Danube day 3

Rossatz – Eckartsau

138km

It’s a while since I’ve been that low on food. Every time I shop I go a bit overboard (usually on chocolate) and today I definitely didn’t hold back. The consequences were somewhat interesting.

I’m not sure camembert was the best choice in this heat. It turns out having a wheel of camembert in a pannier for a couple of hours when it’s 33 degrees is similar to putting it in an oven. Unfortunately I put it in the same pannier as my clothes, and although it didn’t leak too much, it did let off a good stink. I did my best to finish it but failed… I’m looking forward to a smellier round two tomorrow!

I thought that 200g of cheese (and a massive baguette) would mean I’d never need to eat again but unfortunately I was hungry again about an hour later.

I’m not sure what was the highlight today:

A swim in a crystal clear tributary of the Danube at lunch time. The Danube itself is somewhere between brown and grey so even though I’m cycling along a river it’s basically wasted in this heat.
The 10-15km long island just for bikes that ran through Vienna. I did intend to visit Vienna but I managed to bypass it on a bike island which I have no complaints about!

The low point was finding camp. After following a bike path diversion for miles I eventually gave up on ever finding the river again and decided to set up camp. At one point I passed this massive manor house and thought the butler was going to welcome me in. No such luck I’m afraid.

Unfortunately every time I slowed down the mozzies started circling. I honestly don’t know where they come from? There were hundreds within seconds!

What it did mean is I erected the tent in record time. I’m now sat in said tent sweating out my blood volume due to the heat and turning the tent into a steam room. Hopefully this means I won’t need a wee for the next 12hours….

Danube day 2

Au an der Donau – Rossatz

110km

Cycling is so easy. I think the Germans and Austrians have got it right by doing bike based holidays.

It’s so great to see everyone out on their bikes, young and old, big and small, fast and slow. When it’s this easy there’s no excuse for anyone!

The infrastructure is so fantastic there’s a sign for everything – no navigation skills required at all. They even warn you about little hills. When this is the greatest hazard you know life’s pretty easy!

The only thing that makes it tricky is the heat. I said to myself that once it warmed up and stopped raining I’d never complain about the weather again. I would like to add the caveat that I won’t complain about sunshine unless it’s over 30 degrees. That is too hot.

Yes, the sun was actually that big.

I was quite proud of myself yesterday for planning ahead and stocking up for Sunday (they take it seriously in Austria and close everything). One thing I could personally do with assistance with is pre-warning about bank holidays.

Every turn I take there seems to be another bank holiday. Can somebody not make an app that warns me so I can buy food? I’m down to emergency couscous for tea… with a tin of something that looks suspiciously like dog food that I found in a petrol station.

Please, supermarkets, open early tomorrow!

Donauradweg

Passau – Au an der Donau

129.8km

It like to do a bit of complaining, just get a few things off my chest.

I’m starting to get cramp in my left foot. I don’t know whether I’m a bit dehydrated or whether I should go out and get multivitamins. Or maybe just stretch.
I’ve a cut on my toe and my sock’s covered in blood but I can’t tell where it’s coming from.
I wonder if in rebellion my right foot is complaining too. Can you get pressure ulcers on the balls of your feet? My right foot wants to form one.
My whole left upper leg hurts. Not just the knee or hip or quad or hamstring, the whole thing. Update: it’s stopped hurting. My body is weird
I’ve definitely got a pressure ulcer on my right bumbone (ischial tuberosity). I can’t quite work out how I go about looking at it to grade it – how do you look at your own bum without a mirror? And how do you treat it when you have to sit on it all day?
Bib shorts were a really bad idea for a cycle tour. Such a faff having to take everything off every time I need a wee
I’m always hungry. I think I’ve genuinely reached the point where I’m bored of having to eat so much. I never thought I’d hear myself saying that.
I’ve lost feeling in my left little finger. I decided to cycle without my fingerless gloves a while back because I was getting creepy tan lines half way down my fingers. For some reason my left hand is complaining about it today. Maybe I’ll have to fish them out again.
Grey is quite a bad colour for a t-shirt. I have permanent sweat patches.
It’s really hot. I just want to lie in the shade and never move again.
I’ve got a headache. I can’t work out whether it’s dehydration or from so much squinting into the sun
Olive is doing silly noises with the gears again. I’m back to not being able to use half of them because they make such a horrible noise I can’t stand it. I wish I knew what to do to fix it.

That’s the handful of complaints that spring to mind. There are plenty more but I’ll save them for another day.

Before anyone asks, no I’ve not had a bad day, these are just things I have to contend with day-to-day. It’s not all sunshine and lollipops it turns out.

Today was my introduction to the Donau (Danube). Bloody incredible cycle path and hundreds of cyclists which was good to see. I did feel a bit lost in the crowd though, no one stopped me to ask about where I was going or what I was doing. Shame because German is the only language I feel I could form a sentence in!

Border patrol

Salzburg – Passau

121km

I’m not sure what was the trigger for my change of direction plan but I’m glad of it. I got to see some of the most spectacular scenery the Austrian Alps has to offer from behind the window of a train. Sure, it’s made me want to come back to Austria and ride it, but it was pretty incredible to see without sweat pouring into my eyes.

I started the day in Salzburg with the backdrop of the Alps. Pretty quickly, it disappeared. I don’t want to be too self congratulatory but I was on fire today. The miles were absolutely flying by. Don’t know who put dynamite in my boots.

I was feeling so great I even tried following some bike paths down by the river Inn (the German border!). Mixed outcomes – one sent me around in circles and up quite a few hills considering it’s proximity to a river. Some absolute gems though!

I persevered with some gravel tracks through the woods, crossing my fingers that they wouldn’t become hairy mountain bike trails. Luckily they were German, so naturally the best gravel design, just about tolerable for an Olive.

The most striking thing about today has been how colourful and well kept Austrian and German villages seem to be. It was like being in a cleaner, computer animated version of bright seaside towns.

I finished the day in Passau, the confluence of the Danau (Danube), Inn and Ilz. All full to bursting. few too many cobbles considering it’s a cycling mecca but so many cycle tourists I didn’t know what to do with myself. It’s so exciting knowing there are other crazy cycling folk out there!

So long Slovenia

Bled – Villach

75km

I wonder if I spend too long worrying about things out of my control?

AKA hills.

I spent the morning worrying about the hill out of the valley that basically never materialised.

Once I relaxed a bit I got to appreciate just how amazing the alps were. I think I want to join the religion that worships mountains. Especially Slovenian ones with perfect cycle paths running along their valleys.

I thought I’d change tactic for the second hill and spent the first mile having a whale of a time (probably due to a tactical caffeine stop) taking selfies and singing.

I’m not sure whether Livs appreciated it or not. We seemed to play a game of hare and tortoise. I’d sprint off singing then have to stop so my lungs didn’t explode on every corner; Livs would continue to trundle on as if the hill weren’t even there. We made a merry little choir, all we need to do now is learn to yodel.

It’s so much fun having Livs around, it’s a shame she can’t stay forever.

Either way, we made it to Austria and descended down the most terrifying hill I’ve seem for a long time. All I can say is I’m glad we went to the way we did!

First impression of Austria is that it’s a bit busier. Second impression is that they have good ice cream…

Going pannier-less

Bled – Bohinj round trip

75km

When you’re a bit too close to the northern border of Slovenia and can’t quite bring yourself to leave there’s only really one option: let’s do a loop and stay here another day!

It was potentially a fateful error though, cycling without panniers is so easy I’m not sure I want to put them back on. Instead of going the easy way I dragged Livs and Clive (not that they put up much of a fight) up the steepest hill available out of Bled. It felt like flying, riding a bike that light, who knew climbing could be so enjoyable?

I think I narrowly avoided it ending in tears. Having tactfully ignored the roadworks and no-through-road signs, we were lucky we could charm the roadworkers into letting us walk through the forest past their fresh tar.

What a forest though… the trees reaching skyward, with delicate, brigh, fresh needles on the end of every branch, catching the morning sun. A ridge of snow dusted mountains in the background. Whoever Julian is, I like his Alps.

Even with a mountain to slow us down we were basically done by 10am and had to bide our time (I.e. eat a massive cake) so it looked like we’d done something with the day.

I’m starting to wonder if the stares we get as cycle tourists might be causing problems in Slovenia. Yet again we witnessed a car ram straight into the back of another, which had clearly braked with plenty of warning, right in front of us. Either we’re too distracting for the local drivers or they just have an uncanny ability to crash into stationary objects.

Let’s hope tomorrow is less eventful!

5000km and going strong

Logatec – Bled

92.5km

It’s sad Slovenia is only a small country, it is so wonderful I wish the whole world were like this. We woke today after a wild camp in a wild flower meadow with a view over half of the country, gently sipping hot chocolate and nibbling on porridge.

We ate up the miles into Ljubljana as, once again, Slovenia gave us wonderful roads and never ending bike paths.

Ljubljana is a charming place, such a variety of architecture and bubbling with energy. It was also the first city I haven’t stressed about navigating, partly because there were cycle lanes on every road so I couldn’t end up on a motorway and partly because Livs took control of the map and all I had to do was follow. What a pleasure to not have to navigate!

I’ve got Livs well drilled to look out for coffee stops too, often the highlight of the day. Today we visited “Stan” which not only left us caffeinated but also allowed Livs to do some goat whispering. We spent the afternoon rolling through perfect alpine villages, snaking along valleys crisscrossed by bright blue rivers. I tried to capture the serene beauty of it but naturally with Livs around there’s no time for that kind of seriousness…

This afternoon we reached the momentous occasion of 5000km cycled by Meg and Olive. Couldn’t think of a better place to celebrate!

Olive and Clive (Liv’s bike) squeaked their way up the hill into Bled but it was worth it. An absolutely stunning place, and an excellent spot for an afternoon swim!

50 shades of green

Italian border – Logatec

95km

You know you’ve got a good friend when you can start excitedly chatting about cycling at 5.30am and don’t get punched in the face. Quite the opposite; she jumped out of the tent with me in anticipation of the joy that lay ahead.

Italy gave us a bit of a rude awakening, city then monster of a hill straight out of Trieste. Literally almost vertically up the hill. I nearly had to crawl it was so steep! Probably should have done the victory pose after eating…

Luckily Slovenia was at the top to greet us and take us into a loving embrace.

My second trip to Slovenia in two days did not disappoint. Forests covering every hill, wonderful quiet roads and wildflower meadows. The stuff of my cycling dreams.

Also a bit of drama, a lady managed to wrap her car around a tree 100m in front of us on a straight, flat road. Don’t see that every day! (She was fine, the car was not)

The only time we stopped chatting or singing with the joy of Slovenia was when we found monster ice creams which plunged us into silence for a good 10minutes.

Successful day, all in all.

Slovenija appreciation society

Boreč – Italia! Via Slovenija

96km

If I’m honest I was glad to escape from the campsite this morning. I don’t think I could ever get used to that much casual nakedness.

Once we got pedalling it was a dream of a day. Beautiful sunshine, amazing views and excellent little back roads in Croatia.

The Slovenian border was exciting in that there were actual border guards… Not that they were doing much. They took one look at us (Or maybe one sniff of us) and waved us through!

Slovenija is a joyful place to be on a bike. The bike paths are wonderful and are everywhere! Not just the 100m stretches you get elsewhere that dump you in a heap at a dead end (I’m looking at you Croatia and England), actual roads dedicated to cyclists and well paved paths through vinyards and tunnels.

Suffice to say Slovenija made a good first impression. Just to prove we could we decided to pop over the border into Italia for the night/an ice cream.

What a wondrous day!

Olivia hunting

Permantura – Boreč

97km

I woke this morning feeling exhausted. Days off are harder work than cycling because the body knows it can relax. It took a lot of motivation to get up and going.

Like a light switch being turned on, my mood totally flipped when I saw Livs waving frantically in the airport! I’m not sure you could find more excitable company.

We had a wonderful afternoon pootling up the coast. When I say pootling, naturally with Livs around it was more than a pootle.

It was all going swimmingly until we looked for somewhere to camp. Not until we’d chased a campsite sign for a good few miles and then come off the main road another few did we find out the only campsite in the vicinity was a naturist campsite.

Livs regressed to a small child and found all the naked people hilarious. I struggled to maintain a straight face as the usual interest people show in cycle tourists was now coming from naked people. We weren’t brave enough to bare all but we did brave the chilly waters of the Adriatic!