Day 10: Melk to Vienna

Another long day and, although the last 40km were a grind, there was much to see on the way.

Ready to go.

The Hotel zur Post surpassed itself on the breakfast and we were ready to go pretty early. It looked like a cooler day and so we were keen to get out on the road before the heat built up. A combination of nurofen, paracetamol and wine seemed to have taken the sting out of the dental problem but it was something that was going to have to be dealt with in Vienna.

I hadn’t started the route at the right place so there was 3km of quite difficult navigation getting to the bridge over Big D to get to the northern bank.

Getting to the north bank included a 22% incline which we sensibly walked.

Up on the bridge we had a great view down the Danube and the area we would be cycling through.

Big D in all it’s glory.

The northern bank of the Danube is known as the Wachau and is one of the main tourist destinations in Austria. The valley stretches from Melk to Krems and produces some of the best wine in Austria. All along the bank of the river and the hills which rise above it are vinyards. Hundreds of them and even tiny strips of land wedged between the cute little single track railway and the road have vines on them.

Vinyards as far as the eye can see.

Every 5km or so, there was a cute little village with a bodega and in every case a fire station. What is it with Germany/Austria and fire stations? Some of the villages couldn’t have had more than 200 people.

This historical fire station shows that it’s not a recent obsession…

Although the terrain was rolling, the surface was easy between the villages and we made good time Unfortunately most of the villages appeared to have decided that cobbling their streets made them even quainter for the tourist trade and so there were some crotch and hand numbing sections of pavé.

Tiny little examples of God’s property portfolio were a regular occurrance.

As we rose above the river, we had a great view down onto the single cruise ship that we had seen with some passengers on it. The Gentleman — an odd name for a ship — was cruising just a little slower than us so we raced it to Krems.

Ha, we are ahead. In your face cruise ship!

The end of the Wachau is the inexplicably popular village of Durnstein. It seems to be pretty par-for-the-course for this part of Austria but it was absolutely jammed with tourists being guided around by people with flags and weird in-ear monitors presumably doing simultaneous translation or something.

Durnstein high street. Note the unforgiving pavé.

We got to Krems and then crossed the river once again. From here on in it was just endless beautiful tarmac and lots of views of the river. We stopped for some drinks and I noticed that I had 5 calls from a Melk number. On returning the call, it appeared that we cycled away from the Hotel zur Post without paying…. Luckily the credit card transaction could be done on the phone and there were some grovelling apologies to be made.

Miles and miles of this.

This part of the Danube is very much the power generation centre of Austria. There are still coal fired stations and a lot of hydroelectric installations across the Danube.

Maybe the third or fourth dam like this that we passed.

We also passed the Zwentendorf site.

A monument to stupidity

Zwentendorf was intended to be Austria’s first nuclear power station. After a referendum in Austria voted against nuclear power in 1979, work ceased and it’s now used as the backdrop for gigs. After spending 10 days in sweltering heat, I was reminded of the fact that we had solved the “climate crisis” in the 1960s by using these magic glowing rocks that we dig up and they provide carbon-free power for ever. It appears nobody wants to solve the climate crisis in thatway…. Oh, and before anybody says “wait, what about the nuclear waste”, refining the rare-earth minerals to put into the magnets that are used in wind generators produces way more nuclear waste than nuclear power generation.  It’s just that it’s all in China so we don’t notice…or care.  Anyway, enough of this.

We continued through the increasing heat (which could have been ameliorated by embracing nuclear generation) and tried to grab something to eat in Tulln. Our first attempt was an exceptionally strange hotel called the Nibelungenhof which didn’t serve food and had some very strange murals of naked men and women and, it appeared, Remi Malek. After a quick drink, we stopped at a riverside cafe which served possibly the worst sandwich I have ever eaten and was infested with wasps. Not a great stop. That being said, we had a very nice tailwind pushing us along which was a big relief after yesterday.

It also turned out that my bank brake have been binding for maybe the last three or four days. I was wondering why I was generating quite a lot of power and not a lot of speed. I performed some repairs but I think I may have to do the rest of the trip with just a front brake.

Soon after Tulln, we passed 1,961 km to the mouth of the Danube.

An important number for me.

By this point, a combination of the distance and the heat meant that both Dr T and I were struggling a bit and the Tulln stop had been…disappointing. We found a little Gasthof about 15km from Vienna which served gazpacho and banana splits. Those and some cold drinks gave us enough energy to face getting into Vienna.

Although the cycle infrastructure in major cities is often good, it does involve negotiating some dismal places as the bike routes thread through the usual urban geography.

Motorways above, graffiti on the walls, a faint smell of urine. Welcome to Vienna.

The last 5km were tough. Once we were into Vienna, it was absolutely baking, there were people, traffic and trams to deal with. Luckily we made it to the hotel without incident and, despite being a boutique hotel, it’s pretty good. Aircon but no towel rail. A reasonable trade. Of course, what with it being Monday and all, the bar and restaurant are shut but since the lady on the desk was super helpful and lovely, we didn’t feel too aggrieved.

Most importantly, there was an apothekealmost next door. I barrelled in and explained that my UK dentist had said that I needed 500mg of Amoxicillin and I need it now.The charming young lady brought the octogenarian pharmacist out from his cubby hole and looked me up and down and said “500mg, zat ist fur der kinder”. He was very keen that I signed on to the seriously heavy weight 1000mg of antibiotics three times a day. “You are not a child!” he said poking me in the chest. I stood my ground and there are now sensible amounts of antibiotics coursing round my veins and hopefully dealing with the dental problem.

Vienna is pretty quiet on a Monday night but we found a delightful little Italian restaurant which served tasty pasta and good wine. Yes, yes, yes, I know about antibiotics and wine. This was a tough day ok?

Tomorrow is much shorter and, it appears, much cooler. We head through a wetland national park, cross the Iron Curtain (!) and should arrive in Bratislava by lunchtime. Vienna is a beautiful city but we’ve been here before and will probably be here again. Bratislava is new territory and therefore will be very exciting.

The Stats:

• Distance: 117km 😕. The longest day so far. Challenging.
• Average Speed: 20.5km/h. Tailwind helped but the sections of pavé did not.
• Bikes: ☹️. The back brake on my bike is definitely screwed. I think some dust has got into the calipers and they don’t retract properly. I can take the back wheel out and push the calipers out but as soon as I use the back brake, they bind again. Three days with one brake? It’ll be fine.
• Soft tissues: 😐. Amoxicillin working its magic. Hands numb. Neck pains all round. By this point in these journeys, your body just starts to decay.

Previous