Krems to Melk (Sept. 21, 2022)

September 21, 2022

Well, I have to eat my words. Today's ride through to Melk reaffirmed why people ride the Danube Trail.

We had a relaxing breakfast and it was crowded with a mix of lots of cycle tourists (several tour groups) and a college-looking crowd. We took off at 10:30 am with a short ride ahead of us (38 k) to Melk. Because it was short we decided to stop at Durnstein - this cute little touristy town- and climb up to the Burgruine, which is the ruined castle where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned in the 1100's. There was a lot of history about Richard, and honestly he doesn't sound like a very good guy (very cruel and manipulative). Besides fighting in the Crusades — a pretty dubious proposition — there was just a ton of "infighting" in Europe so that he was imprisoned by the Duke of Austria Leopold XV at Burgruin until a ransom was paid 14 months later. Richard went onto have lots of financial and powerful success for the next 20 years. (Since he was English I am quite curious how he is presented in England: a wonderful, but disturbing thing about travel is that you learn that the viewpoints are quite different in each nation. Reading news in Europe you get a totally different point of view about what is going on in the world).

On the way up to the ruin, there was this stop where you could help yourself to one of several of the local wines, and, on the honor system, leave 4 euros. You know, just like they do in Napa!

The hike up was great, steep but not long with a lot of photo ops for Dave. It also is a super touristy area and suddenly we heard a lot of English, mostly Brits. Weirdly enough, somebody asked us for hiking directions to Krems, and even weirder, we actually could help the guy since we had passed the sign to Krems on the way up. We hiked down together and we had a very nice visit. He was a Canadian and was well travelled.

Jill always teases me that I'm rarely in the photos I take, so here's a selfie from the top of the ruin.

The ride was incredibly scenic through the Wachau valley with all these vinyards ready to harvest their Gruner Veltliner grapes. The hills come down quite close to the river and are dramatic.

We haven’t talked as much about Austrian wines but we are enjoying them and Dave is now motivated to look at those more closely back home. A number of towns had tasting rooms and you could see that in peak season it would be a zoo, but on such a chilly day, it wasn't busy. At the suggestion of Rick Steves -that fount of all travel knowledge!-we rode on the north side, less cycleways but cute little roads and vines. The last 10 k it got colder and windy and we were motivated to arrive quickly when it started to pour. We stopped under an underpass and put on our rain pants for the last bit of the trip. I don’t know what the south side of the Danube was like but the north side was excellent.

The warm tub at Hotel Zur Post was wonderful, followed by a lovely Austrian meal with cool pumpkin soup and another onion roast for Jill. I think it will be my last one. We met a couple from Wisconsin and had a fun visit. They are doing the bike ride to Krems (back from where we came) the following day. He is still practicing law at 70. (I’m happy I’m bike-riding instead).

The view from our window out to the abbey. The abbey just looms over the whole town.

We were feeling horrible for Annamieke van Vleuten, who fell in the mixed relay at the Cycling World Championships and apparently broke her elbow.

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,379 km (856 miles)

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ann and steve maher-wearyWe loved this section of the Danube. We did it in 2012, with our two kids and my sister and her daughter. From Passau to Budapest. A girlfriend joined us for part of the trip too. We had a blast and solidified our desire to become cycle tourers. Thanks for your great photos, it brings back wonderful memories.
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