The best cycling routes in Gesäuse National Park

The Lauferbauer Bridge is a listed historical monument, a road crossing over the Enns River in the Gesäuse region, connecting the village of Weng im Gesäuse with the municipality of Admont. Only a few Enns bridges built using traditional methods remain. The force of the river takes its toll on the bridge piers and the driven piles. In 2003, the authorities decided to rebuild the dilapidated but historically protected bridge using the old timber construction method, without steel girders or concrete piers. This required 400 cubic meters of durable fir and larch wood. The longitudinal girders, in particular, presented a challenge due to their dimensions: enormous fir trees were painstakingly brought down from the highlands to the valley. This ancient timber construction technique is documented in the archives; such "Enns trees" were already being used for bridge construction 400 years ago. Visiting Austria's largest wooden bridge and enjoying the view of the Gesäuse National Park from the bridge is well worth the trip. However, just 13 years later, in 2017, the bridge had to be rebuilt once again. The reason: instead of robust larch wood, the less suitable fir wood was used. The municipality of Admont was left to bear the costs of the reconstruction. Both the planning office commissioned for the bridge construction and the construction company have since gone bankrupt. The financial damage was estimated at €450,000, but this figure has now been reduced. Fortunately, after the demolition of the Lauferbauer Bridge, it turned out that the underlying girders were still fully functional. Reconstruction work began on May 8th with the installation of the new steel girders. The remaining wooden structure was scheduled to take another four weeks to complete. The renovated Lauferbauer Bridge was reopened to public traffic on June 12, 2017, with a weight restriction of up to twelve tons (Source: https://www.ennstalwiki.at/wiki/index.php/Lauferbauerbr%C3%BCcke

The view is magnificent.

The single-span, cantilevered bridge with a span of 66 meters was built in 2009 in approximately three months. The construction required, among other things, 42 tons of asphalt, 35 tons of steel structure, four tons of reinforcing steel, 150 cubic meters of frost protection material, 50 cubic meters of concrete, and 140 linear meters of wooden railings with stainless steel handrails, totaling €300,000. The bridge connects the market town center of Admont with the former municipality of Hall, which was incorporated into Admont in 2015. A wayside shrine stands on a spruce tree on the south side of the bridge. (Source: EnnstalWiki, www.ennstalwiki.at)

Well-suited for cyclists Cycling equipment accessible to the public

Very good gastronomy, crystal-clear, but cold water, “gravel bays” invite you to rest by the water

There stand two mountains like two guardians to let the Enns flow into the Gesäuse.

beautiful and interesting facility

This view of the Gesäuse did us good. It's an incredibly beautiful landscape. Much more so than we expected—perhaps because it was so unexpected?