From Graham

Last night we walked through the village up a steep hill next to the privately owned, slightly forbidding castle built on a rock besides the Danube and the local village. We had seen a couple of people and not a single car.

Chris stood in the middle of the road transfixed by a huge flying bug surrounded by a squad of slightly smaller flying bugs. Then, completely unexpectedly, a large bus came streaming round the corner. Luckily it turned out OK.

It led to us spending the morning of Chris’s birthday looking on the web at pictures of flying bugs and going “eeehhhggg”. We think that we saw June chasers and a flying Cicada ..! (But possibly a cockchaser aka doodlebug)

Anyway, one of the reasons I had for cycling quietly yesterday was that I had decided to write a poem for Chris’s birthday I couldn’t write it down so I had to memorize it as we went along.

From Chris
Thank you all who sent me birthday wishes.

The day started at 6 am with building noise (flood defences) and is moving towards its end with a threatening, gusty wind heralding the end of the heat. The wind/storm started just as we came back to the tent late afternoon. Graham immediately started reinforcing the tent with extra guy ropes, ruing the fact that he had not put more tape around our broken pole. I tried to help a fellow camper, whose tent was actually blowing away. In between these tricky moments the day was good. Lovely card from Graham but no presents, as agreed (the whole trip is like a massive present).

In between these tricky moments the day was good. Lovely card from Graham but no presents, as agreed (the whole trip is like a massive present).
In our original planning we had somehow over-estimated how far it is to Vienna, or under-estimated how much distance we can cover. Hence we are introducing more non-cycling days, to make sure we don’t arrive in Vienna too early. Today was sight-seeing in a town called Melk.

I call it a town but basically it is an abbey with houses around it. Every time you look up from the streets, whoohoo, there is the abbey again. Big, striking and very much there. This is particularly relevant since ”the relationship between the market town and the abbey was often tense.” (quoted from a plaque on the ‘Rathaus’). You can imagine the power struggles

The richness of the abbey feels uncomfortable. There are priceless artefacts and beautiful paintings but it lacks humility (I have to own up here to my Dutch Calvinist background). The library contains thousands of leather-bound books, the church is very ornate, as we have seen so often on this trip.

It’s a Baroque masterpiece. No gargoyles!

From Graham

My take away from the Abbey visit was the amazing quality of the fifteenth century religious paintings. There are a couple of alters by Egkel and Breu the Elder which are in my view both amazingly modern and very well preserved. I suppose it’s obvious really, that the place to see medieval art is in religious institutions rather than museums.

On the way back, I swam for the first time in the Danube.

Getting in

Swimming

Getting out

(in quick succession)

Chris’s birthday celebration with regional food and wine from Wachau.

So what’s the announcement? We’ve been streaming along. So we’ve decided to extend our goal to Bratislava. We’ll see if we can cycle there, and then back to Vienna to meet our friends on Saturday 6 July

There was a lot of noise in the campsite last night. Kind-of-death-metal shouting and drinking. Secretly, the great relief for me is that they weren’t Brits, but home grown Austrians!

I eventually feel asleep. In the morning one of the crew was being treated for the start of a black eye, so I can only guess how it all ended.

Someone once said to me about Germany in the old days that you were either part of the establishment or you were hard-core alternatif. It felt a bit like that last night (in Austria).

There were a lot of bleary eyed campers this morning.

It is Sunday and we knew that there wouldn’t be much open in Austria so we still had some super-market food with us. We started with a ferry across the fast-flowing Danube and then headed for the UNESCO world-heritage site, Melk Abbey. It is another Baroque jewel. We are getting much greater exposure to this amazing architecture and design than ever before.

Unfortunately, Chris really didn’t sleep last night so she was zonked. That is one reason why we rode fairly silently today. I’ll tell you the other reason tomorrow.

We arrived at the campsite which is about 4 km downstream from Melk and relaxed, finishing off the last of the food. We’ll go back into town tomorrow.

This is the view from our campsite, with a new flood protection wall that had been completed in the last few days.

As I look around the campsite, writing this, I can see several people outside, asleep, next to their tents (including Chris). It’s hot!

Tomorrow we’ll have another small announcement in the post.

“This really is my thing”.

We did extensive shopping in the local supermarket buying food that is difficult to get through restaurant meals: lots of salad, cheese, raw veg, pure fruit juice, unsweetened yoghurt … Plus more mozzie guard and sun cream.

Walk, by Chris

If you ever chance upon a town called Grein (and I hope for your sake that you will), then make sure to do walk nr 9.

But before I say more about this, I wish to explain the magnitude of the dilemmas we are faced with: For instance, do you put on suncream first and then the tic protection lotion or the other way round? I can’t believe that it is only months ago since we were fully immersed in the major challenges of life and work in London. Long live getting old!

Cycling has been great and we’ve seen many wonderful things on our way. But today was extra spectacular. At one stage I found myself exclaiming “This really is my thing”.

The main part of the walk starts along a gentle stream, where it flows into the Danube. You walk gently upwards among beautiful trees interspersed with mossy rocks. The stream makes gentle gurgling sounds. Sometimes there are stepping stones to help you cross, at other times wooden bridges.

(Chris skipping across the stepping stones)

(We followed the stream up the hillside)
Every now and then there is a small waterfall. The main destination is the Stillensteinklamm (sorry, another tongue twister). This is where the stream disappears underground and reappears a little while later. You hear it, then you hear it not. Then you hear it again.

Here the rocks are overhanging the path, making it hard to believe that they keep hanging, rather than crashing down. I did not linger, Graham did.

As we walked on the top of the hills, hay gathering hay was in full swing.

The view of the Danube and Grein as we started our descent.

Home at last

In summary, do remember: It’s walk nr 9. In Grein.

Chris

Yesterday we visited the home of Ars Electronica and stayed until it closed. We saw displays about machine learning and AI, plus VR art works and listened to computer composed piano pieces.

We discussed the experience for a long time the following day. Both of us felt it was good – but could have been better.

We visited the Museum of the Future on our yellow tandem!

We took it easy in the morning and swam in the beautiful clean (warm) lake next to the campsite. Then we set off without being quite clear where we would stop.

In Austria, the cycle path is on both sides of the Danube. There are various options for crossing, and the is always a lot of head scratching about which side is “best”. (Although actually either side had generally been fine).

Crossing the river on one of the dedicated bike ferries.

This fellow was just waiting still and patient as the river goes rushing by.

It was a particularly hot day.

I’m still learning more about Chris. We cycle through a town advertising concerts by Tom Jones and also Bryan Adams. In the course of the ensuing conversation she admitted that she secretly liked Tom Jones as a teenager even though it felt shameful and even today she feels ashamed of it. (Retold with her permission).

We cycled 60 km today. We are getting closer to Vienna with some days to spare so we will be slowing down a bit. Tomorrow we are staying in Grein and going for a walk in the local hills bordering the Danube.

Travelling from one point to another will attract some people with a sense of personal mission. Chris and I spent a couple of days walking a small section of the Appalatian Trail in New England. It was striking the number of people who were somehow motivated by a sense of personal renewal. Mostly single walkers but also one couple who we met. A strong sense of self-discovery on the journey, and the possibility of restarting one’s life a with a new sense of purpose at the destination. From what I’ve read, it seems that there are walkers with similar motivations on the great pilgrimage trails in Europe such as the walk to Santiago de Compostella.

Some people are also motivated by a sense of physical and emotional achievement. Certainly you can find on the internet cyclists who have posted route maps of long stages that they have undertaken in a very short space of time.

Of course there are also people who are on holiday and who just want to have a nice time. Chris and I obviously fall into that category. We’ve got a home and a nice life to which we hope to return.

So how about the people we’ve met? I think cycling does introduce a different dimension.

We’ve met some single travellers who have been everywhere and done everything on their bikes and are still going strong without a break. Cyclists who have been up and down the Rhine, the Danube and other rivers that I’ve never heard of. They can be quite sociable and have opinions, but, of course, they are quickly gone again. In the extreme cases, they feel a bit like lost souls.

Chris and I have also met repeatedly met some fellow travellers on the same route as us. We met one man who had last year cycled the Danube and then climbed over the western Alps and this was going to cycle the Danube and climb over the eastern Alps. Early in our conversations with him, talking about his former profession, he said “I’m not a team player. That’s why I’m cycling alone”. He had a family that he would return to but they were not with him on the trip.

We also met a couple. In that case, the man had already undertaken some monumental cycling tours on his own. From east to west across the USA and then south all the way down the Pacific seaboard, in one trip. He had also cycled from north Europe to Spain, and back, in one trip.

In both cases, it seemed that the men found cycling on their own as a way of adjusting to retirement.

Chris and I have both discovered that we really enjoy cycling. Simply cycling together is an important aspect of the holiday, even compared to the sightseeing. But, as Chris pointed out, it has to be cycling through nice countryside. She wouldn’t like cycling through industrial areas. Or cycling day after day over long, boring stretches of the American mid-west. For us tourists, the sense of challenge is a fun aspect of the holiday rather than a more essential element. But anway, we still want to see how far we can get down the Danube (eventually) …

[Article courtesy of amazing, fast, free wifi in Linz. Even at our out-of-town campsite]

Our sincere apologies to our regular morning readers for the lack of a posting yesterday. This was due to internet problems at our remote, charming (useless wi-fi) last night.

(The next bit is another guest appearance by Chris)

It felt a bit sad to leave the lovely campsite of Passau but the heat was already oppressive, so we needed to just say goodbye to the ducks and get on with the trip. Soon-ish we reached Austria.

We bought a selfie stick in the one Euro shop! And now we’re in Austria!!

The problem in Austria is that there is a Donau cycle route on both sides of the river. We chose the path less travelled (the right bank in this case), which was lovely in places but also had stretches right next to roads.

In spite of the heat we continued apace and reached the Schloegener Schlinge in good time. Schloegener Schlinge?, you may ask (if you can pronounce it at all). This is a famous part of the Danube, where it runs as a hairpin bend with more tight bends to follow. We camped a few kilometres beyond this.

You can take the man out of the walker temporarily (and put him on a bike) but you can’t take the walker out of the man – or us in this case. So we decided to walk up the not insignificant hill, then along the ridge back towards the viewpoint above the Schloegener Schlinge. We were rewarded with some excellent views. Then speedily down to water level to make sure we were in time for the restaur\nant (they close early here). Food so so, then we were ready for bed (which was 4km away).

The view as we walked up and along the side of the very full and cloudy river

This was the goal of our long, hot walk.

(Back to Graham)

When we arrived at the campsite, we were tired and hot. Stupidly, I forgot that I had locked the bike and tried to move it. That broke one of the back spokes. That is the little back wheel that carries the weight of one passenger and almost all of luggage. I was mortified. The wheel had been specially built with extra spokes so we were in unknown territory as to what would happen when we started riding. We booked into a bike shop in Linz but that is 50 km distant.

The view as we set off early in the morning, wondering if the wheel would hold out. Luckily, the road surface was excellent.

We cycled many miles next to the Danube without passing a single house. I started to wonder what would happen if the wheel gave out there. Suddenly, seemingly in the middle of nowhere (and still a long way from Linz), we see this!

It was 9am and the proprietor had just opened the doors. He did a fantastic job. He found two further broken spokes and two more suspect ones. Made his own spokes to the right size. And then painstakingly trued the wheel. And charged only 45 euros!

I can see that working on IT projects nurtured my natural tendency to pessimism. Our in-house team was great, but there is so much that can go wrong and so much that is beyond you direct control.

Now that I’m not immersed in that environment, I’m rediscovering that wonderful feeling that good things do happen. Chris and I remind one another each time something goes well, or we have good luck.

This was the road to Linz with a rebuilt wheel 🙂

It’s an Austrian thing. (We just don’t know what thing).

Now we are sitting in the amazing Museum of the Future, the home of Ars Electronica in Linz. I’m looking forward to seeing the special exhibits about AI, Machine Learning, and a VR experience of skiing down the notorious Streif slope.

In tandem parlance, the person at the front is called the Pilot and the person behind is called the Stoker.

Graham: If I was not available to cycle on the tandem then who would you choose as your tandem partner?

Chris point blank refused to answer this question and instead burst into a rendition of “It had to be you”.

I moved on to the next question …

Graham: What are the important characteristics of the tandem pilot?

Chris: The Pilot must be fast but safe, see all the road signs, and choose high gears when appropriate.

Graham: What are the important characteristics of the tandem stoker?

Chris: No back seat driving and pedal hard!

Graham: All other things being equal, would you rather be the pilot or the stoker?

Chris: I would like to be sometimes one and sometimes the other.

Graham: What are the advantages of being the stoker?

Chris: You don’t have responsibility for staying on the path and you can look around more.

Graham: In my role as pilot I would like to add a disadvantage of this role is that I have swallowed a lot of flying insects.

Our tent was protected by a detachment of guard ducks last night. We could hear the waddling round the tent and quietly quacking to one another.

We had no food and, more importantly, the campsite didn’t sell coffee which didn’t put either of us in the best condition to face the day. We set straight of for town. It was 10 am and blisteringly hot.

We found a bakery where we drank coffee and are breakfast. Then we walked around the old town whist we waited for the daily organ concert in the Cathedral at midday. It was an amazing experience. The”organ” is actually five organs of different types linked together by some type of meta-controller. One of the organs is apparently in the ceiling and blasts reverb into the long nave through so-called “Holy Ghost holes” in the ceiling.

The cathedral was completely full and the music was excellent with one set of rather dissonant variations by the organist himself that left some of the visitors looking around in a rather concerned manner. When the organ stopped it felt that the cathedral continued reverberating. The final chords of the final piece moved Chris to tears.

If you are going to do Baroque then you can just add well go all out …

For my former colleagues in the GLA, this is where the Mayor of Passau and town council still meet, complete with east European clay oven in the corner

The rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz all meet at the same point in Passau. I don’t know the science but, subjectively, the Inn looks even bigger and faster than the Danube. Here you can see the confluence with the Inn in the right.

And here is the view from a huge, well-preserved, rambling castle complex high on a hill overlooking the rivers. You feel that people could get lost, our hide in it for months, like Gormengast.

Tomorrow we are heading to Austria and the famous attraction of Schloegener Schlinge

There was more rain last night. It was hot and sunny with a clear blue sky the next morning. We couldn’t wait to get out of the tent.

We weren’t in a hurry. I walked to the local bakers to get fresh rolls and coffee. It’s amazing. I haven’t drunk a single cup of tea since the first day in Donaueschingen. I’m transitioning. Into a European.

We spread out all of our possessions and waited for the tent and everything to dry.

I took a photo. “This is not how I was brought up” Chris joked, referring to the mess. My mother will see this photo!” ( Hello Gerda)

There is a lot more river traffic now. A cruiser almost the width of the Danube slowly turning

The first (of many) cycle ferries that we will see.

A blackberry spritzer for Chris and a rhubarb spritzer for me (not bad actually)

Two floating hotels in a big lock upstream from Passau

This is a huge elektro installation next to the two locks. The Danube already very large and full of floating hotels even before the confluence of the Inn the biggest tributary and Ilz in the centre of Passau.

A couple of fellow travelers had already said that the campsite in Passau is lovely – tents only. It is actually on the Ilz just above where it joins the Danube. Pasay had a good vibe and we are going to stay here tomorrow too.

We had pizza in the campsite with a Dutch couple who are cycling from Vienna to the Netherlands. Then we walked a little up the river Ilz and found a charming village with a romantic ruined castle

Does anyone know of this is Japanese knot weed? We are seeing an awful lot of it next to the rivers and roads in this area

And talking about non-indigenous species, we figured this fellow is a beaver …

We didn’t make it to the Jazz Club last night …

The first drops were falling as we set out on our tandem for the evening. By the time we got to the centre of town the heavens had opened. I’ve been in Ghana in the small rainy season and this was just as intense – except that it lasted for longer. We were soaked to the skin and eventually managed to shelter under the porch of a church. The streets were deserted, there was thunder and lightening, it was cold … and it didn’t stop. When there was a brief lull we rushed back to our tent that was, thankfully, still standing. We needed to dry ourselves a bit before we could get into the sleeping bag. Here is a selfie, taken with a flash in the dark tent, with the rain hammering down on the canvas. It eased off at about 1am.

We set off today for the next stepping stone towards Passau. We could see the Bavarian Alps in the distance. Fortunately, we won’t need to cross these but rather follow them in a broad arc to the South East.

The Danube looked very Danube-like – wide with lush trees on each side and broad curves in the river. We were now closer to the alps that we had seen in the morning. This stretch was Chris’s second favorite part of the holiday.

We got to the campsite in good time. Hung everything out to dry and then went to the local Gasthaus where we had dinner with a retired head teacher from north Germany who has been following the same route as us.