Wine Time

This is just a short one to show a bit of the process of making wine. We've been pretty lucky that we have a decent harvest but now we have to use it.

We are very lucky that all the equipment is already there and just needs some cleaning.

Picking the grapes is not the hard part, removing the good ones from the vines is.








First we crush them in a mill type device and then it's time for pressing to drain as much juice as you can from the grapes.

The juice is so good that I was tempted not to bottle it at all but to enjoy the delights of freshly pressed grape juice.

We disinfected the demijohn with sulphur, which should not be breathed in. Unfortunately we got a bit of it and were coughing for afterwards.

The juice is then poured into the demijohn and now we wait, for a couple of days at least until it's time to relocate the juice to another demijohn and leave the sediment behind.

It's a fascinating process and there's still a lot to learn but I'm eager.

Cycling in Morava

I didn't know anything about the region of Morava (Moravia in English) but was pleasantly surprised by the great number of castles and interesting small towns that are there. I was also impressed by the biking infrastructure that exists there, not only the bike paths but the restaurants and camp sites built next to the bike routes.

Starting from Skalica in Slovakia, we rode as far as Petrov. We were very unprepared without a map or a plan at all. Skalica is a very nice town but unfortunately we never got to try the famous pastry "Trdelnik" as we arrived a bit too late.
We rode until we reached the Bat'a Canal which was built by the famous shoemaker Tomáš Bat'a, hence the name. It connects some of the towns in this region and was built when water transport was the most effective form.  For about one euro we camped in Petrov and managed to get a map of the region.

 The next day we set out on a trail alongside the canal and passed through some attractive towns such as Strážnice and Veseli nad Moravou. The curiously named Stare Mesto was quite disappointing in comparison with the other towns. In Uherský Ostroh we just had a quick stop to have an embarrassing picture taken of ourselves which you can see below.

We managed to find a place to camp at Spytihnév for free. It was ideal as there was a pit stop for cyclists with a restaurant and a bar. There were also paid toilets and shower facilities which was heaven after such a hot and sweaty day. The worst thing for me was using sun cream on my freckled Irish skin to prevent sunburn. Either I use it and don't get burned but have to feel all that slime on my skin or I fry. I chose the former option.

In Napajedla there is quite a nice castle worth visiting. We had a tour guide in Czech with Yulia translating for me. It was a bit short but there were some interesting things to see. Kroměříž is a city I could definitely return to. Architecturally there is a lot to see. Unfortunately we didn't have too much time. We had Yulia's bike stand replaced in a bike shop. The guys there also pumped up my wheels and fixed my speedometer for no extra charge. After that I ate fried cheese once more. In a total of six days of traveling I ate fried cheese 4 days and the other two days we cooked our own food using our small gas stove. The vegetarian options are pretty limited so I'd recommend cooking your own food if you are of the veggie only kind.

 We'd heard a lot about Zliň, the home of Tomáš Bat'a's famous shoe company but we were very disappointed when we finally made it there. It took us such a long time to reach it as the bike route was much longer than the road for cars and meant we had to do a loop before we reached the city. We didn't find anything interesting there, except for an industrial city so we took a train back to Otrokovice and spend another night at the free campsite in Spytihnév.

The next day we had to go back all along the route we had just travelled upon in order to get to the south of Morava. Hodonin was our aim and we reached the outskirts of it in the evening. It was another hot day and the chance to cool down in the evening was very welcome. We stayed in a very interesting campsite which was all for ourselves and contained fruit trees and wigwams. The nearby bar was interesting with their own brewed beer. Polotmavý or half-dark beer is amazing in Czech.

Onwards to Lednice via Hodonin and Břeclav. Lednice is quite a touristy spot but it's easy to see why. The impressive castle and massive garden surrounding it is well worth visiting and we could easily have spent a day there. Instead we only had the evening as it took us some time to reach the city and the campsite. This was previously owned by the Liechtenstein family who were forced out of the region in World War II and then set up their own country which exists today. In the evening we were treated to a folk festival with musicians not only from Czech but also from Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.

Mikulov is only ten kilometres or so from Lednice and boasts equally impressive history and architecture. As this is a rich wine producing region, there is even a museum in the castle dedicated to this. The wine barrel in the picture to the right dates from 1643 and has a capacity of 101,400 litres.

After Mikulov we went to Valtice but the road there was horribly busy and not for biking at all. I don't know if we took a wrong turn but I was just so happy to get off the main road. This castle is equally impressive even though it is not as clean or as well restored as a lot of other castles in the region. We spent the last night enjoying a good bottle of red wine in the campsite before crashing in the tent.

One more thing we saw on the way home was this castle in the picture below - Januv Hrad. It was not open so we just took a walk around it before heading back to Břeclav and the train back to Bratislava via Kutý. 6 days was just about enough time to see a lot in this region. We were very lucky with sunny weather every day and no accidents on the bikes. There's lots of culture and interesting sites to visit and by bike I always feel you get to see a bit more.

 

Preparing For the Grapes

 These pictures were actually taken two weeks ago when we finally went into the basement and cleaned everything in there. As you can see there was a lot of stuff there including these massive wine demijohns which we were informed have a capacity of 50 litres.
Thankfully there was no sign of the rats who had been there previously but the smell down there wasn't the greatest. The mould on the walls was also not very good for the air down there.
Some of the wood had to be replaced as it was rotten.

Finding a wine press was a pleasing sight as we have all the tools now to prepare wine. It's been a good seasons for grapes as it's been very dry. There's just one more month until harvest time but some of the grapes are already ripe. Wine making is an art and my expectations are not so high for the first batch as I really don't know anything about how to make it but I am looking forward to trying it.

Danauradweg - Passau to Vienna

I was thinking about dividing this up into different sections but decided to condense four days into one post.

Day One

Early, early start. We (Yulia and I) had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to catch the train from Bratislava to Passau. Actually we had to catch four trains. We nearly missed the first one due to bad time management and our natural tendency to not give ourselves enough time. Every other connection went smoothly and we were in Passau, Germany.

The city is really nice with lots to admire in the hilly old city. The first thing we did was send postcard and I bought a pair of shoes, not biking ones and then it was time to bike. We were pretty tired after traveling for about six hours but we had a schedule to keep to to make it to Vienna on Sunday. The route started off pretty smoothly and having the Danube to our right was reassuring that we were on track. The route is well-signposted so there was no great fear of getting lost. Fortunately it also wasn't so hot at the beginning although that changed later on. There were quite a few other cyclists on the route but it was not overcrowded on this section. 

Only once did we have to cross the river, by ferry which was relaxing but quite short. Despite taking many breaks we were pretty exhausted in the evening and in need of cooling down. I got into the river quicker than expected in order to save the watermelon which had fallen off the bike into the Danube. Below you can see my joy at saving this precious, hydrating fruit. At night we camped next to a cornfield next to which was an ominous looking house. Yulia was convinced it was safe and that the house was abandoned but I wasn't so sure. For dinner we cooked cous cous, zuchini, beans, onions and peppers on our gas stove. Sleeping was tough as I felt so paranoid and once again every little sound at night increased the level of fear in my body. 

Day Two

The next morning I was happy to get moving before being caught by the owner of the land. We rode a bit before having breakfast at a wonderful lake area where there were free toilets and even a shower. These are precious facilities when you are camping wild. Our journey was pretty smooth and soon we were in Linz. It was hot even in the morning so a swim was necessary just outside the city. It was so refreshing as this was by far the hottest day. After falling asleep in a park in the city, we had a small beer and salad and moved on. Linz is a city of shops and parallel to it is the old part of the city which is much calmer and more attractive. 

In the evening we suddenly started getting attacked by horse flies. Yulia was especially tasty for them. It was time to find a place to stay. As you can see in the picture below, we found an idyllic spot to pitch our tent. It was a fantastic sheltered area next to the Danube but at nine o'clock the mosquitoes appeared and began their biting frenzy. The only safety was inside the tent.

Day Three

The mosquitoes were still around in the morning so we had to get out of the area quickly to avoid adding to our itchy bites. As it was cool we decided to get as many kilometres on our speedometer before the heat began to rise. We made it as far as the impressive town of Ybbs where they have a bike museum which we unfortunately didn't have time for. After breakfast we took the path to Melk and overtook a massive group of Italians before being overtaken in turn when we stopped for water. Melk has a massive Benedictine Abbey that has to be explored even though we had to climb a hill to do so. 

 After Melk we continued onwards and passed through many vineyards, and other orchards in the region of Wachau. We were just in time for apricots which were being sold or were still hanging on the trees. What was really nice was the small stall with apricots, apricot jam and nectar which was on sale with a little jar for honest people to put money into. As we are honest and we love apricots we bought a bag of them and some nectar.

In the evening we got pretty tired and this time we decided to camp on an official campsite in Krems. It was a wise move as there was a massive storm soon after we had pitched our tent. The wind raged and threatened to blow our tent away but thankfully it held firm and remained dry during the night. It was so nice to have a hot shower and enjoy the privileges of civilisation.

Day Four

Fresh from a reasonably good rest and wash, we set out on the last part of the trail. Sometimes the last section can be the toughest and in some ways this was true. It didn't help that I spotted a broken spoke on my back wheel and was scared that my wheel wouldn't be able to hold the weight of two panniers and a tent on it. 

Once again the route was perfectly picturesque with quaint Austrian towns and villages on the route. In Tulln we stopped for a rest and to look around the flea market in the centre of the city. Records tempted me but carrying them on the bike dissuaded me from buying anything. 

After a rest by the river we rode and rode. It seemed to take us an eternity to get to the end of our route. I was just waiting to see a sign 'Wien' but it never happened. We reached the city rather quietly without any fireworks or cheers and then had to navigate to the Hauptbanhof in order to take the train back to Bratislava. We cheated a little by taking a metro to the station but figured we'd earned a little bit of comfort. On the journey back all the aches and pains and bites seemed to accumulate but they couldn't match the feeling of satisfaction that we had completed what we had set out to do. The speedometer registered 389km, much more than the 320km we had anticipated. 

Harvest Time

Strawberries have come and gone but there's lots more to pick and gorge on.
Now is the time when fruits such as cherries, raspberries, currants are all ready to be picked. We also have two courgettes and I have to say that eating a barbecued one the other night was possibly one of the tastiest experiences of my life. I am really looking forward to harvesting tomatoes, peppers and grapes. The latter is going fine but we are both stressed about all the diseases we have been warned about. We are still using an ecological spray consisting of iodine, soap, milk and water. Fingers crossed ...

There's still lots of work to do especially as temperatures are now in the mid to late 30s. It's just so hard to do any work when it is so scorching hot. The shower in the picture below is a great way to cool down and what could be more natural than washing outdoors?

Watering is the main thing as the earth is extremely dry. We need some rain but not vicious storms. It's amazing how much more I focus on the weather now that plants are dependent on me and on nature.