Austria

Austria gave & gave & gave today! We met a young Swiss couple again who are doing the same route as us to Ljubljana and carrying on to Thailand😊. We only covered 60kms but there were 4 climbs with consistent 14% sections. 
A slight bit of rain came out way but we had our lunch sitting on the steps of a little village church to avoid it.

Sat around at midday with the Swizers being entertained by a gasthof owner who cheered us along with a complimentary glass of wine & fizzy water (it's what the locals do). 

Now we are ensconced in a cool winery drinking Christian's wine waiting for him to pick us up to take us to a local farm/restaurant for dinner.

We are very close to the Slovenian border and will ride into the 5th country tomorrow. 

18/6/19 Furstenfeld to Gruisla

62km  Total distance 1,201km

Another fantastic day cycling through Austria.  It wasn't far and the hills weren't long but boy they were steep.  Resorted to zig zagging when it got to 15%.

The first climb on the profile was a real killer!

A couple of days ago we met a Swiss couple riding tandem - Yann upright and Charlene recumbent/upright.  We met up with them again today and sat down for a coffee with them and the locals.  They're from the French speaking part of Switzerland, but Yann speaks German as well, so was able to translate for us.

Franz, the owner of the cafe insisted on us having a drink of his wine, watered down with sparkling water.

We're riding through the Styrian area of Austria.   Heaps of vineyards plus a multitude of other crops. All the greenery makes it really humid and for a brief period today we got some rain.

Sheltering on the steps of the church while we had some lunch

 Vineyards and quiet roads along the way

And Dermot saying 'No' to E-bikes - the charging station outside a supermarket.  

I wouldn't have minded one today tho!

Tonight we're in a delightful guest house and went out to a 'buschenschank' for dinner - a restaurant that serves local produce.

Wines of guesthof Radl

Pictures from our walk back to our guesthouse.  (We were driven up there by Christian the owner of the guesthouse)

17/6/19 Pinggau to Furstenfeld

66km  Total 1139km

What a brilliant day.  A cruel climb at the very start - up to 15%.  567m of total climbing but fortunately lots more down than up.  Mainly a tail wind, quiet roads and beautiful scenery.

Cherry trees to raid along the way.  Not perfectly ripe - the good ones are at the top out of people's reach!

Spending the night in a lovely campground beside a swimming area - the best campsite we've had yet.  Judging by the reserved signs against all the sites, it will be jammed packed on the weekend, but perfect now.

16/6/19 Neufeld an der Leitha to Pinggau

76km  Total 1,073km

We're following Eurovelo route 9 which is extremely well signposted in Austria and pretty much all cycle paths away from roads.  We're passing through the Austrian area of Styria which is famous for pumpkin seed oil.

Today was our first decent climb - up to nearly 1,000m.  We'd been given the tip to take a different route up the climb following a road and it turned out well - really nice shoulder all the way and not too much traffic.  It was also a lot cooler too - even had a brief shower of rain.

Staying in a guest house in the quaint little alpine village of Pinggau.

15/6/19 Vienna to Neufeld an der Leitha

76km  Total 997km
Had a wonderful stay in Vienna.  Beautiful city and so well looked after by Elizabeth and Walter.
We even went to their Alpine Club AGM - Walter has been the president for 20 years!  The club owns 4 mountain lodges and has around 3000 members.

 The AGM

Impressive St Stephans church in the heart of Vienna

Walter suggested the route out of Vienna from their place about 15km up stream and it was great.  Cycled along the island in the middle of the Danube - loads of cyclists, runners, walkers etc.

 View from the island across to Vienna

 Spiral bridge for cyclists

 One of the many locks on the Danube

And this boat was loaded with bikes and tourists taking them up stream, presumably to cycle back down to Vienna

Then spent most of the day following a canal, so nice and flat.  Eventually detoured to a campground full of day trippers and weekenders at a huge lake with loads of people swimming, scuba diving!, paddle boarding etc.  Another really hot day so a very popular spot.  Apparently about 2000 people on the day, but most left by evening.

13/6/19 Loosdorf to Vienna

94km  Total 921km

More sunshine - perfect day with quiet roads, lots of bike paths and no wind!

 An interesting way to clear the weeds

 Fresh strawberries! Yum

 An indication that this is a fairly windy place!

The Danube

 Mozart park in Vienna

 Staying with Walter and Elizabeth who we met in 2014 in Sth America.  They have a cabin just out of Vienna on the banks of the Danube.  Idyllic

12/6/19 Brno into Austria

82km  Total 827km

Another hot day - mid 30s, but with a wicked headwind.
We had a beautiful bike path for the first 10km out of Brno.  This area seems to be the fruitbowl of Europe - so many lush green paddocks full of crops.

 Cycling along the river out of Brno

We're in the Moravian wine region.  Lots of these cellars sunk into the hills.

 This guy's cleaning bottles ready for vintage

 Our little campsite - pizzas delivered for dinner