The night of the river monster: Eckertsau - Tulln - Say hi to the elephants, and hope the weather improves

October 2, 2012

The night of the river monster: Eckertsau - Tulln

It looks so peaceful. Who could imagine the monster in the deeps?

IT TOOK a while to register but there was a River Monster loose last night. Think of an elephant raising its trunk for a good bellow and that mournful sound you know whales make underwater. It sounded like that.

At first it didn't register. I had been asleep and I'm enough of a bumpkin to know there's nothing loose in western Europe that's going to do me harm. Nevertheless it took a while to work it out - that it was a stag baying. It's not a sound you hear every night and

I didn't bother with a map for this part of the ride

if you were 10 you'd break into a sweat and run, convinced a River Monster was rising from the depths to suck you between its teeth.

I'd had a clue last night. As I wandered the meadow and its clumps of trees to find a tent spot and be sure nobody was about, I'd seen deer pop back into the undergrowth at my approach. And this morning, to confirm events, a stag with magnificent antlers strolled up from the river, stood on the path to give me a long hard stare, then strolled magnificent and untroubled down the embankment on the other side and into the trees.

Today was the day I rode into Vienna. I feel guilty I didn't look around but we gave it two days last time and then troubled train connections forced us to give it another couple on the return. Added to which it turned cold and started to rain. I bought gas canisters and

It's not much good if you don't understand the German initials but this is the alert that you're entering a nudist section

shared my food with a homeless woman selling magazines outside a supermarket. And then I rode on, into the wind, wearing the tracksuit bottoms I'd bought in Budapest.

I could have ridden further but my heart wasn't in it. I saw a campground in late afternoon and stopped. I have been joined by a pleasant couple from Germany closing six months of "riding to the Black Sea area and exploring it" who seem never to have washed their clothes or their hair in all that time.

We'd chat more but we don't share a language, which is always a frustration.

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