29 May (hot and sunny with wind in afternoon) 83 km

Last night, after dinner, we went for a little walk into Klosterneuberg to see if we could get a decent view of the church, which was now lit up.  We got a nice photo and then walked back to the tent on a lovely clear night.  However, it was stinking hot so when we tucked in for the night, we left the door open and opened the vent at the back and just jumped into our sleeping bag liners.  However, it was still too hot in the thin silk liners so we just lay on top of them.  I’d just drifted off when the rain started.  We quickly shut up shop and I’d just drifted off again when the thunder and lightning woke me with a crack and a bang.  Pete was worried about the leak we had the last time we had torrential rain and sure enough it started leaking in the same spot.  We waited patiently for a break in the weather so I could put a plastic bag on the roof to stop the rain coming in through the stitching around the vent.  After about half an hour of watching the drips running down the side of the tent inner, the rain eased and I put the plastic bag on the roof.  That definitely stopped the rain getting in and the tent started to dry out.  However, we were surrounded by ankle deep puddles and we couldn’t believe we didn’t have water under the tent yet.

The picture doesn't really tell the story, but you get the idea

It was by now half past midnight and the rain had stopped completely so Pete went on a bit of a prowl to see if we could move the tent somewhere with less chance of turning into a branch of the Danube.  He came back very pleased with himself and said he’d moved all the picnic benches which were undercover up by the reception office.  If it rained again and we stayed where we were, we were going to get very wet and muddy without a doubt, so we moved everything very quietly up onto the concrete and pitched the tent inner on the concrete and lay the flysheet over another picnic table to dry.

Finally settled down to sleep about 1.30am but poor old Pete lay awake worrying most of the night about how we can stop the tent leaking.  I’m just hoping the thunderstorms will ease off as we head into summer.

We woke early at about 5am so we could get packed up and put the picnic tables back before people started getting up.  Needn’t have bothered – it’s now 7am and not a single person has been round this way – although other people have been up and inspecting the damage and attempting to dry off tents.  I suspect Pete only got me up early because he was hungry and wanted breakfast number one.  Today, being Sunday (and also because we have five eggs to use up), we will have two breakfasts.  Food has definitely become a bit of an obsession with Pete.  The other day he idly asked me what time we were flying out of Heathrow.  I said it’s either 8.15 or 10.15, can’t remember which.  He asked “a.m.?” with a panicked note to his voice. 

“No, no,” I assured him, “It’s p.m.  Why’s that?”

“Oh I just didn’t want to be rushed with our free breakfast at the hotel.”

So about 8am we had an omelette and then finished packing up and hit the road at 9am.  We had to go through Vienna again so that was easy as we’d figured out any kinks in the route yesterday.  Thought we might see some other photo worthy sights in Vienna but the southern part was definitely the dodgy end.  At one point Pete thought he might nip behind a bush in a park for a quick wee and there’s a guy there in an old tent.

Not long after this we came to a construction zone and the Donau Radweg and all signs for it just stopped.  We had been following an arm of the Donau Canal so found a bridge to the other side and started to follow the cycle path on that side.  This didn’t last too long before seemingly finishing at a dog exercise park and a dead end road.  We’re looking a bit lost and an old guy with knee bracing comes up to us to see if he can help.  We tell him we’re after the Donau Radweg and he said he has cycled it often but just had both his knees replaced in the last year.  He is still walking very slowly but showed us and told us very good directions of how to get where we needed to go.  We would never have found the way without his directions.  Vienna is a maze of cycle paths and if you lived there, cycling would definitely be the way to commute, as it is totally flat.

This cycling bridge is suspended beneath the motorway bridge

Our map showed us we would be cycling through a nature park so we thought that would be a welcome change from the industrial type land we had been cycling through with lots of long grass and weeds.  But first we cycled through several kilometres of picnicking people who seemed to be mainly of Turkish origin or some other middle eastern country.  They certainly didn’t look like your typical Austrian and there were hundreds of them all with grills and mountains of food such as kebabs and there was tons of it!  Pete was salivating as we drove past and looking longingly at the laden grills.  But we passed a bridge and that seemed to be the end of their section and next it seemed we were in the Nature Park.  Only it seems it was the Naturists Park and there were plenty of sights we hadn’t anticipated seeing!

Good Evening readers of fine literature…it’s uncle Pete, back with a bedtime story.  Now, as Julia has mentioned, we were now cruising through the Naturists segment of the Donau canal, Vienna branch.  I have to admit to never having seen so many naked people all in one place, at one time.  Basically, a feast for the eyes, or so you may think, but alas, my idea of who should be getting their kit off and theirs, is worlds apart. Whilst Julia was probably looking for the Brad Pitts or Matthew Mc Conaugheys of the ‘lets get naked’ brigade, I was definitely on the lookout for your Halle Berry, or any of the best looking ‘Bond’ girl group. Now you need to be aware that this segment of ground spanned over 5kms. It was situated along the banks of the Donau, with lush grass and plenty of spots to be discreet.  However, why be discreet. The ‘Nudes’ of Vienna are an ‘in your face’ bunch, as we discovered when a man and woman came strolling along the cycle path bearing all. Don’t know where she was from, but my guess was ‘Brasil’, if you get my drift. Neither of them batted an eyelid…probably been doing it for years, but even I was put off my stride a little to see what my manhood is likely to look like in another ten years. Further on we cycled past a garden bar and I was just salivating over a nice cold one, when a penis caught my attention, sitting there for all to see ordering a drink, from the fully clothed young girl waitress, who was moving from one naked table to the next….’now…who’s for the Frankenfurter’?  This was not the only naked bar en route and let me tell you, some of the positions these people assume to show off their wears to full advantage, is disturbing. Needless to say, neither Julia nor I found the dreamboats we were hoping to spy. The nearest Ju got was a naked version of Norm, from ‘Cheers’, whilst mine was Granny off The Beverley Hillbillies. Seriously, it had to be seen to be believed…!

Reached what we thought was the bridge we needed to cross when indecision kicked in and the map comes out. As we were perusing it an Austrian guy starts trying to ask us where we want to go. Tells us we’ve come the wrong way and must go back. Not only tells us, but then on his electric bike, gestures to follow him…..at 30kms an hour.  Even with an electric bike this is pretty good going as he must have been about 70, with a well tanned-skin.  We suspect he is a naturist and was just sussing out the best spot to go when we met him.  After 4kms, Anton our saviour, bade us farewell with a smile and a handshake as he pedalled off in the opposite direction. My parting thought was…..where’s that hand been…?

Once Anton left us, we slowed the pace right down as it was a stinking hot day, even with the headwind.  This next stretch of canal riding was extremely boring (well what wouldn’t be after that!) as it was a straight path between a grassy dyke and a forest, with no shade and no deviaton.  The headwind was getting stronger to make things even more difficult and we were both getting hot, tired and hungry.  We were desperate for a break but there were no seats and no shade and certainly no seats in the shade!

At last we came to a carpark that had a mown patch of grass by it with some trees, so we spread the groundsheet out and gratefully tucked into some lunch.  It would have been all too easy to lay down and have a nap under that tree but we pushed on, opting to take a small road instead of the canal path.  This was much nicer and the kms seemed to go quicker.    

Orth Tourist Info

 

We cycled into the town of Orth to see if they had any maps of Slovakia or knew of any camping grounds near Bratislava – No to both.  However they did have nice toilets and they were free.

We decided to treat ourselves to an ice-cream and sat in the shade outside Tourist Info eating them.  Then we decided to guess ourselves a road to Eckhartsau Schloss which took us through farmland and along gravel tracks and through the odd patch of shady forest.  It was a lot more enjoyable than the cycle track and it delivered us right to the door of the Schloss.  

Eckhartsau Schloss

So we had a wander inside and round the gardens, glad of some different movement. 

Then it was back into the headwind to a massive bridge about 2 km long over the Donau.  We were both tired and it was a struggle.  Once we got over we had to turn back on ourselves and cycle back 6km down the Donau to the only town round these parts with a campground.  We figured we would at least have a tailwind for this part, but we figured wrong.  It was just a very strong crosswind and drained the last of our energy.

A nice looking house with heaps of roses

Finally got to the town of Petronell-Carnuntum and had to ask several times for directions to the campground as there were no signs.  We also had to stop and fix one of Pete’s pannier bags after one of the hooks got caught in his gears.

Got to keep the daily quota of church pics up

Got to the campground about 5.30pm and as soon as the tent was up, it was off to have a cold shower and grab a lemon radler from the vending machine.  It’s amazing how good those two things can make you feel after a long hot day!  Then we cooked tea of goulash and pasta and had a cup of coffee while we took turns writing the blog.

We have a great little campground for the night – there are only two vans and two other tents here.  Both the tents have other cycle tourers in them.  The grass is really nice and lush and we’re amazed they have wifi here.  Just over the hill at the back of us, we have a huge windfarm.  The blades are spinning as we speak and as Pete would say, they look like a mass of WWII spitfires with red and white Stripes on the blades.  Luckily they’re not as noisy so we should be able to get a better sleep than we got last night!