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.
