Day 47 Austria & Slovakia 4/11/2010 Vienna–Hainburg–Bratislava. 49.27miles/79.63km, 4hr33minutes, Av 10.8mph

After yesterday's overcast skies we woke up to a bright sunny morning. Having really enjoyed our time in Vienna we set off once again for pastures new.

The ride out of the city had to be the longest we have yet done. Admittedly we wanted to see a few more sights on the way out, but we had done nearly10 miles by the time we reached the outskirts. The Hunderwasser house is without a doubt one of Vienna's stranger buildings, almost Gaudi-esque in appearance. Built as a social housing project, it must be a more interesting place to live than an ordinary tower block.

Our final bit of the journey out of the city was through the Prater, Vienna's giant park. We must have been looking a little puzzled at the map, because two cyclists stopped to help. One of them led us out of the park, across the Danube and on to the correct route. We were a bit concerned about being able to keep up as he was on a racer, but he slowed down for us!

Safely on the right road we carried on along the Danube until Lobau, where there is quite a long diversion. The diversion is fine but sharing the road with convoys of quarry lorries all kicking up dust and grit isn't much fun. It was probably good practice for the African trucks that we will encounter later on though.

The next section was a bit tedious as we predominantly rode in a straight line for 20 kms, until we reached Hainburg. We have come to prefer the routes that lead through the local villages.

Shortly after Hainburg we finally waved goodbye to Austria and entered into Slovakia. So far so good, the cycle path still existed and there were even some signs. We weren't really sure what to expect as we entered into Eastern Europe. What we didn't expect was a huge logging lorry coming towards us on what we thought was a cycle path as we neared Bratislava. All of the signs pointed to it being a cycle path; a narrow road with two lanes and paintings of bicycles on the tarmac. For all we know it was just a handy short cut for the driver!

Following the route without any further incident we crossed the Danube into Bratislava. Our hostel was not too far from the river and unlike our epic ride through Vienna we quickly arrived at our destination. The 'Hostel Blues', although quite pleasant is a bit of a comedown after our last stop. We do still have wifi though and the reception staff are really helpful.

After a quick shower we had a rapid tour of what turned out to be quite a picturesque little city. The many quirky bronze statues situated around the streets are of special note. With the light fading we returned to the hostel for a rest and then went back out for dinner. The Slovak pub was recommended to us by the hostel staff and turned out to be really good. I had two traditional Slovakian dishes: Small dumplings with sheep's milk cheese and sausage and then more dumplings stuffed with plum and coated in cocoa and rather strangely cheese. Debs opted for the safer, although apparently delicious Goulash. After all the dumplings Debs had to practically roll me back to the hostel.

We leave Slovakia for the time being tomorrow and head into Hungary.

The ease of the Euro zone has come to an end!

Day 46 Austria 3/11/2010 Vienna. Trains and on foot.

We decided to stay for one more day, Bratislava will have to wait. Discussing with Harlan where to visit the previous evening we saw that there is a hidden Vienna tour every Wednesday. With the promise of seeing some of Vienna's underground passages it looked like a good plan.

What turned out to be less of a good plan was the haircut in the morning. The Turkish non English speaking barber even showed me the numbers on the clippers before he started. How I came to end up with what looks like a grade one all over is beyond me. Still I wont have to get it done again for a while. Debs still hasn't stopped laughing.

We were glad we did most of our sightseeing yesterday as we stepped out to a light rain and a much colder day. We spent the morning contemplating buying an e-reader for Debs but eventually weren't happy with the selection on offer. We would really like an Amazon Kindle, but getting one when you are on the road is difficult.

The tour was due to start at 1:30pm, so we went into the city centre and had a walk around the shopping streets before it started. The tour was very interesting, especially the crypt of St Michaels complete with human bones and mummified bodies. We were joined on the tour by most of the people we had been drinking with last night, plus Harlan the Barman.

The tour lasted rather longer than we had thought, so a relaxing day became a somewhat more tiring.

A few beers tonight and then bed, we leave Austria behind tomorrow and head to Slovakia.

Day 45 Austria 2/11/2010 Vienna. Underground trains and on foot.

Debs didn't think I would get up this morning and to be fair it wasn't easy, but we were on the underground to the city by 8:30am. After two coffees I even felt a little better, how I looked was a different matter!

We arrived at the Spanish riding school early to get tickets for the morning practise. We had not been early enough last time we were here, so Debs was really keen to go. It was just as well that we got there early as the queues later on were quite long, plus we got a seat in the main arena. We were lucky enough to see the horses performing some of their famous jumps, which according to the leaflet was quite rare during practise. This of course may be a bit of clever marketing but then I am a little cynical!

Debs really enjoyed seeing the Lipizzaners in action and probably could have been there for the full 2½ hours. After about an hour the practise starts to repeat itself though.

From the riding school we headed through the Hofburg to see all of the vast buildings. Vienna really is a very beautiful city, plus the weather was warm and sunny. From the Hofburg we visited the Parlament and the Rathaus and then climbed the tower at St Stephans for a view of the city. With hindsight going to the Palace Schonbrun and its huge park as well was probably a step too far. By then we had been on our feet all day and the light was starting to fade. It was a very tired Debs that I brought back to the hostel!

While Debs rested I went out to get some food for dinner and managed to get a larger rear sprocket for Debs Rohloff hub. Hopefully when I get round to putting it on this will help her with the hills.

After a rather large dinner we spent a pleasant evening in the company of Harlan the Kiwi barman and some American students. Today has been a very good if somewhat tiring day.

Day 44 Austria 1/11/2010 Ybbs–Pöchlarn–Spitz–Krems–Vienna. 42.61miles/69.02km, 4hrs15minutes, Av 10mph.

Another morning waking up in a warm bed. If it wasn't for the additional cost we could seriously get used to guest-housing!

Leaving Ybbs we followed the southern bank of the Danube as far as Pöchlarn and then crossed over to the northern side. The wind had got up during the morning and as we crossed the Danube we were faced with a strong head wind. With Debs tucked in behind me we slowly made our way along.

The scenery on this section of the river was beautiful as we had entered a narrow valley and were coming into the wine region of Wachau. The small villages of the region were beautiful with painted houses, narrow cobbled streets and many wineries. The town of Dürnstein is especially pretty and on a warm November bank holiday was quite crowded with tourists.

We arrived in Krems through the pretty Stein a.d. Donau at about 1pm and stopped to plan our next move. Franz had told us that the last section into Vienna was not particularly interesting and that we should probably put the bikes on a train on the outskirts to avoid the busy roads.

Faced with an expensive guest-house in Krems we inquired at the train station as to the cost of getting us and our bikes the 79km to Vienna. As it was possible to get our bikes on the train we decided to head for Vienna a day early where there was the promise of a cheaper hostel. Getting the bikes on the train turned out to be not too much of a chore as we could leave them fully loaded. The only slight difficulty we had was getting the bikes from one platform to the other at the station. Going down the provided cycle slope was easy but pushing them back up required both of us on one bike. After we got over the feeling that we were cheating, the one hour train ride to Vienna was a pleasant diversion.

Arriving at Franz Josef station we pushed our bikes off the train and straight out of the station. It took us a while to orientate ourselves as to what direction we should be heading in. Vienna certainly seemed like the busiest city we have cycled through so far. Fortunately the main road that we thought we would have to ride along, had a central cycle lane that went almost all the way to our destination. Nevertheless we were still glad when we located the hostel.

Hostel Ruthensteiner is really nice, the laundry is reasonable and they have a kitchen so we could self cater. Plus the bar and barmen are great, as I found out rather excessively that night!

Off to the Spanish riding school tomorrow and the sights of Vienna.

Day 43 Austria 31/10/2010 Linz – Mauthausen – Grein – Ybbs. 54.07miles/87.32km, 4hr46minutes, Av 11.3mph.

Happy Halloween everyone!

We had a good night's rest; the extra hour in the morning was especially welcome! Breakfast in the hostel was the standard European buffet affair. Which definitely beats getting out of a cold tent to cook in the morning.

With full stomachs and still warm from the hostel ,we loaded up attracting a bit of attention as we did so. An Australian guy said good on us and wished us well for our trip. We rode out of the hostel in a cheerful mood.

The plan today was to ride about 60kms to Grein, where there was an open camp-site that had cabins if we wanted one. We had got away in good time this morning, and as the going was very easy we made good progress. It has to be said though that the first part of the route was pretty boring. There were however some quite dramatic skies early on and a terrific view of the mountains across the Danube.

Being Sunday pretty much everything was closed and even the first open bakery we came too had very little bread. The added problem facing us at the moment is that it is a Europe wide Catholic holiday tomorrow as well. Giving up on the bakery we continued on our way, reaching Grein at about 12:30pm. Much earlier than we had expected.

While eating lunch in a café we discussed what to do next. Stopping in Grein seemed a little pointless as we had arrived so early and had the chance to shorten two potentially long days to Vienna. Feeling fit after lunch we set off again bound for Ybbs, which was approx 20km further down the road. The route was mostly along a main road with a narrow cycle lane. The traffic was comparatively light though so even when the lane ended it wasn't too bad. The scenery improved dramatically as well, as we had entered a narrow valley. We got into Ybbs at about 3pm found a guest-house and got settled in. Dinner and a well earned beer soon, tomorrow could be interesting as we don't know what will be open!

Day 42 Austria 30/10/2010 Peuerbach–Wizenkirchen–Aschach–Linz. 38.11miles/61.59km, 3hr23minutes, Av 11.2mph

We bid a fond farewell to Franz and Brigitte this morning and got back on the road. This time I followed Franz's instructions and we found our way back to the Danube with the minimum of fuss. Some of it was even in bright sunlight although the Aschach valley was quite foggy.

Rejoining the cycle path it was a straightforward ride to Linz, mainly along the now much wider Danube. Being Saturday Linz was quite busy, so we made our way through the city centre following Franz's instructions to the hostel we would be staying at. Why they need to put all the hostels on hills is beyond us, but we had been forewarned by Franz. Fortunately even though reception was closed until 4pm we were allowed to check in.

A quick shower later and we took the bus back into the city centre to have a look around.

It was really nice to arrive early and an afternoon was probably long enough to get a feel for Linz. It is a bustling city with some lovely buildings and a good selection of shops. We had lunch sitting in the square outside the Cathedral (no scaffolding!), bought some new books to read and took in the view of the Danube from the cities bridge.

Tired we headed back to the hostel, where I got some internet and blogging done while Debbie rested. As there seemed to be some kind of function on in the hostel, we had dinner in a nearby café and then returned to our room. We even remembered to change our clocks, being up an hour early for breakfast would have been tragic!

Day 41 Austria 29/10/2010 Peuerbach. All on foot.

We decided to stay put for one more day and get the blog and some of our photos up to date. We were joined by Franz's daughter and baby granddaughter for lunch and then had a brief explore of Peuerbach in the afternoon.

We are very thankful to Franz and Brigitte for their hospitality in letting us stay. We had a lovely time and hopefully we will see them again in the not too distant future.

Franz we will remember to keep our ears stiff and hope you do the same!

Day 40 Austria & Germany 28/10/2010 Peuerbach. No Bicycles only cars and feet!

We both had a long lay in and then a nice leisurely breakfast. The morning was spent trying to plan our forthcoming route and catching up with emails etc.

After a lovely light lunch prepared by Brigitte (Franz's wife) Franz took us to some thermal baths in Bad Füssing, Germany to soak away our aches and pains. As the main sauna area was all nude, we became very acquainted with more naked Germans than we could possibly imagine! Rather strangely you then had to put on a swimming costume to go through to the swimming area. As Franz pointed out, they were all the same people who had been in the other section.

Unlike the last baths we had visited this was the real thing, with lots of hot pools one of which was 43°C and too hot to stay in for long. The saunas were lovely although we couldn't stay in the 90°C room that Franz liked. Clearly you need lots of years of conditioning for that kind of heat. While Franz went for one last visit in the hot room, we settled for the cooler Kartoffel (potato) sauna. We timed it right, or wrong depending on your thoughts on greased up naked Germans, to be given some butter exfoliant to use whilst in the sauna. We followed the lead of everyone else and rubbed it on ourselves and then wondered what we were supposed to do next. Still unsure, we went to the showers to wash it off, some of the others seemed to follow our lead while some strolled around outside all oiled up. Perhaps that was why it was called the potato sauna, as I felt like a new potato that had been rolled in butter!

Feeling much more relaxed, we left the baths and stopped in the pretty town of schärding for a well deserved beer on the way home. When we got home Brigitte had made a lovely goulash, which was just what we needed after a strenuous day of doing very little! More beer, wine and conversation rounded off a lovely day.

Day 39 Austria 27/10/2010 Passau–Niederrana–Wiezenkirchen–Peuerbach. 43.10miles/, 4hr32minutes, Av 9.5mph.

We woke up in a lovely warm room, had filled rolls and cakes for breakfast and headed out on to the road.

Leaving Passau was straightforward, although the road was very busy for the first few kilometres. We followed the northern bank of the Danube until Niederrana and then crossed over. The Danube has very few crossing points on this stretch and most of the cycle ferries have stopped running for the season.

From Niederrana we stuck to the B130 main road as we were leaving the Danube behind at Schlögen to head towards Franz's house in Peuerbach. Having opted for the in-between route to Peuerbach, we climbed steadily for 6kms and then according to Franz's instructions we had a 4km descent. At least we would have, if I had followed the instructions clearly! I got the order a bit wrong and as soon as I saw the sign for Wiezenkirchen we turned right, unaware there was another turning 4kms down the road. We then had an extremely steep climb for another few kilometres followed by a terrific descent of about 5kms. Later we were informed by Franz that we may as well have taken the short steep route as it would have been as easy as the way we came. Once again the need for a proper map and someone who pays attention was highlighted.

From Wiezenkirchen we followed the B129 over another steep hill, because we couldn't find the alternative route. The lack of a map covering this area made the direct route sound like a safer bet. We eventually made it into Peuerbach via a very fast descent into the town.

My instructions for finding Franz's house proved useless and after Debbie got fed up of us riding round and round, we rang Franz who came to meet us. Clearly highlighting the different navigational styles of men and women!

It was lovely to see Franz again, especially as he had a welcome beer at the ready. We had dinner at a local inn and then spent the evening looking at his photo books from our trip together. All whilst enjoying a nice glass of wine. Which had the added bonus of helping Debbie forgive me for taking the wrong route!

We passed the 2000km mark today, a rest is definitely in order.