September 16, 2011
Wandering through the winw villages of the Wachau: We reach Tulln
Our friendly landlady gave us a lovely breakfast and somehow we had turned into the prize exhibit of the place. The people staying in the Wachau are interesting. Not many of them are long distance bike tourists as these generally stay in Melk - a lovely town on the other side of the river that has a very impressive Benedictine Abbey. Those cycle tourists that do stay in the Wachau tend to be groups on cycle tours who are booked on mass into hotels. We were however staying in a small guest house. The typical guests there are either Austrians or Germans who have arrived by car complete with bikes to have their biking holiday in this beautiful area. The Wachau extends for about 35 to 40km and because of the hills is very narrow. Each day they set off on their bikes, or in their cars complete with bikes to visit the myriad of beautiful little villages and indulge in the wine tasting that is available. Unlike us they look very well dressed, well groomed and clean. We therefore seemed particularly strange and were bombarded with questions. The landlady watched and smiled benignly and we felt a little like her performing seals.
The morning of course was a delight as one gorgeous wine village ran into another. Many of them were crowded with people in particular one in which a cruise ship had just pulled in where we met some friendly Aussies. There were lots of cyclists some of them in huge groups with a guide whom we took to be on day excursions from some of the towns. We took it very slowly walking through most of the villages to make the most of it, then suddenly we were in Krems and that was the end of it.
Across the bridge and it all became a lot more mundane. The track is right beside the river with few villages. One enterprising person had set up a café on the banks and it seemed impossible for any cyclists to ride by it. We had a very acceptable cup of coffee for 2.20Euros served with a glass of iced water and a chocolate. There we met four Americans a doctor, a lawyer, a hospital administrator and a man in IT. They were very pleasant to talk with, as we biked along into the strengthening head wind on our way to Tulln.
We have a room in the main square here. Tomorrow will be a challenge as if the wind is not too fierce we want to see if we can go through Vienna(will stay there on the way back) and on to Bratislava.
Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 2,475 km (1,537 miles)
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