25 May (cloudy, patches of sun, mild) 88km

With clothes hanging from every possible hook or shelf, I heard the church bells signal that it was 6am. It was something my still sleepy body didn’t need to know, it was looking forward to the 8am chimes instead. Out of bed for a quick feel….of the clothes….to see if they were drying to their full potential. Moved a few things around, some were still quite damp. At the same time, I glanced out of the window to see a thick, low cloud, rather than a mist, enveloping everything and knew that we were in for another probable drenching. My thoughts were echoed by the sound of rain on the rooftop. We are coming to an area that Julia was looking forward to showing me, due to its scenery, history and all round quaintness. This kind of weather certainly takes away any anticipation you had in seeing it…..that’s if you can see it at all!

Julia roused and then fell back to sleep. Unlike the clothes, she had been very warm in the night and had removed her duvet inner. Interesting to note, that over here the trend is to have, on double or larger beds, single duvets. It’s not a bad idea as you can remove the covers in the night, if you get too hot, without affecting your partner.

Now into our third week here and well into our stride. The knees and backside are free from the initial twinges you get as the mileage builds, just disappointing to realise that we’ve had more rain, by a country mile, than we had in the entire three months, two years ago. Still…ya gets what ya given and the experiences along the way, make the trip….photos might be shit….but experiences are there to remember?!! One thing we are struggling to come to terms with on this tour, is the dramatic changes in temperature, from day to day. High 20’s one day to 10 degrees the next. Sweltering and covered in sweat, to soaked to the skin and freezing cold. Some call it climate change….I call it a pain in the arse!

Before we went down for breakfast, we checked the wifi and it was on, so we quickly uploaded the last three days of blogs and then went down to the breakfast room.  We were the only people in there at 8.15am so maybe we were the only people staying?  We certainly didn’t notice anyone else in the corridors and it was lovely and quiet.  Had the traditional buns with ham and cheese followed by buns with apricot jam which seems to be the preferred flavour over any of the berry jams and marmalade.  Also had orange juice and a machine made coffee which was alright.  While eating, we both were reminded we have holes in our teeth so decided to ask at reception if there were any dentists in this village called Katsdorf.  Seeing as the weather still didn’t look too promising, we figured we may as well try and get our teeth sorted while it was hosing down.  So no dentists here we found out, but there was one back in Gallneukirchen.  Well after last night’s debacle, we couldn’t go back there – we were like Bonnie and Clyde on the run so decided to head east and hope to get our teeth seen to in Melk.

Back upstairs to pack and we were on our way by 10.00am and luckily it wasn’t raining, just looked like it might at any minute.  It was also considerably warmer than yesterday so we started off in shorts and rainjackets.  We followed bike route signs to St Georgen an Gusen and had a lovely ride following the Gusen river for about 5km – it was beautiful and we even saw a wild deer who stealthily hid in the trees when I whipped out the camera.

The signage was great and we soon found ourselves in Mauthausen. This little town is right on the Donau and after a few minutes we came upon a shopping centre, with a bank, so decided to restock the finances, in case we get our teeth done. Cycled alongside the river, watching the odd barge go by, but as yet, no luxury cruise boats, like the one Julia was on with her Dad. The weather had improved, jackets had been removed and jerseys were about to come off.

A striking building along the way.  At the open window, a woman had been having a smoke.  I yelled "Smile" and she did! 

Cycled to Mitterkirchen, where we pulled up for lunch outside an info centre. This had nice seating and lunch was as always, delicious! A large amount of cyclists were coming through by now and a couple of German guys struck up a conversation. The older one was very jovial although not able to communicate, whilst the younger one did the translating. We’d also met an older couple from Tennessee earlier on who were headed down to Vienna. 

Flat, smooth, dry and easy to follow - just what the doctor ordered after yesterday!

They’d very kindly offered to take a photo of both of us. I’d said to Ju that we should try the other side for a while for a change of scenery. That went down like a lead balloon, and it only got worse when the first village of Wallsee, meant some hill climbing just to get to the town square. Nice castle at the top, so I was forgiven a little.

The castle at Wallsee - from the bottom and the top

The day wouldn't be complete without one picturesque church!

Grein was very scenic and we were loving the good weather.

Just before Grein, after some lovely quiet riding we crossed back over the river. This definitely wasn’t our best move. After taking some photos we found we were riding on the main road which was not only busy, but noisy too, not a cyclist’s friend. We did eventually find cycle paths further along but alongside the road, so still noisy. Arrived in Persenbeug and immediately crossed the river heading to Ybbs. Called into the Tourist Info office and a nice girl told us that we were better off on the side we’d just come from and head to Marbach, where there was a campsite. So, back across we rode, picking up supplies at a Euro Spar on the journey to the camp.

Castle at Persenbeug

Not far down the road we pulled in as two young German guys from Flensborg were paying for the night. Two years ago we were in their home town and we loved it, so conversation was soon struck up and went on over dinner. Lars and Jonas are cycling from Romania back home again to the north of Germany. They’ve had a great time so far and have been on the road for a month with a month to go. As we spoke, one of the cruise boats went by. Total luxury….unfortunately for my darling wife, she won’t be doing that with me anytime soon.

With dinner over and the sky still clear, it was time to relax and contemplate tomorrow’s ride to Melk and Durnstein, two of the towns that Julia really loved on the trip with her Dad. We heard the forecast was supposedly good for tomorrow, so, here’s hoping!