Grein to Mitterarnsdorf

You will recall that our hotel was up the mountainside at Grein. So, some elected to take the bus back down but others -- myself included -- decided to do the descent in the saddle. Yippee! What a blast! We had a bit of hill to climb to start but then it was pure joy screaming down the mountain road for about 4 clicks. Thankful that the brakes worked!

We met up with the rest of the group at  the designated meeting spot on the south bank of the river just upstream from the town (yup, we had to backtrack a bit to get to the bridge but no big deal). We set out for Ybbs, about 15kms downstream. After grabbing a coffee, we resumed our ride: locked and loaded for 27km ride to Melk, the site of the famous Benedictine Abbey.

We arrived in Melk around noon, grabbing lunch a the Post Gasthaus (great food, terrible service) before heading up the Abbey. We wandered around the Abbey for about an hour and then hit the trail again around 3pm. This time, our last destination for the day, the little village of Mitterarnsdorf (literally: Middle Arns Village...and it was surrounded by no less than 3 other "arnsdorfs": Ober-, Hof-, and Bach-arnsdorf)

We logged about 75km and 4.5 hours of saddle time. Temperatures were in the low to mid 20's. Excellent weather for riding. And yes, Wendy did great again today!

We had a great dinner on the patio -- the proprietress, our server, was a blast-- and turned in early again, anticipating 60kms for Thursday. Also much anticipated for the wine lovers in the group, were selective stops along the way to sample the wines of the "Wachau Region" in which we were riding.

Here are selection of pictures for day