Woke up to another sizzler. Haven’t seen a cloud for 5 days now. As the gasthoff we stayed in overnight is literally 10m from the cycle track we were off and running in no time. A brisk following wind has us scooting along the left bank as far as the hydro electric dam of Wehr Melk which we used to cross to the right bank and the shady side of the river.
As we crossed the weir two massive barges travelling upstream entered the lock gate system so we watched the whole process of closing the lower gates, the inflow of water into the lock from the upstream side and finally the opening of the upper lock gates and the departure of the barges on their way. One of the barges was in fact two joined together and registered in Bratislava. One was called Queen and the other Uriah Heap – both famous bands from the 70’s and 80’s for which I still have vinyl LPs somewhere in the house.
After that excitement we headed off in the direction of Melk and it’s famous 11C Abbey which sits up on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river. We parked up to take some photos and an enthusiastic middle aged American couple came up and told us how marvellous the interior is and ‘dripping in gold’ and how we must visit it. One of our peloton advised them that we shall not be visiting due to rapacious nature of historic religions and the inequity of the wealth of the church derived off the backs of the peasantry. Suitably gobsmacked the American couple shuffled off carrying their extremely expensive Hasselblad cameras on tripods back to their waiting cruise ship on the river. The real reason we didn’t go in for a look was that the abbey is on top of a very steep hill and we don’t ‘do’ hills on this bike trip!!
10km further on there was a snag. A major rockfall following the heavy rains in June had completely cut off the right bank cycle route. The local authority had put on a ferry link to bypass this obstacle at no cost. When I say ferry what I really mean is very small boat with very powerful outboard engine. It only took 10 bikes at a time and the blooming’ panniers had to be removed. Bit of pain but no arguing with the supremely miserable boat driver. 10 bikes, 10 cyclists all clutching their panniers, squashed in like sardines and not a life jacket in sight. Me, I am almost sitting on top of the outboard engine. After a lot of faffing we head off at great speed into the middle of the channel and Captain Miserable opens up the the throttle and we head downstream at what seems like 100mph. I can’t hear myself think and there is water flying everywhere!! We pass the land slip and charge on for a further 3 or 4 km to a small new landing stage made of Lego where we all pile off in reverse order, saddle up and continue on our way. It was an exhilarating 10 minutes!
After that the search was on for a lunchtime drink stop. Small villages and many kms rolled by without the merest hint of parasols and beer until we came upon Heurigan Weingut Gallhoffer which had lots of cyclists, picnic tables under fruit trees dripping with plums, apples and elderberries. “ 4 beers bitte” we all say but the bemused but gentle waiter kindly pointed out the “ nicht beer here – iss eine weingut”. It suddenly dawns on us that we are in a wine cellar place and no nice cold beer to be had here so instead we got a delicious cold dry white wine plus assorted fizzy water. Then, unbelievably, a duo of septuagenarians tuned up – one accordian player and one singer (well I say singer!) and launched into a collection of old not so favourite tunes – Quando Quando Quando being one!! Oh how we laughed.
After that musical buffoonery we embarked on the last leg of todays journey through the vineyards and orchards of the Wachau and crossing back over the Danube on the Mauterner Brücke . Sadly the box lattice iron bridge was undergoing repairs which required cyclists to navigate a footway only 1inch wider than your bike’s handlebars. At risk of skinning hour knuckles or shedding your knees the frustrated peloton grumbled it’s way safely across and eventually found that long awaited cold beer!!!
Velodyssee 