Distance cycled: 53km
Time in the saddle: 6.5 hours (yes the going was slow)

Set off early this morning – just a tad worried about finding our way…thankfully last night’s prep paid off and we found the bike path easily. The initial part of the trail was on moderately busy roads, and residential side streets – while the city sported elaborate historical buildings, the residential areas were more austere than the Austrian towns.

Some interesting houseboats along the Danube on the Slovakian side.

Once we got beyond the city it was a mix of riding through tiny villages, paddocks and forest. All on unsealed tracks. The villages were rural, most houses had small vineyards in their yards, lots of chooks etc and nearly all had dogs who didn’t like bikes,so we rode along to a chorus of barking (thankfully none got out).

The Hungarian bike trails are somewhat different to their Austrian counterparts – the statement in our map book that “some paths were not wet weather resistant” was a gross understatement. One 17km block was totally water logged – so we slogged along up to our axles in mud with our pedals churning like paddle steamers. We shared the track with two other couples for a while slipping & sliding along. They didn’t speak English but we had a good laugh (the universal language).

After a couple of near misses and the inevitable sliding (not very gracefully) off the edge of the road into some poor farmers crop (which is now squished) we decided to be a bit more careful and walked through the gluggiest parts – imagine our shoes at the end of it!

Rode a long stretch through a wind farm, with huge wind turbines all around us – it was blowing a gale – we were going downhill, pedalling frantically and barely making any headway. Took us about an hour to ride 5km!

Riding through the forest was again slow going but absolutely beautiful – expected to see Robin Hood and his merry men jump out at any time.

Our hotel for the night is back on the Slovakian side of the river. Luckily we had no trouble finding it because we were absolutely exhausted! I am sure we will both be in a world of pain tomorrow, with stiffness setting in fast!

Delayed post today as no Internet in room so filling this out as I have breaky. Photos not here either as connection not strong enough to upload – so if you’re skimming for photos perhaps wait ’til tomorrow.

Distance travelled: we stopped counting at 55- bike computer switched off – but the last 5 were round in circles so probably don’t count!

If today was about character building – our characters will be as big as Texas!

Headed off to Hungary today – over what the Brats.avians call the UFO bridge (for reasons obvious when you see it) and straight down the Danube. We aren’t quite sure exactly where we crossed the border (as border crossings have now been removed), but at some stage (about 20 km down the track – little banks -for currency exchange started popping up – Hungary has their own currency as they are not part of the EU – we went in with 100 Euro & came out rich!! 300 Florens to the Euro.

Today was a day of many little (and some not so little) challenges:

Challenge 1: how to find restrooms when it is raining, restaurants & cafes are closed and there are no obvious public buildings…. Lets just say that there is a bush behind this little church that will bloom a bit brighter this year.

Challenge 2:changing tyre under cover of minute bus shelter – actually this was challenge 2c- 2a: walking the 2km back to town in search of a bike shop (no luck); 2b: getting on to our luggage taxi man, who fortunately hadn’t yet gone past us, and organising for him to meet us at said bus shelter with our spare tyre (which we had inadvertently left in our suitcase!!!). Lessons learnt? Other than the obvious… It’s better to change the tyre ina bus shelter AFTER the bus has left.

Challenge 3: carrying the new spare tyre once we found a village that DID have a bike shop – ended up carrying it round my waist like a hula hoop (for about 25km)- quite a vision I assure you!

Challenges 4 to infinity: Navigating our way in and out of large Hungarian towns – streets don’t seem to have labels – or if they do we are looking in the wrong place – furthermore Most Hungarians (or at least those out walking in the rain) have little English and we have NO Hungarian – despite their best intentions this made getting directions near on impossible. We have now worked out that banks and service stations are the two businesses most likely to have English speaking staff.
Well you know what they say..what doesn’t kill you..and all that jazz. David now plotting out our route for tomorrow in infinite detail….so if there are no further blog entries you will know we are lost in the wilds of Hungary – but having a great time (or at least we think we are after a hot shower, a feed and 8 hour sleep)!

And here are the pics…

Distance travelled: 23km

Woke up to bright sunshine today ( can’t believe how variable the weather is here). After a quick breaky we headed off- with only a short ride ahead of us to Bratislava we decided to start with the 2.5 km climb up to Burgruine Schlossberg – the ruins of the medieval fortress high on the hill above Hainburg. Initially we had thought we would ride up, but with rough tracks, steep embankments and heavy panniers we decided to adopt some caution, chained the bike to a chair part way up & scrambled the rest of the way like a pair of mountain goats – the climb was certainly worth it….

We covered the 20+ km to Bratislava fairly quickly. The border into Slovakia was marked only by the tiniest of signs. Bratilslava is an interesting mix of a city – divided across the Danube with the ‘old town’ on the north side. The old buildings and cobblestone streets are fairly in tact, but not as well preserved as in Austria. Graffiti everywhere – which we found a bit confronting.

Finished the day with another climb to the Bratislava Castle – it’s becoming very clear to us why they built these things on the hill tops….

Distance cycled today: 48km (we must be getting fit as it seemed like a short ride)

Total distance cycled to date: 378km

With a very slight groan we donned our helmets and bike gear, had one last cafe latte and set off from Vienna round 9am hoping to get most of the way before the forecast rain…..hmmmmm.

It didn’t take us long to get back into bike mode. Mostly travelling through forest and wetlands – no villages today- which made it easy to ride fast(ish).

This part of the Danube trail was wide and flat, although gravel (rather than paved) which made for a bit of a muddy trip one the rain came down…and boy did it come down!

Arrived in Hainburg just after lunchtime. It is a walled city dating back to 1010 – walls still in tact and ruins of the old fortress up on a hill. We are staying in an old monastery – recently re-fitted as a hotel – absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully this means our prayers for good weather tomorrow will be heard!

A lovely three rest days in Vienna gave us a chance to rest our weary bodies, wear ‘normal’ clothes and enjoy the wonderful culture this city has to offer.

Day 1:
After a lazy start to the morning we headed into town. Our hotel isn’t brilliantly located in terms of its immediate surroundings, but it is right near the subway, so easy access to main attractions. The wide promenades of truly gorgeous shops make Shopping mandatory in Vienna – and a handbag purchase was inevitable!

Spent most of the afternoon in the Alberina – real mix of modern and classical art – great exhibition of 1960s photography, and the Michelangelo to Monet exhibition (including collections of Rubens, Matisse and Chegall) Truly amazing works.
Spent the early evening strolling. As luck would have it, the Vienna Festival is on this weekend so the city is buzzing in preparation. We were lucky enough to walk past the Choirs rehearsing on an outdoor stage at the Rathaus. Stages and eateries being erected everywhere, so looks like we are in for a fun weekend.

Day 2: horses and music
Today was all about horses. Started the day with a visit to the Spanish Riding School to see the Lippizanas – sat in on a 2 hour training session. The most glorious stadium, sat right down in the front – I just LOVE the smell of horses! They were training the young stallions – very feisty- you would think they were really dancing to the music – amazing. Sticking with the theme we then did sn open carriage ride around the city (as all good tourists do) – it was just gorgeous clopping round the cobble stoned streets.

Took the lift (much like being zipped into a cylindrical pencil casw) up to the top of StStephen’s Cathedral – the largest cathedral in Austria. Once at the top had to climb the external circular staircase with only wire mesh between us and eternity! Lots of positive self talk required on my part but I made it – Brave David pranced up!

Finished the day off with the Europe Sings concert (along with another 50000 plus Viennans) – the concert we had seen them practicing for. Choirs from all over Europe sang accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic – finishing with a massed choir. Light rain, but we had all been issued with ponchos at the start, so stood amongst a sea of orange and blue. We arrived early and managed to get right up close – hmmm do they call it a Moah Pit for classical concerts?

Day 3: A birthday in Vienna. Woke up to wonderful birthday wishes from all of you back home. David spoiled me to death – lunch at the Sky Restaurant overlooking the Vienna roof tops a touch of shopping (stay tuned for the new European look- at least from the knees down) and then afternoon tea at Cafe Sache – including their apparently famous Sache Tort.

About to head out to finish a perfect day with a Vienna Philharmonic concert (Mozart & Strauss) at the Hoffburn Palace. Tomorrow we are back in the saddle with a big 70k ride ahead of us.

Distance cycled: 76km
Distance cycled in the rain:42km
Danube crossings: 3

Our longest day in the saddle so far today. Left our hotel in Mitteransdorf at 9 am and arrived at our hotel in Vienna at 7pm. We crossed back to the South bank of the river for most of the day. No problems fitting our bike on this ferry – a whole car ferry just for our little bike!

The first part of our ride was through the Wanchau wine and apricot region – beautiful fields with rows of vines & fruit trees separated by old stone walls. The hillsides looked like patchwork quilts. Lots of tine little villages, well acquainted with bike tourists – chafes and interesting shops. Our favourite was Durnstein.

From there we rode on to Krems a large regional town -we were sitting in a outside cafe having coffee and a woman rushed up with a microphone – she was from the national radio station OA1 and wanted a short interview about our travels in tandem – of course we obliged – why not, nobody would know us. At the end she asked us our names, on noting our different names she then asked us if we weren’t married, when we said we weren’t she rapidly pointed out to David that Austria is full of beautiful castles that make great wedding venues. Hilarious!

All the fame went to our heads however and we managed to get totally lost getting out of Krems. What we are fast learning is that it is easy to find your way out in the countryside – even if you’re not quite sure where you are, but without speaking German & beIng able to read the signs it’s easy to get lost in the bigger towns and cities. Many of the large towns have suburbs of similar names and not all bridges and roads allow bikes. People are incredibly helpful and generous though. After riding round in circles trying to avoid the freeway out of town at Krems a lady on a bike saw us checking our map for the thousandth time (and perhaps the desperation on our faces) and offered to lead us back to the river – we had been about 2k off route!

We were on a time clock today – had to reach Tullin by 5.30 for the last train to Vienna, so after spending a bit too long building our international media profile & losing our way, we had to pick up speed after Krems. Crossed back to the other side of the river (by bridge this time) and pedalled fast. The North bank is much more solitary – the trail goes right alongside the river with towns set well back – great views of towns on the other side, but little else to delay you…..except perhaps rain….quick – to the panniers to get out our wet weather gear – uh oh.. Someone who shall remain nameless had taken out our waterproof pants so they could fit any Wanchau wine purchases (I guess it was forecast to be 21 degrees and sunny).

We made it to Tullin just in time dripping and muddy, very glad to get on the warm train (although not so sure how glad the people around us were – we must have been quite a sight).

In Vienna still teaming with rain..so arrived at our very swanky hotel looking like absolute bogans. Tried not to giggle (or was it managed to contain the hysteria?) as I lined up at the marbled registration desk with the other ‘beautiful people’ checking in with mud and chain grease all over me and leaving puddles everywhere I stood. The lady at the counter didn’t bat an eyelid (obviously well trained in customer service).

A hot shower and dry clothes never felt so good!

Three days rest here in Vienna before resuming the ride to Budapest. Will continue blogging when we are back on the road on the 11th.

Distance cycled: 71km
Exhaustion: total (but still smiling)
Internet connection: very slow (so not many photos uploaded – sorry)

We fronted up at the bike mechanic at 9am today with everything crossed. Bike was serviced waiting for us (for our bike techo friends the stoker crank shaft had jammed against the derailleur). So we set off with a spring n our step.

Today we travelled along the south bank of the river, so the first step was a short ferry trip. Thankfully the tandem fit on the tiny bike ferry.

We rode right alongside the river for most of the day. Again the landscape changed as we went – starting with industrial/agricultural areas with wheat silos, moving on to to huge granite cliff faces and ending up in the winery/fruit growing region. The Danube is a real working river, with huge barges transporting grain, other crops & logs up stream. There are also lots of cruise ships, car ferries and small bicycle ferries. There are dykes at regular intervals and power stations about every 100k. Despite this there are fantastic views along the river.

One of the highlights for us today was the small town of Melk. An 18th century town with an absolutely enormous Benedictine Monastery (Melk Abbey) set high on the cliff top. Quite a climb (on foot) to get up there – but well worth it.

Arrived at our hotel at 6.30 pm, tired but having had a fab day.

Distance cycled: 61km
Distance hitch hiked: 11km

Today we travelled from Linz to Grein, and what an adventure it was. We cycled mostly along the North Bank of the Danube today, which was fairly flat, mostly paved and with great signage. Very different from our previous days on much more rugged trails.

The first few km out of Linz were fairly industrial – passing a quarry & the hydroelectric power station. About 10km out it became much more picturesque – lots of little villages & freshly ploughed fields ready for spring planting.

Visited the Mauthausen Memorial – the concentration camp where Austrians were interned during the Nazi regime. Incredibly sobering experience and very eerie.

Although we were proud of ourselves that we managed the 1km climb at 14 degree (very steep) incline up to the memorial without having to get off the bike!

The afternoon was somewhat more eventful. About 10 km from our hotel the front dereiller jammed – David applied his best mechanical skills to no avail – I gave him lots of encouragement but was otherwise generally useless. Just as we were about to face the long walk a lovely old man who knew a man with a trailer stopped for us. He set the jungle drums going and before we knew it we (and our bike) were crammed into a pick up on our way to a bike mechanic in Grein. The mechanic had NO English, but our general understanding after much gesticulation is that he knows what the problem is and will have the bike ready for us at 9am tomorrow morning. We have another 70 k ride tomorrow, so are really hoping we haven’t got our wires crossed.

Finally arriving at our hotel at 6pm with sore bottoms, sunburn and seriously damaged pride, there was no choice but to roll out the big guns!

Distance cycled: 38km

Woke up to a beautiful clear day today – no rain in sight thank goodness! Had managed to get all our clothes dry overnight by cranking up the heating to the max – our room was like a sauna, but it did the trick.

Today we cycled from Gmunden to Lambach following the River Traum Cycle Path – as you will see from the pics it was a gorgeous path, but had its challenges for a fully loaded tandem …

Once in Lambach we took the train to Linz – thereby avoiding traffic coming into the city. Linz is the capital of upper Austria. Quite a mix of old and new. Of course this was our first glimpse of the Danube – which we will be following all the way to Budapest. it is a huge river, moving at speed – lots of water traffic. walked the first bit of the track we will be riding tomorrow – very windy down near the river- we will need our winter woolies – but forecast is good 16 and sunny.

Have a 70km ride ahead of us tomorrow, so may not get to post until the following day – depending on Internet availability (and fatigue).

Distance: 26km (but it felt like 56)
Maximum temperature: 7 degrees C

Well we woke up this morning to teaming rain – gave us a great opportunity to test out our wet weather gear – we looked quite a pair….

Dressed to impress we set off on the path for Gmunden. The wet weather gear held up quite well (for the first couple of hours anyway) and it was actually quite fun riding in the rain. We were mostly riding along a river bank and the river was roaring, everything green and smelling great. It was 7 degrees, so had the scarf up like a balaclava to keep the face warm (yes quite a visual I know).

We made quick time and covered the 26km to Ebaness with over three hours before our ferry was to arrive which would take us over the lake. Where to go when you are saturated, cold, hungry and no pubs in the town? We managed to find a cute cafe and settled in – ordered numerous coffees and goulash soup trying to stay there as long as we could. Managed to change out of my by then saturated top (my rain jacket didn’t work as well as David’s) and find the perfect solution for future dryness..

All warmed up We headed down to the pier to wait for the ferry…. What is that saying about the best made plans? Despite having a valid ferry ticket, the next ferry was not due until May 15 – way too long to wait in the rain!

We are nothing if not resourceful… Managed to find a railway station and lo and behold Gmunden was on the line – and they had a bike carriage! One minor hiccup we bought two bike tickets rather than two people tickets from the machine – clearly our German not up to fullspeed yet. The conductor was very forgiving and let us stay on – I think he took pity on the pair of drowned rats.

Gmunden is more of a small city than a village. Very pretty, really ornate cobblestone patterns on the streets and beautiful old buildings. – set on the banks of the Traun River

Very glad of our hot shower and hearty dinner tonight!