🎢 An unusual trip to Innsbruck

Part 1 - an unexpected encounter

By now, I have commuted from Brussels to Innsbruck quite a few times. The trip is never the same, because trains in Germany are often cancelled and delayed, but I've got used to this predictable unpredictability. The ICE trains are really comfortable, and it's always a nice ride to work, read a book and listen to music. I even managed to publish a new blogpost :).

In this trip I was accompanied by a new item for the first time: my new foldable bike, which I bought for very cheap second hand, and was joining me for our first train ride together.

Getting off the train at Munich central station, walking towards the end of the track to go grab some lunch, a different part of my brain was activated by looking at a stranger's face with brief eye contact. I kept walking, continuing the motion, but stopped shortly after, with thoughts finally catching up to what happened: "Wasn't that Greta Thunberg?".

A small group of people not too far from where I was standing, also gossiping in that direction, made me realise I wasn't the only one with that doubt. This, however, was completely ignored by the mass of people continuing their day, like a school of fish.

Celebrity culture is not for me. I dislike idealising people and harassing them in public spaces without a clear purpose. But I decided to say hi and thank you, to her and 2 other activists around, so I went back. Legs shaking a little, without a clear explanation as to why. Her reaction to my question "are you Greta Thunberg" was the one you'd expect if a random stranger comes at you and states your full name. After thanking them for the work they do, their reply was "yeah, why don't you join us?". I didn't have an answer, so my legs started shaking a bit more. They were all incredibly nice, and exuded a positive, warm energy.

They recommended checking out Code Rouge in Brussels. After this brief - but longer than expected - chat, I grabbed my lunch and embarked my next train to Kufstein (Austria).

Part 2 - escaping the bomb

In Kufstein, I embarked my last train to Innsbruck. The train did say "do not embark" on it, but everyone just seemed to ignore it. Ten minutes after the planned departure time, the train was still there. No announcements, no staff. The ÖBB's (the Austrian train company) website signalled me that a "police operation" was blocking the line between Kufstein and Wörgl, another town on the way.

After pleasantly waiting for 40 min on the train, I decided to take my bike for an adventure and cycle to Wörgl and take the train from there. I removed my jumper but kept my wind jacket, as it was pretty warm and didn't have more space in my luggage.

Then, following Google Maps' route, I travelled for about 1h (a bit more than 15km) next to the river Inn, with a beautiful scenery of mountains and grassy fields. It felt like a dream come true, to be able to commute with my bike when trains are not running.

Having just entered Wörgl, Maps told me to "turn right". What I found, however, were three police cars blocking all access to the road, and telling me to go left. An underlying feeling of stress was in the air. Asking whether I could reach the station, the policewoman told me that no trains were running, and told me to move away. The instruction felt more like protective advice than a command. Cycling towards the city centre, the police intensified, and roads were full of people, police and firefighters, all chatting and waiting. A policeman in front of the station told me to get to Kundl to get a train from there. A police helicopter was landing in the background as he was telling me that. It felt a bit like a film set, despite no feeling of panic in the air, just something eventful happening.

After cycling for 30 more minutes to Kundl (around 8km), I found a small station, full of people, with a train that said "not running". Two guys told me that there is "Null Procent" chance I get on the train with my bike.

At that point, my friend in Innsbruck and I decided that it would be best if he picked me up by car. This whole experience really left me energised and in a good adventurous mood, but cycling 60 more kilometres (and arrive during the night) with my small bike and luggage did not seem reasonable. Another time!

I cycled 6 more kilometres to reach Radfeld, a small town where I crashed on a bench and slept until my friend arrived. We learned that the whole agitation in Wörgl was because of a 250 Kg bomb from WW2 they found next to the train station while doing some maintenance work. Flats around the stations were evacuated, and I'm guessing they were all preparing for the worse (that the bomb would explode), which luckily did not happen.

So here is my adventure. Like my first post on train travel, I hope this will spark excitement for adventure when choosing more sustainable travel like the bike and the train.

Thoughts

I was surprised by how far my foldable bike with no gear got me, with all my luggage. My speed was slightly below Google Maps' average, which is pretty slow, but it's better than having to walk.

I did not have the best experience with Google Maps. It is no secret that I don't like Google services, for their closed-source policies and monopolies. In this case, the quality of the data and navigation wasn't the best. It wasn't aware of certain paths, thought certain paths existed when they really didn't (I got a beautiful "turn left" in the middle of a forest with only a straight path), and the itinerary didn't make much sense. I decided to mostly stick to the marked cycling path with directions, which decreased the expected arrival time on Maps.

Using Open Street Map for these adventures is something I'd love to do more. I've used Komoot before, which did provide better paths unknown to Google Maps at times, but also led me down an unused muddy path on a mountain in Switzerland and got me a flat tire in Lucca, with going through an abandoned forest path. Most importantly, it is so much faster to set a destination and start riding with Google Maps than with Komoot. Komoot also doesn't let you easily modify the destination and go back to an overview.

The cycling paths in that part of Austria are truly amazing. The roads are scenic, bike-only, and well maintained. I'm really happy I managed to handle all communications in German - although I could sometimes only guess the sentences spoken with a thick Austrian accent.