It’s been a long stretch of not really riding, beyond the usual 30-ish km commute to the weekend place. Busy catching up with other stuff, losing a week to sickness at half term, a cold between Christmas and New Year, sometimes grotty weather, bla bla, all the usual things. At the same time, while riding up and down the damn Mur is losing its charm, in winter and my current state of unfitness the hills are probably a bit too much. So I wanted to do something that would get me out of the rut, even in a small and symbolic way, and also stretch out the distance a little bit.

Heading south from Graz, there’s a spot in Lebring where the R2 bike route, going straight, passes a bridge across the Mur to the left. The bridge is a rather spartan, functional affair that looks no newer than about the middle of the last century and there’s a sign pointing to it saying Haslach and Gundersdorf. Haslach reminded me of the phrase “Hazlacha uwracha”, which made me wonder if it would be a magical place of happiness and blessing. The map showed it as a cluster of houses, a village would be a big name for it, a few kilometres on the other side of the river. So this time, I headed across. The first kilometre or two is a main road, but then there is a turn-off to the right onto a little road leading to the place. The first houses and sheds came with a strong smell of pig, suggesting that any blessings to be found there were more of a non-kosher persuasion. I had to go a little bit to the left/east then and up a little hill to find a sign for documentation purposes.

After that I headed back to the western, Mur-facing side of the settlement where the map told me there would be another little road to another little bridge across the Mur at Bachsdorf. What it didn’t tell me was that this road, though public, wasn’t tarmacked. It has what we call a macadam surface and it was mostly very muddy, evidently having just recently thawed; a couple of shady sections of it were still covered in a crust of ice. I was able to ride about 2/3 of it and walked the rest. At the end, by a sewage treatment plant and going into the woods, tarmac reappeared and then I was on the other little bridge.

So this was a little adventure, somewhere I’d never been, and I noticed while I was over there that part of the way belongs to the R50 Stiefingtalradweg. Maybe I’ll go and explore that sometime. I know the Stiefingtal from a couple of years ago when I was teaching a young neighbour to drive: out there we found a little circuit of slow and fast roads to go round and round and round practicing gearshifts and other basic driving techniques.

From Bachsdorf to home was a bit of a chore, reflecting the fact that this was the first time I’ve ridden over 100 km for a long time.

My bike is now filthy from the slop on that muddy road and the saddle is collapsing a bit. The lacing broke and I probably need to stretch it a bit more. I hope I haven’t terminally wrecked the leather by transplanting it. I should suspend fretting about the bike, though, until I’ve done several weekends of rides like this and get back into some kind of basic shape.

A bike path with a grassy field to the left, a raised grass verge to the right. Strong sunlight from ahead, making a wooded hill a black silhouette. Suspended from a lamppost, a Christmas light in the form of a star, lit by the sun from behind.
A leftover Christmas light near Peggau
A bike path crosses the bottom right of the picture diagonally; to the left of it, a new bike shelter on grey metal frames with a flat wooden roof. Sheffield style hoops and a bench inside. Bright sunlight. A blue touring bike leands against the near end.
A new bike shelter and service station south of Gratkorn
Blue touring bike leaning up against a signpost. Above a red newspaper vending bag and two green signs pointing to a golf course and a firefighting training school, a directional sign points left to Gundersdorf and Haslach.
Always went straing on here. Not today!
We are looking along the roadway of a bridge with low green steel sidewalls, which may also be loadbearing beams. A road curves from the left onto the bridge. Sunlight and shadows from over the photographer's right shoulder.
The mysterious bridge
Man in green bike helmet, cap, grey buff, dark blue jersey with a vertical silver and orange stripe next to a sign "Haslach" and under that "Gem. Ragnitz". A small yellow wayside chapel is in the background.
Me at Haslach city limits
A bike leaning up against the railing of a bridge, which is just an ordinary steel pipe fence filled with square wirde mesh. Two birch trees on the left. The river smooth, shiny and blue as the sky. Some more trees on the far bank. Beyond them a hint of low houses. The landscape is flat.
At the other little bridge, in Bachsdorf
Rear triangle of a bike showing especially the brake caked in light grey mud, which is drying out; strong sunshine
Muddy
A bike, with glowing red lights on the dark green saddlebag and on the rear mudguard, on a narrow bridge with wooden planking and dark brown wooden fence-railings on both sides. Some relflections in the river below. Houses lining the road on the other bank.
Just to complete the set of little bridges, the Gasrohrsteg in Graz.