Day 15 (15. Tag) 15th September
St Nikola 52 kms (800.4 kms from start)
St. Nikola - Hirschenau - Weins - Ybbs - Sarling - Krummnussbaum - Poechlarn - Lehen - Sankt Georgen - Emmersdorf - Aggsbach Markt - Willendorf
Click here for Day 16 - Willendorf - Zwentendorf
It rained all night and was still raining the next morning. We had breakfast at the Gasthaus then packed and set off along the road again. The track was very good for most of the way - hot tar surfaces and an excellent Treppelweg. Despite the rain we made excellent time riding on the left bank through Hirschenau and then Weins. We were amazed at this stockpile of logs each cut an equal size and stacked beside the rail line. Near Weins the Radweg went over a timber jetty which jutted out over the river as the roadway narrowed.
We crossed the river at the Kraftwerk Ybbs-Persenbeug, found a Baeckerei over the other side and stocked up with some food for the day. Then we continued around Ybbs and stopped on the southern edge of town when we passed a supermarket. Here we bought biscuits, perfume, muesli bars, elastoplast, bananas, milk and juice. Don found that he needed a litre of milk a day to keep him going. He took the photo of the liquor shelves with prices in the supermarket. Australians can't get over the cheap prices for liquor - ours is taxed very heavily. A 3 Euro bottle of wine would cost us the equivalent of 10 Euros.
All the shopping went into my basket in a large plastic bag secured and tucked under so that things wouldn't get wet or fly out if I hit a bump. The basket could get a bit heavy at times and occasionally I had a spill when everything tumbled out. This usually happened at corners trying to turn the front wheel 90 degrees. The bike would overbalance and fall over. It needed the two of us to lift it into an upright position again. We continued on in the rain on the right bank to Sarling where we found a Cafe with Fred Flintstone - type furniture inside. The coffee and cake and shelter were very welcome. One thing we noticed in a lot of these places was the Stammtisch - a table reserved for locals who would meet to chat, eat and drink regularly. They were often older men speaking in dialect which I could barely understand.
We then rode past Krummnussbaum and Poechlarn. It was flat and easy going on an excellent Treppelweg. We crossed the river again at Poechlarn on a bridge which had a wonderful spiral descent on the northern side. From there we passed fields of Canola. It was raining fairly heavily again and we didn't want to stop as we'd set our sights on Willendorf and still had some way to go. We rode past Lehen and Sankt Georgen, past a ruin and a castle on the hill and followed the railway line and road to Aggsbach Markt.
Finally we reached the outskirts of Willendorf at around 2.00 pm. Don had been waiting for this moment for such a long time as he had done a lot of research on the Venus of Willendorf, had reconstructed the figurine and wrote about it extensively on his archaeology website. Along the road leading into the village we saw a Zimmer sign near a stand which allowed people to try some home-made liqueurs, which they could then buy from the owner. The house was below a rise so we made our way down and secured a room for the night. I had spotted an ad for the Venus museum so we walked out later and checked it out. What a blow - it was now Monday and the museum was only open on the weekend. We went back to the house and asked the owner if it were possible to contact the curator and see if we could get in. We were in luck. The curator arranged to meet us at 4.30 pm. The museum is a gem of a place and well worth visiting. We spent almost an hour photographing and reading the interpretation material then spent up big at the museum shop. After thanking the curator profusely, we walked up to the excavation site where the Venus figure was found and took more photographs. We had intended to eat at the local pub but it was closed so we contented ourselves with some leftover cake. We were getting very tired of the continual rain but the forecast showed no improvement in the weather.
