To - Vienna
Distance - 124km
Time - 9.5 hours
Total - 2853km
I just don't believe !! Just mention that I have not had any punctures and what happens - I had a puncture after 10km in the back tyre and then at 22km the same tyre punctured again!! I probably hadn't changed the first puncture very well, I don't know. It wasn't the tyre itself. I checked it, twice. I had carried three spare inner tubes so I had one left. Needless to say I was going over cobbles and bumps very slowly after that. I only had a small pump with no gauge so my next job was finding a cycle shop which i did in the town on Krems. They were pretty good with me. They tried to sell me the wrong size inner tubes but I wasn't having any of it. They did let m use a big pump with a pressure gauge. Whilst in the process of pumping up the back tyre to a high pressure I pulled off the connector too quick and banged m thumb on the derailleur and split the nail, blood again. What a plonker! Anyway my tyres are sorted for the time being. I have a black thumb to go with my black finger. It will be like black nail varnish soon.
I knew the day was going wrong at breakfast. It was like an omen of things to come. There were eggs available and I presumed that like everywhere else I've stayed that the eggs would be are boiled. You know what's coming. I picked up two eggs, one for breakfast and one for later. The one for ater was slipped into my pocket and I firmly tapped the one I was going to eat now so that I could peel the shell off. However, it was raw. Thankfully on.y part of the egg went onto the table, the school child opposite must have thought I was an idiot. I quickly fished the other egg out of my pocket before I broke it. I had to ask how a little egg boiling machine worked. I hadn't even seen the boiling device before I picked the gigs up?
Despite my bad fortune I wasn't going to let these set backs get me down. They did make me a bit behind schedule and I did have to battle the wind all day. It was bright but not sunny but the wind was always against me. I cycled along the north bank of the Danube to start and the wind was vicious. I did eventually think about changing to the south bank where I got a bit of shelter. I am normally very good with wind! Plenty of it I hear you say.
Lets get a bit more positive. The scenery through fruit orchards and vines was lovely. The small,towns were pretty. The valley opened up again and there was a period of power stations and hydro electric power stations. Then towns of Durnstein and Stein were very quaint. Krems was a bit functional. Tulln looked good too but because I was a bit late I didn't do the tourist bit.
The route into Vienna was by the back entrance. I think I travelled on the graffiti route. It wasn't so bad, it was the sort of aerosol graffiti that is considered to be art. I probably didn't see the best of the approach to Vienna. I did skirt around the city centre on the way to the hotel. I was very much focused on getting to my destination. There were some lovely buildings (not sure what they were) I will do the sightseeing over the next couple of days.
The accommodation is very nice. It will need an underground journey to get into the centre but it is very comfortable.
The song of the day has to be 'Rock me Amadeus' by Falco.
Photo 1, Durnstein.
Photo 2, Statue of Marcus Aurelius, very much admired by Gluteus Maximus in the film Gladiator!
Photo 3, I guess it's the Cathedral in Vienna. I'll check tomorrow.
Photo 4, Not sure what building this is either!
Photo 5, Fields of Fruit and vines.
Photo 6, Here's the meal that I had yesterday! It was like a meatloaf with some egg in it with rice. Not sure of the German name for it. Not sure this game will catch on! No winners so far.
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