You must leave Linz on the north shore, and there's no where to eat for a few hours, so again I would have planned ahead. Why do I always forget about Sundays? Oh! Was I hungry by the time we found our way to Mauthausen, where there is what was apparently the largest concentration camp in Austria during WWII. Sebastian said he'd visited on a school trip, but we had too much riding to do to pause for a closer look, so we only ate. We crossed by ferry to the town and visited a lovely bakery near where we docked. Jordan had his first, delightful Topfen tasting experience there, so now he knows what I've been on about.
We lunched in Grein and somewhere after we had our one and only flat tyre. Luckily for us we had young Sebastian, who was on his first and fresh day of riding. He kindly rode to the next town and back with the wheel to get it fixed, 15km each way. Did I mention it was hot? Sigh. Poor Basti!
While Sebastian was performing heroism we found a small patch of shade beside a garage, where we waited. Willi the owner, came home, saw us and kindly wanted to help. In the end we just chatted over a few cold beers and witnessed Willi flick and kill a wasp - mi-air - mid-scentence - singlehandedly. He didn't even pause in his story or spill a drop of beer. I think anyone with that kind of talent is a bit of a crazy maverick. I was rather impressed. Basti returned, had beer himself, and we were off once again on the super-twos.
We continued to Klein-Pöchlarn for our supper, where we parted ways. The train for Sebastian, and the hotel in Artstetten for us. Who knew the final three kilometres of our day were nearly vertical? Not I. I wasn't looking at a topographical map when I booked this place, apparently. Not perhaps the ideal hotel for cyclists but I must say the hotel was surprisingly lovely for the low price we paid.
Another 100 or so kilometres were covered on Day Two, even if the final three were terribly slow.
We had a lot less distance to cover on Day Three, which was good because it was the hottest day so far and since we were entering the Wachau area, which is a land of vineyards and apricots, the heat was becoming increasingly impossible to escape. The only reprieve can be had by swimming in the river. Which we happily did. Although I must admit that I am becoming increasingly uncourageous. A bit of a gutless wonder. (I may require some guidance from Fran...)
Melk was our first stop. It was very touristy and we ended up spending more time there than needed, for our taste. We could have stood to take a dip in the Danube just past there, but we didn't. We enjoyed some cold drinks though and picked fruit before exploring the church of St. Michael, which we nominate the best tourist spot along the way. Do you think those skulls are real???
We stayed the night in the nicest and most expensive of our lodgings in a town called Weißenkichen in der Wachau. We ate a picnic on the beach and swam in the cold water, refreshing our sunstroked souls. The view from our room was lovely. As was the hotel and the town and the whole area...
We wanted to sleep in, but the next day was not only going to be a scorcher too - we also wanted to arrive in Vienna in time for some sightseeing in the First District, so we started out early.
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