August 31st Stage 33 Au to Persenbeug

August 31st Stage 33 Au to Persenbeug 51 kms

Today turned out to be unexpectedly short. But then the weather was unexpectedly bad! We woke to heavy rain which showed no sign of abating and temperatures which were considerably cooler. Nonetheless, the morning’s ride was one of the most enjoyable so far. To begin with the bad weather seemed to have driven most of the other cyclists away so that the levee out of Au, with the brownish-grey, uninviting waters of the Danube on one side and some quite dense woodland and scrub on the other was deserted and felt remote.  I cycled the 12 kilometres to the Wallsee power station seeing no-one except the pilots of two heavy barges.

Tree clearing operations on the road on the north bank to Grein obliged me to cross the river at Wallsee from where an excellent cycle path meandered through dripping woods all the  way back to the river at Ardagger-Markt from where I could appreciate the Strudengau narrows which in former times were dangerous for the Danube ship captains. Today they looked picturesquely bleak but not particularly dangerous although I must admit that two barges passing each other in this section would be impressive.

Grein is a pretty little town (even in the rain) with, of all things, a very quaint, even eccentric theatre gracing its small main square. We made the decision not to try to make it to Melk today but to look for accommodation at Persenbeug, 20 or so kilometres further on, dry out and push on towards Vienna tomorrow. If there was time we could drive to Melk later today to visit the abbey. Eager to warm up again I was reluctant to wait for the ferry back to the south side. This was a mistake because the “Romantik Strasse” along the north bank is potentially lethal, particularly in its first part where the so-called cycle track is so narrow that there are only centimetres between the cyclist and the fast moving, often double-barrelled trucks, which today were kicking up a nasty spray. There was nothing for it but head down and go for it….which, of course, meant that there was little opportunity to enjoy the spectacular view.

But there was plenty of spectacle in the afternoon at the Abbey of Melk, a flamboyant, gigantic edifice dwarfing the small town beneath it. I especially enjoyed the library and the Italianate gardens with their groomed conifer walks which in the continuing drizzle seemed appropriately sober.

Total  51 kms Total from Schaffhausen 757 kms  Total from Galway  2665 kms.