Jungfernsprung

The story goes that a young maiden ventured into the Forest of Dahn to pick berries when a man with ‘dishonourable intent’ thought to be Hans Trap from Berwartstein Castle chased her down to take her ‘innocence’. The young maiden gathered up her skirts and took to flight but in her panic she did not watch where she was going and found herself at a cliff edge – without stopping to think, the young maiden fell over the cliff and because her skirts ballooned out she floated down gently and survived the leap unhurt – ever since at the spot of her leap a spring has flowed. All I know is that stumbling across this set of waterfalls on a bimble around the Austrian and German border was amazing.Jungfernsprung

Goat in the road

Riding the Grossglockner enthused me to try the Nockalmstrasse in the pouring rain… this is a ‘lower alpine pass’ which turned out to be a good move as it was a quieter yet much more technical ride and apart from the usual cattle and horse hazards new ones on me were little tubby Marmots and these youngsters oblivious to the traffic…Goat in the road

Lac de Vouglans

A long days riding which saw a complete set of seasons was capped by a lunch of nectarines and cherries at the top of the pass overlooking Lac de Vouglans. The reservoir provides power for the hydro-electric power station at Vouglans on the River Ain. Warnings of a severe storm are everywhere – lets see what the new day brings but the forests today were glorious, damp and primeval, its only when you ride a bike can you smell the changing surroundings – actually smell the earth and the rain soaked canopies.

Lac de Vouglans