September 18, 2014
Tulln - Orth-an-der-Donau
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After checking out of Albrecht's Rooms, in more relaxed circumstances, we took another look at Tulln's main square, before riding back down to the river path. The skies were blue again this morning and of course that's good, but the wind was crazy, capricious, not always full in the face. I couldn't figure out the exact direction, Eastish is all.
After ten miles or so of riverside path, the route turns away from the water through the Viennese outer suburbs of Kristendorf and Josefsdorf, after which you're back on the riverbank, but under the road. We followed the canal, as far as Maria Theresien Strasse, where we decided to have a look at the city centre.
Barbara was a little less happy here on city streets, Viennese roads aren't too bike friendly, away from the designated routes, the advantage of suffering city traffic being some protection from the full force of the wind. We bought food at a Spar shop near Sigmund Freud park in view of the Votivkirche and rode south to the Heroes of the Red Army memorial, where we stopped to eat on a bench.
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From there. I led the way by more or less following my nose, all the while keeping an eye on Herr Garmin. This worked well enough as far as the bridge over the canal leading to Prater park. I decided we should turn right at this point, when we should have continued ahead. We rode alongside an autobahn for a while, then over the bridge onto the Danube island. We were at the industrial end of Vienna, which we would largely have avoided, by taking the Prater route. We had to backtrack around the tank farm, back on the mainland, where we caught up with the proper route. The wind was full in our faces along the road to Schönau-an-der-Donau, where the route goes back to bike path.
Near Orth we turned away from the river towards the town centre and found the Gasthof zum Schauhuber, right in front of us. We were back on bread and cheese for dinner; a waste of opportunity, because the hotel restaurant offered a choice of catfish, carp, zander or pike. Barbara, who likes a fish, was over-tired after our fight against the mad headwind and was in no mood for dining out. The hotel bar also served as an ice-cream parlour. We didn't have ice-cream either.
Today's ride: 82 km (51 miles)
Total: 1,500 km (932 miles)
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