Day 10 of our cycling adventure is along the Danube River: 40.2 miles (64.5 km) with 794 feet (265 m) elevation (climbing):
It rained overnight. I saw that it was going to rain yesterday and told my husband to put the shower-cap-looking panier covers over my seat when he went to secure the bike with another lock. We found out that our bike would be exposed to the elements as we had to leave our bikes outside at a bike rack overnight. I'm not a fan of leaving our bike outdoors overnight when we tour because that might mean I start out with a wet seat and end up sitting on wet clothes for the entire ride. Not. Fun. Also, bike safety and security are usually unknown but that really wasn't a worry at this hotel. As an engineer, my husband always reminds me that those covers are for the bags on the bike that carry our gear. Have we ONCE, in all the years we've owned them, used them to protect our paniers from the elements? Nope. Ask me how many times I've dragged them out for our bike seats. Many. But I married an engineer, so logic is the overriding principle when making an argument.
Today, it looked like the rain was clearing off but that we might experience a stray shower or two. Before breakfast, I went out on our balcony for an even more breathtaking view than we had the day before. I could clearly see the Alps in the background. I could have sat there drinking coffee, enjoying the view for a few hours:
I took a quick video as well. I couldn't stop looking and feeling such a sense of peace. Eventually the cloud cover or fog built up enough that I was unable to make out those snow-covered peaks. It was time to get breakfast and get on the road.
In yesterday's post, I described the challenging five mile climb up to our hotel. Today, we had to descend down to the Danube, on wet roads, in overcast conditions. We decided to use Google Maps to take a more direct route down to the town of Grein which is on the Danube and where the beginning of the day's GPS route begins. We ended up on a never-ending steep descent on a main road that was very winding. Our bicycle brakes got so hot from us braking on the steep, wet road, that they started smoking and we could smell them. We actually had to stop a few times to cool them off.
When we got to the bottom back into Grein, my husband decided that he would try to replace the brake pads on our disc brakes. He was concerned that after the Czech part of our bike tour (which was hilly), and the big descent we just did, that it would be better to have new brake pads so we could be sure that they would not give out if we had another steep descent. After talking to the bike shop owner, he removed the front bike tire to get at the pads, to see if the shop had the size we needed. They had one set of brake pads that fit our brakes. He bought them and proceeded to change them out on the sidewalk. I had to use a planter to prop up the bike:
There was even a vending machine outside the bike shop that sold bicycle tire tubes. We'd never seen that before. The brake pads got replaced and we were back on the road/trail/path. The ride was mainly along the Danube today but as you can tell by the elevation chart, we did climb a few hills. I love the views along the Danube.
It's interesting to see the mix of the old and the new. Ancient castle in the background... solar panels on a roof in front of it. A constant reminder of where we are:
Today was one of those days where my husband actually wanted to do a side trip which required us to cross back over the Danube and ride a few miles to see something. I hate side trips because they are unknowns, and we really don't know how much time they take up, but what the heck is the point of being here if we aren't going to explore and see things? It's at these times that I have to say to myself "Get over yourself and just go with it." My husband really wanted to see Melk Abbey, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. He'd mentioned it a few times so of course we were going. It did require a ride back over the Danube and some climbing, but it wasn't really that far out of the way.
There was actually a covered parking alcove for bicycles with racks we could lock our bike to, and they had big storage lockers in front of the bike rack that you could rent for a Euro to put your stuff in to secure it so you wouldn't have to carry it around with you. That was great! We locked up the bike and everything that could be taken off the bike, headed up to the entrance, bought our tickets and started our tour of the Abbey. You cannot take any photos inside the abbey, so I have none to share. We enjoyed our self-guided tour, but it was really crowded with groups from the river boats. People were stalled in the small rooms as they received a lengthy explanation of what they were looking at. We are more of a read it quickly and move on. It was a little hard navigating around the crowded areas, but we excused ourselves and kept moving. We saw the abbey, the chapel and the library. All were very impressive. Our ticket included a tour of the garden, so we headed over there after the Abbey.
There was a small cafe in the garden area. I think it used to be the solarium for the abbey. We stopped there for a quick treat. I had my "kaffe latte" and a pastry.
We did not tour the entire garden because neither one of us are huge landscaping/plant people, but we did enjoy the views from up there.
Before long, it was time to get back on the road. We still had about 12 miles (19 km) to ride before we reached our hotel which was in Spitz, Austria.
This time we were actually using the tour company's "point of interest" list to navigate directly to our hotel.
We still got a bit lost in the town, but it was really not our fault.
Instead of having us just ride up the street that the hotel was located on, which had very little traffic, we had to hunt down this barely-wide-enough-for-one-car looking footpath that weaved in and around all these cottages. Then it turned into a footpath. We curved around behind them and between them, only to pop out back on the street we had been on originally. Just very odd to have to do that. That day was the beginning of our mindset of "Let's look at the map and see if we want to do something different" mentality. I captured a screenshot from the video I took so you could see it.
We really didn't feel like going out for a walk to tour the area after our big day at Melk Abbey, so we rested had dinner and chilled out in our room. This was my dinner. Pork with some sort of potato dumpling balls. They had a consistency that was a bit strange to me, but they tasted good. No vegetables, which is an occurring theme with meals here. I would have thought vegetables would be served with every meal. Europe is the land of healthy, skinny people! We Americans tend to be far more overweight. Maybe because it was mid-May vegetables were not in season. I felt like I had an extreme lack of fiber this whole bicycle tour. For someone who ate an abundance of fruit and vegetables the previous year to lose 70 pounds, meals on this tour were an adjustment.
You can see more photos on Instagram under the handle 7th_decade_redhead.
If you would like to read more about our three week-long bicycle tour starting in Prague, Czech Republic and ending in Budapest, Hungary, here are the links to our entire adventure:
Day Zero in Prague (Weather or not I wanted to)
Day One.... The Hills are Alive .... and I am not
Day Two....Vistas and Grocery Stores (and an angry cashier)
Day Three.... Are we Hiking or Cycling? (Today it was hard to tell....)
Day Four.....My Favorite Place on the Entire Tour (and a nod to the Beer of Kings along the way)
Day Four and a Half (I couldn't do it justice in one post)
Day 5 ...... Will This Day Ever End???
Day Six... Pausing in Passau (AKA This is the way we wash our clothes.....I think....)
Day Seven - Off down the Danube (If we'd only had that meeting.....)
Day Eight - We needed a day like today.....
Day Ten Cycling the Danube - Cloudy With a Shot of Melk
Day Eleven Cycling the Danube... A rare short mileage day!
Day Twelve Cycling the Danube - Aahhhh Vienna!!!
Day 13 - Our Day in Vienna (It's not supposed to be this HOT)
Day 14: Vienna to Petronell-Carnuntum (Apparently, I can speak some Italian.....)
Day 15 Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia (Rain and broken Chain...)
Day 16 Bratislava, Slovakia to Gyor, Hungary (There's a snake in the grass....)
Day 18: Komarno, Slovakia to Esztergom, Hungary (A tense tummy and a tense moment......)
Day 19: Esztergom to Budapest, Hungary (A long ride for the last day)
Day 20: A Day in Budapest (We had to see the last of the "Stevens/Stephens")
