Day 14 - Nockalm again, rally cars and oil

Thursday 14th July 2014

 It's a gloomy morning, threatening rain to come so we hang around after breakfast and I try to catch up with the blog.

By 1pm the weather is clearing so we set out to conquer the Nockalm again. When we arrive there is a procession of sports cars filing through the western entrance. It's the Ennstall Classics Rally, a three day event, and hundreds of cars of varying vintage are charging over the passes. 

Rally checkpoint

We ride amongst them. Most are quite slow and are easily overtaken, but some have a quite cavalier attitude towards cornering lines and seem to think they are on a one-way track.

We arrive at the east summit. It's a checkpoints for the rally. The marshals warn us that there is oil on the road but are hazy about exactly where. We continue warily down to the east entrance, no sign of oil on the road so far. We make a u-turn and ride back up. This time we stop for lunch at the checkpoint, Goulaschsuppe mit Brot.

It is starting to rain again so we head west where the roads are dry. It's a joy to ride this road. We are riding against the oncoming rally cars now and at times it's very dangerous. I come round a blind bend to find a Porsche right in my line, overtaking a slower competitor and right in my face. I have nowhere to go so slam on the brakes and somehow avoid missing the bastard. 

Harley rider enjoying the Nockalm

We stop for coffee, hoping the rally procession is nearing it's end. A full dress Harley rider waves as he chugs by.

As we approach the west entrance there is a two foot wide stripe of black engine oil running for at least 200 metres down the centre of the road. One of the rally entrants has obviously checked out early. At the gate a cleanup crew is getting ready with the sprayers in an attempt to clean it up. Good luck with that!

Scary oilspill

We leave and head back to Gasthof Hochalmspitze for more good food, conversation and banter. 

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