Day 16 (16. Tag) 16th September
Willendorf - Zwentendorf - 52 kms (852.4 kms from start)
Willendorf - Schwallenbach - Spitz - Woesendorf - Weisskirchen - Rossatz - Mautern - Hollenburg - Zwentendorf
Click here for Day 17 - Zwentendorf - Vienna
It continued to rain through the night and was drizzling when we left Willendorf after a very nice, long breakfast and a chat with some other guests. It was cool and I was glad of the arm and leg warmers which our hosts had dried for us the previous night. We left Willendorf at 9.00 am and stayed on the left bank passing through many vineyards. This is the famous Wachau but we were not seeing it at its best. At Spitz we withdrew some money to replace what we spent at the museum in Willendorf and we walked into the post office and sent back home a parcel of books, papers, postcards, dockets and our first book of maps. It was not worth carrying these with us and every now and then we would send home a parcel to lighten the load and keep things safe. Postage was fairly expensive as everywhere but we were glad to be free of this material. After this we continued on but stopped at the historical church of St Michael to take photos.
We then rode north-east past Woesendorf and along the Radweg to Weisskirchen where we waited for the ferry to come over to our side so we could cross to the right bank. It was still raining as we boarded the ferry and we were the only customers. Inside the passenger cabin were a number of bicycles for hire, catering for all ages. They wouldn't have had any customers that day.
We now rode through vineyards and orchards and looked for a cafe to have our traditional coffee and cake. You have to leave the Radweg if you want to find anything and we headed uphill to the village of Rossatz and entered the cafe Poldis Kaffee Eckerl. The cake was a delicious Ricotta Strudel and the break revitalised us to continue. By now the rain had started to ease but it was still fairly cold. We continued on the right bank past Mautern where there was a bridge to the other side for anyone who needed to cross over. We stayed on the right bank but the track headed inland for some distance to get across an inlet. Then it headed back towards the river. Further along the Radweg is another bridge to Krems which is a largish town on the left bank. In 2000 Don and I had hired bikes in Vienna and rode westwards as far as this bridge. We remember hauling the bikes up the steps to get to the roadway. No doubt there must have been an easier way but we were pretty inexperienced at that time and had no maps with us.
After this the Radweg was easy riding and well marked and we put away some kilometers until we reached an up-market Gasthaus with a nautical theme. We ordered Pork cutlets with garlic butter and chips - delicious! This was washed down with Sturm (New wine).
The rain was now just spitting lightly as we left the restaurant and we continued along an excellent Treppelweg past the Kraftwerk Altenwoerth and then on to Zwentendorf. It had started raining heavily again and we decided to keep our eyes open for accommodation. The first place we went to which was along the road was pretentious and outrageously expensive. That was no good so we looked around and found a sign with details of rooms. It wasn't easy to find the entry to some of these places but we managed to find Frau Zelenka who got on her bike in the rain and rode around to her son's place with us following close behind. They had a building in the large backyard with several private rooms complete with shower and toilet. The rooms were spacious, well heated and comfortable. For 46 Euros they were just what we were after. After the big lunch we didn't need another meal so we contented ourselves with cups of tea (made outside on Don's stove) and leftover cake and the ubiquitous muesli bars. The weather report on TV showed a massive low over the eastern part of Europe which was not shifting much. We dried clothes on the heaters and prepared for another wet day.
