent at the Weißensee chairlift, which was only completed this spring. Here, a trail builder has carved out a 2.8 kilometre long and extremely varied natural flow trail in the undergrowth. Two more downhill lines are to follow this year.
Legal situation
As in the whole of Austria, the same applies in Carinthia: Only the paths specially designated for mountain bikers (trails and also gravel roads) may be used in accordance with the law. At Lake Weissensee, however, every forest and woodland owner in this valley is also a hotelier or accommodation provider - and they also live from cycle tourism here ... In any case, we didn't see a single no-bike sign in the three days.
Arrival
From Munich, take the Salzburg A8 motorway and continue on the A10 (toll for 10 days: 8.80 euros) through the Tauern Tunnel (toll: 11.50 euros) towards Spittal. Exit at Lendorf, then take the main road via Greifenburg up to Weißensee. A total of 312 kilometres, journey time 3:30 hours.
The tour
The two-day tour leads from Techendorf in a clockwise direction around the lake and makes a large loop through the rather gentle Gailtal Alps. You mostly cycle on easy gravel and forest roads. The two nature trails are easy to ride with medium riding technique. The tour covers a total of 66.7 kilometres and 2555 metres in altitude.
- Stage 1: From Techendorf to the Kohlröslhütte (38.4 km / 1530 metres altitude)
The start is in the centre of the Weißensee bridge in Techendorf. Continue briefly along the northern shore until the gravel road branches off to the left towards the eastern shore. Climb 600 metres uphill on a steep gravel road, then gently up and down halfway across the lake to the eastern shore. Follow the forest path and soon the tarmac road until the gravel path branches off to the right into the Bodenental valley. It's worth stopping for a bite to eat at the Bodenalm, then continue on a more challenging nature trail back down to the lake (bathing area). Then on a pleasantly ascending gravel road (short ramp at the end) up almost 700 metres in altitude to the Kohlröslhütte.
- Stage 2: From the Kohlröslhütte to the Weiße Wand (28.3 km / 1025 metres altitude)
From the Kohlröslhütte on gravel paths and trails over to the Naggler Alm and on towards the Weißensee mountain railway. Next to the mountain station is the start of the freshly created singletrail descent, which turns into a practice course after 2.8 kilometres and finally ends in the village of Weißensee. Now take the cycle path along the lake back to the northern shore and follow the signs towards Weiße Wand. The climb is long and somewhat steeper, but still easy to pedal. After almost 500 metres in altitude, you can look down on the rugged rock towers of the Weiße Wand. Continue on a flatter forest path/trail to the highest point and then on gravel to the Gajacher Alm. After a stop for refreshments, there is another gentle ascent of 150 metres in altitude, then you rush back down to Techendorf on gravel.
Accommodation
There are two bike hotels on Lake Weissensee that have been recognised by Mountain Bike Holidays with special tour weeks and their own bathing areas:
- Hotel Arlberger Hof Vital in Gatschach, tel. 0043/4713/2280, www.arlbergerhof.at
- Hotel Regitnig in Techendorf, tel. 0043/4713/2225, www.hotel-regitnig.at
- Familienhotel Kreuzwirt in Weißensee, Tel. 0043/47132206, www.hotelkreuzwirt.at
If you like it really quiet, you can also book into the Kohlröslhütte (with hut transfer and swimming pool). Booking necessary, as it is often fully booked. Info: Tel. 0043/664/88501860, www.kohlroesl.at
Weißensee Info Tel. 0043/4713/2220-0, www.weissensee.com
Downloads:
Gitta Beimfohr
Editor
