Day 25

11/09/2011 – Day 25

Freyenstein to Stein – 68km

The forecast for today had been sunny and hot and that is just how the day started, we woke to bright blue skies. It was warm enough to have breakfast outside on the terrace.

The hotel appeared to be the centre of the village as even at 8am people were coming in and out. It is not the same as Portugal where the café was the heart of the village but more the fact that it was open and a place for people to meet.

We set off along the road with all the other groups that had appeared by now. Being a weekend there are a lot of day trippers, usually in groups of four or more.

The weather kept its promise and as we followed the path on the south bank we were bathed in sunshine. The crossing back to the north was well sign posted and easy to follow. From here we cruised along the river bank for a few kilometres until we were pushed back onto the roadside paths.

Today was the roadside path day, most of the time facing the traffic on a cycle path just inches from the road. Occasionally venturing into villages along the way, but mainly on the road, it was not the best day of the trip so far. The only interest came from cycling through the vineyards on the slopes above the river.

We planned to stay in Dϋrnstein tonight but by the time we realised we were there we had gone through it! The approach was up a short steep hill to the gates of hotel where you turn slightly left into the narrow streets of the village. Today must have been some sort of festival as the place was packed. It was too crowded to cycle through so we got off and walked.

Exiting at the other end we were able to get back on the bikes and go, the relief of a cooling breeze felt good as the narrow streets filled with people had become very oppressive. Another long descent through line after line of vines covered in grapes back to the last stretch of road for the day.

Entering Stein through the old gateway it was like stepping back in time with cobbled streets and narrow passageways. We followed the directions up the hill to a private house with rooms to rent which we found easily. The house appeared to be quite large with a sign on the door saying to call at the small house next door, which we did. There was no reply from this house, but all the doors and windows were open. Either this is the safest place in the world where you can just go out and leave everything open or they were there somewhere and we just could not find them!

We decided to go back down to the main street and check for rooms stopping at the first sign we saw. The room was newly decorated and the people very friendly and the price was right within out budget.

Walking around later, looking for somewhere to eat we found that there are three churches in Stein two right next to each other and the third a few hundred metres down the road.