We left our hotel in Mitterarnsdorf around 9am, heading back up upstream a bit to catch a ferry across the river at Spitz. Very cool ferry! Current driven. We had seen one before but this was the first time we had ridden one. (here's a wiki link if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_ferry)
From here, we headed down the north bank to Durnstein, flanked on our left by majestic vineyards that climbed the hillside. Unable to contain themselves, the winelovers in the group pulled in to sample some of the local vintages. Following in their wake, we picked up a bottle as well. Another 6kms down stream, we stopped again, this time in Stein. No, not for wine, but for lunch. We visited a local grocery store, buying bread, meat, cheese, and fruit. Sitting down under a huge tree in the town park, we relished our 6.50 euro feast.
While eating our lunch, we met Rene from Hamburg: he had just finished his masters and was doing some touring before heading back to do his PhD in September. Some touring you say? How's 3500 km from Hamburg to Istabul strike you?!? He figured about 35 days on current pace: he was 10 days in and averaging about 100km per day. Wow!
Now time for serious riding. We still had between 40-50 kms to reach our destination in Tulln. So off we went. We bumped into Rene a couple of times on route, at one point, I helped him repair a pedal that had gone bad. (A happy "People Powered Motion" service customer!). Despite some stiff headwinds and heat, we finally arrived happy and ready for dinner around 5ish. All told, we did around 65kms and 3.5 hours saddle time. Oh ya, Wendy added to her "things I don't like" list: hills was already the reigning champ but to this she added, wind. Notwithstanding, she did a great job again.
Check out today's pictures.
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