September 2nd Stage 35 Durnstein to Tulln (Vienna)

September 2^nd  Stage 35  Durnstein to Tulln (Vienna)

Thankfully it wasn’t raining this morning although the skies were still lowering and the mist was lying lightly on the hills. We were sorry to leave Durnstein which may be our favourite place of the entire journey so far. We said goodbye to the urbane host of the gasthaus where we had stayed last night, a gasthaus which he told us proudly had been in his family for two hundred years and there were three sons to continue the tradition.

The riding, though, this morning was unremarkable. We were leaving the Wachau vineyard country. Stein is a handsome small town with distinguished buildings looking out over the Danube and it seems to merge into Krems which I bypassed down by the river. I crossed on the busy two lane Donaubrucke and then doubled back onto a good paved cycle track next to the river on the south side. This continued all the way to the Altenworth power station, then past the bleak, unfinished nuclear power station before Zwentendorf (it was odd to see people enjoying lunch in a traditional chalet restaurant right beneath the ugly squared pile of the industrial complex). There was a lot of pleasant woodland, and in places the route seemed remote but I was feeling dispirited and even the vast width of the great river and the improving weather failed to raise my spirits. I was happy to reach Tulln, my modest target for the day. Tulln is some thirty kilometres short of Vienna but easily accessible by train (we have some important post to collect tomorrow from the General Post Office) and, more importantly, should allow Katherine to skirt the city the day after tomorrow when we head for Bratislava.    

We are now one day behind schedule.

54 kms  Total from Schaffhausen 863 kms  Total from Galway 2771 kms