Day 26

12/09/2011 – Day 26

Stein to Tulln – 56km

The reason for staying in Stein was so we could visit the 3 shop in Krems the next morning. Having bought the dongle and card in Linz three days ago for mobile internet we had still not been able to get it working even with the help of people we asked hoping that they would be able to understand the instructions and see where we were going wrong (a German/English dictionary can only go so far in translating instruction booklets).

Amazingly the guy in the shop told us we were out of credit, wrong! As we had not been able to get it working how can we be out of credit? Then he made a phone call to their help desk and told us that the system had been down for three days and that there was no network at the moment. So the shop in Linz had sold us a package knowing we would only be in Austria for a week fully aware that their network had crashed. Of course we asked for our money back and of course the guy at 3 came out with a whole load of crap about why we can’t have it back. In short, they sold us an internet package they knew was not working.

Thanks 3.

Having now wasted several hours in Krems we set off east again. Leaving the town we followed the signs as usual, I was just thinking it would be possible to do the whole route without a map when confusion struck, the sign before the traffic lights said turn right while the one just after the lights said straight on? Looking at the two options, turning right put us on a main road without a cycle lane while going straight took us over a bridge to a cycle path by a small river. That is an easy choice then, isn’t it?

The path by the river is brand new, well surfaced and a pleasure to use until about 2km later it comes out on a roundabout and just stops, dead, no signs, nothing. Looking around we don’t have a clue where to go, even the map doesn’t help. Then a couple of cyclists pass us on the opposite bank, and there it is, hidden in the trees on the other side, a signpost. So we cross the bridge and are back on the right track.

As mentioned several time before, the signs can be a little hard to find or put up just after the junction, those same cyclists who put us right a few minutes ago came to our rescue again. As we came to a junction they were coming back along the path towards us. Going straight across as they did would have taken us to a dead end, the route had turned right across another bridge but was only signposted on the other side, again.

From here for the rest of the day it was easy, the wind was behind us, the path was in very good condition and the weather was clear, we flew down the route touching 28km/h in places. Looking at the map we had decided to reach Vienna in two days so we could have the first afternoon looking round then a whole day sightseeing, but at this speed we could have done it in one day easily.

Once again we had planned a picnic lunch to keep the costs down but stopped at a riverside bar for a beer before eating, as did half the cyclists in Austria by the look of the bikes as we arrived. The place was so full they were doubling up on tables. Squeezing in we ordered two big wheat beers and soon were in conversation with the people on the table next to us, a husband and wife from Innsbruck who were cycling to Vienna and taking the train back.

With the wind still behind us we continued to make good time and arrived in Tulln in the early afternoon, stopping at the tourist office to ask for cheap accommodation the receptionist showed us hotels double the budget we had asked for. We could try the youth hostel if we wanted, she said. The youth hostel system here in Austria, like Germany, is nothing like the ones I remember from the days when I could call myself a ‘youth’, they are much better equipped and cater for all sorts of people. A room with en suite shower is now possible and the front door is not locked at 9pm anymore.

The hostel caters for cyclists and has a locked garage for overnight parking, the rooms are large and clean and cheap. We had bought European membership cards in Germany so can stay in any one of the hundreds of hostels we will find on the route.

Strolling round the town the only thing that stands out is the smell of potatoes, we saw them being harvested in the fields as we rode in and Tulle appears to be the centre where they are stored and processed. The roads, cars and houses downwind of the plant we passed are covered in a fine brown dust and the smell is almost overpowering. Fortunately the hostel was upwind.