Next-to-last day biking - Tulln

Today was a day of contrasts in biking. We started out biking through the lovely wine growing area of Wachau, traveling through the  old villages there. And then we got past the Krems area - pretty industrial-looking then some very long straight stretches, along the Danube.

The plan was to do nothing touristy today - just bike - because the goal was to make it our longest distance biking day yet - 61 k. For the first time ever, I didn't have a hotel booked. We hoped to get to Tulln, but were prepared to stop early if we got too tired, so I didn't want to book anything. Here's a few pictures from the quaint vineyard region - the Wachau (first part of the ride).

We bought some apricots here.  Apricots are iffy though - some are great, many are mediocre.

These stones had holes chopped through them, where the post would go

A gnarly old tree

One of the first towns we got to was  Durnstein, which is a very famous old town - I believe it's famous for the ruins of an old castle. I'm glad we saw the castle ruins yesterday in Spitz, I have no need to see any more ruins today. We didn't do anything touristy today, just biked and biked. Actually in Durnstein we had to get off the bikes because there were so many tourists - lots of American tour groups, actually, based on their accents. It was good to get through town and out to where we could bike again.

Krems was stressful to bike through. It had a nice bike path, however it kept intersecting with roads where you'd have to stop. Took a while to get through there.

Here's a few photos from the later part of the ride.

A very industrial part of town

In the woods for a short while

We saw these kayakers camped out, many days ago. Kayaking down the Danube seems a little boring...

Another dam

Boat going through the locks

Lunch on the riverside

The never-used nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf. What a waste.

This makes...I think the fourth time we've seen this huge group of Italian teens. 

Interesting looking roadside plant, just outside of Tulln

Peter was pretty tired after our ride - here he's drinking an Almdudler - kind of an herbal soda.

Our room at the new Diamond City Hotel. It was fine, but too modern - couldn't block the sink so I could wash out some clothing.

The Canadian/Austrian family

She took a picture of us, too.

In Tulln (while at the playground, as usual) we saw the family again - the wife from Canada, the husband Austrian, and a 7 year old daughter. I learned that they had gone on the left hand side of the Danube after leaving Grein - which is the wrong way to go, there's no trail there, so you have to bike on the road. That must have been pretty stressful with their 7 year old daughter, on her own bike. Too bad they missed the south side of the Danube, that was one of my favorite sections - very peaceful. It was around 6, and they hadn't booked a room yet. They didn't seem stressed about it at all.