Ice kalt: Feelin' hot, hot, hot

November 28, 2013

That night was the coldest yet. My system of two sleeping bags worked well enough and I was comfortable, but my face was outside of the sleeping bags and could feel just how cold it was. The morning brought a very heavy frost which gave my tent a cardboard-like texture and even covered my bike. Although I had been warm at night, climbing out of the sleeping bags and packing things away in such sub-zero temperatures takes all the mental determination I can muster. I usually bribe myself with cookies and then remind myself constantly that numb fingers are a small price to pay for a world without flies and mosquitoes.

Waking up to a frosty morning by the Danube

I put my radio on to try and take my mind off the cold but all the radio stations aired people talking on breakfast shows (in German) and so I kept changing the station to try and find music. Each time that I did this I had to take my glove off and then I would just get another station with people talking, and they kept saying "Ice kalt" which even with my limited German skills I was able to translate as part of another weather bulletin. 'I know it's ice kalt, my fingers are going numb trying to find some music! Something like the 1982 Arrow hit 'Feelin' hot, hot, hot' would be ideal, but really anything will do!'

After twenty minutes I gave up.

Most of the time the Danube was so wide it looked more like a lake

During the night I had heard some kind of sound, like something smacking against the water, and I hadn't known what it was for a moment. Then I remembered that Michael had said that there were lots of beavers all along the river and that they sometimes thumped the water with their tails. I never saw any beavers actually, but there were lots of signs of them along the way. I saw plenty of gnawed tree trunks. At first I thought these were caused by really bad attempts at logging, which I suppose in a way they were. There were also lots of beaver homes, and one can only admire the construction and engineering feats of these animals. Most impressive was this one, built actually in a tree:

Correction, THIS is the best tree house ever

Signs of beaver activity were all along the river banks

The sides of the valley were flat for some time until I came to another more beautiful section between the towns of Melk and Krems (in the district of 'what would you like in your tea?') For some strange reason I had been carrying around an Austrian guide book for more than a year and, finally, I had the chance to retrieve the wet and mouldy book from the unknown depths of a region I refer to as 'the toxic sludge at the bottom of my panniers.' Carefully turning the pages with a pair of sterilized prongs I learnt that this section of the Danube was called the Wachau and was, according to the Lonely Planet authors, the most beautiful section of the Danube. The guide book played it up so much that it was almost inevitable that the Wachau would be a disappointment. I probably would have liked it a lot more if I hadn't been expecting amazing things, and I'm sure the vineyards and rock faces of the valley are much more aesthetically pleasing on a sunshiny summers day to the soundtrack of the 1982 Arrow hit 'Feelin' hot, hot hot.' On the plus side I did find a beautiful spot to camp by a pebble beach and the next morning just before Krems there was a really great view of a ruined castle on the opposite hillside, complimented by a bright church below it and a formidable pyramid rock face to its side. This was the highlight of the Wachau.

The highlight of the Wachau - note the grainy castle ruins directly above the church

Another cold tranquil afternoon cycling by the Danube was brought to an end with the sudden appearance of the city of Vienna.

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