Some might call it cheating. Others may say it was sensible. But either way the peloton decided that over 80k in the blinding sun was going to be too much and it followed the advice of many of the tour operators to jump on a train in Krems and glide past a plethora of power stations and electricity gubbins and get out at Tulln, which is what we did. This still left 40k to reach the hotel in central Vienna.
A train pulls in and stops 15 mins before the scheduled departure time and a notice comes up which says ‘please do not board this train’ which we duly obeyed. However several people didn’t and they obviously knew this train had arrived in Krems from Vienna and was simply going to reverse back out again and return to the capital. Once everyone realised what was happening there was the usual scrum to get our 4 bikes on to the train along with about 6 others all of whom had clocked what was happening before us. Consequently we had to play bike chess to manoeuvre about 10 bikes into a space designed for 6. The guard was very understanding and didn’t threaten to throw us off. After that we got a great seat and, in our air conditioned cocoon, we watched wistfully out of the windows as the parched fields and power stations glided (glid?) silently by.
Once off the train we saddled up and headed east towards the cafes, cake shops and weinerschnitzells of Vienna.
We rode across the river over the dramatic 440m long Donaurbrücke Tulln which was built in 1905. The composite steel lattice girder bridge was completely reconstructed in 2009 and only took 16 months to complete. Not bad given that it takes road traffic as well as trains. (We like some good Bridge stats!!)
Finding your way to a hotel in the centre of a big city on a bike in the heat of the day can be a challenge at the best of times but when you have to keep stopping to check the digital map which you can’t see well enough because the sun is too bright, there’s sweat in your eyes and you can’t see anything anyway cos you haven’t got your glasses on, then it becomes a bit of a pain. Stop bike in shade, take off sunglasses, open up rucksack, take out specs case, put on specs, read map memorise a few more junctions and street names and then do everything in reverse order before starting off again. I think I might consider lazer eye surgery. Eventually, after having circumnavigated almost half of Vienna, over bridges, alongside rivers, over tram tracks (try not to get wheels stuck in tram rails), up side streets we end up in the heart of the city among the milling throngs of tourists who stare aghast at 4 bedraggled cyclists dripping with sweat and cursing as for some reason the Mercury Hotel seems to be lost somewhere in the mix.
Of course we found it, checked in and then proceeded to have one of those hilarious ‘lift’ episodes. The lift is very small so can only accommodate two members of the peloton. They get in. The remaining two wait a few discrete seconds before pushing button to call the other lift. Oh dear – too soon – the doors open to reveal group 1 staring blankly at the internal control panel. Sorry we shout and let the doors close again. Group 2 wait for many more seconds this time and then press for the next lift again. The doors open again to reveal group one still in place at ground floor level peering with befuddlement at their buttons and looking vaguely embarrassed. Group 2 burst out laughing along with the reception team. This time Group 2 wait a full 20 seconds – surely they must have left by now- but no they are still in there, smoke coming out of their ears and faces like beetroots. The whole of reception are having a jolly good laugh by this time and Group 2 decide the stairs will be a much quicker option! When Groups 1 and 2 eventually meet up on the first floor landing it becomes clear that they had been madly stabbing the buttons and going nowhere because you have got to activate the lift’s buttons system with your newly-squire electronic door key card. Oh how we laughed!!!
After all that ridiculous malarkey we managed to climb the 364 spiral stairs up to the top of the spire of the Domkirche St Stephan for a fine view over the city. Thank the Lord it didn’t have a lift!!!
Velodyssee 