eviedykes2018

Zillertaler hohenstrasser – The high road

Another toll road (€8) to take you high into the mountains without a lift. Follow the signs. Not a drive to do if you haven’t got a head for heights, lots of steep drop offs on narrow roads with no fences!

And keep driving. Gorgeous views as you make your way up

Some cows were collecting the tolls

And then we drove even higher into the cloud

And we walked in the cloud

It’s a flat walk the easy way to the Rastkogelhutte, where we had lunch. This hut seemed to serve a variety of soups, which were very tasty, but not a great deal else (except cake!).

Out of the Rastkogelhutte we climbed up to the top. No views today.

There are a couple of routes up, it turned out when we reached the sign that we had come the difficult (black dot) route.

This was due to the descent on a ridge that was much more ridge-like than I remembered! So much so part of it had a safety wire in place!

Not so very easy with a mini in the front sling. But we carefully made our way down, though I was glad Evie was asleep and not wriggling!

Finally the clouds broke and we had some part views

Then Evie woke up just as we were headed back to the car

And we drove down into a much warmer, sunnier valley below!

Stilluptal – a beautiful valley

If the weather isn’t the best but you still want stunning, this valley is gorgeous and is great for all.

The way up the valley is a toll road, which winds it’s way up from the middle of Mayrhofen to the Stilluptal reservoir. This costs €8, but it would be a very long way up without a car. It’s a pretty drive, but totally stunning when you get there. Glacial waters and steep sided valleys with waterfalls pouring down from the tops.

This view is from the top of the Penken, on the other side of the Mayrhofen valley. It does show its extent and why it feels so amazing when in the Stilluptal valley

This walk is tarmac the whole way and a 2-3 hr round trip depending on the speed you walk. A downside of the tarmac is that if like me you prefer to be off road, it’s not. But it does make it totally accessible to anyone with a buggy/pushchair who still want views and a decent walk.

One of the joys of the mountains for me is hearing the cows with bells. Even better when they are friendly on their stroll down the road, and enjoy a stroke!

In her typical sleepy way Evie misses most of the walk up

We decided to trial her on the back in the sling, as she is getting heavy for front carrying over distance. She seems happy… and falls back to sleep.

The the rain comes, but all is well. Waterproofs for us, BundleBean for her and the rain is unimportant.

We arrive at the Grune-Wand-Hutte, very ready for late lunch.

Evie checks the menu to decide on food

She settles for her first go at baby food – Spaghetti Bolognese – and loved it

The food here was really good, as Austrian hut food generally is. Evie’s own meal doesn’t stop her interest in our food and her joy in routing her hands around in my salad!

Lunch over, time to return back down the hill.

Past more friendly cows

A bit of wriggle time for Evie (and naughty hot chocolate for us) at the next hut down

And then some gorgeous reflections to finish the walk

And then the rain came, luckily almost back at the car…..

Holiday in Mayrhofen

Mayrhofen is where Tim used to come for holidays as a child, and where we came on our honeymoon, so it seemed important to bring Evie, almost 5 months old now, here for our first family holiday.

After two weeks of not seeing daddy, Evie was very keen to show him her ability to sit almost independently and her rolling!

She even moved up into the big kids supermarket trolley section

Unfortunately the weather is not so great on day one, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing to do. The clouds were down making it pointless going up high as there would be no views.

There is a nice valley ‘Easy walk’ path that takes you along the river on one side and back through the woods on the other. It meant we stopped at this small church where we have never been before

And saw a sculpture that represented our new family nicely

I spotted a sign that clearly means no old cars or flapping motorbikes allowed

Evie found a big bear to jump in a hitch a lift back into Mayrhofen with!

And then the other thing Mayrhofen has is a nice pool. In the past staying in certain hotels gets you into the outdoor pool for free. But we are in an apartment this time…. and the pool was €10 each! Thankfully Evie really really enjoyed floating around with us, and we enjoyed the crazy slides and bubbles.

And then at the end she fell into one of the deepest sleeps I have ever seen!

A reflection on our cycling trip – Passau to Vienna

We were originally meant to cycle from Regensburg to Vienna, with all accommodation booked accordingly. But I couldn’t find a company to hire bikes with for the first stretch in Germany that did pick ups. And as it worked out, both Regensburg & Passau were worth spending some decent time in, and we could have spent long in both.

I’d taken Evie’s car seat purely for the cycle ride. But I hadn’t even thought about taxis, we are so used to finding our way around with public transport…. but not with quite so much luggage! Of course we wouldn’t have been able to use taxis without a car seat. And there were a couple of points at the beginning & end of the trip (after our experience in Munich) where a taxi ride was invaluable to reduce stress, and probably prevent a stupid overloaded injury!

Cycling with a baby over distance was a new experience. I’ve done plenty of cycle touring without a baby. And I’ve done a few short practice rides with Evie. But given her age, we had only had a month to do trial rides. So given that, it went pretty smoothly on the whole. There are a few bits I would change.

Picking up the bikes the day before was a definite good thing, as it took a couple of attempts to get the car seat as secure as I was happy with, and that needed time. I certainly wouldn’t have liked to cycle a long way and collect bikes on the same day.

I would have broken the first long day from Passau to Mühldorf, and spent a night around Schlogen. The ride was beautiful, too beautiful to rush. We had no opportunity to stop and swim and just enjoy as we were always aware of the time on this day. And Evie wasn’t used to it, so on this day there were, rightly so, some loud protestations from her in the second half of the day, when we just had to keep going.

The visit to Mauthausen was definitely worthwhile and took a minimum of 3 hrs to fully appreciate the enormity of what happened there. Again, if planning to travel on that day, it would have to be a shorter travel. And I wouldn’t have managed to push panniers and the Chariot up that hill!

Some days were relatively unspectacular scenery wise, and so you could have gone faster, further on those days.

On our trip from Melk to Krems, we loved the walk up to the old castle. But the vineyards were amazing to. In hindsight I wouldn’t have gone to Krems and I would have stayed either in Dürnstein or Stein, and done some wine tasting!! On the whole actually it was the tiny villages were the best.

With regards bike touring with a baby, Evie got more used to it by the third day. She slept when we cycled, we stopped when she woke and had a good 1-1&1/2 hrs of playtime. This seemed to fulfil her needs.

We chose not to camp, it took us long enough as it was to get going in the mornings. Never mind the extra gear to tow. The upsides were a definite comfy bed for us and cot for Evie, but it doesn’t make for a cheap holiday. Although it does guarantee dry and warmth at night. It only rained once for us but I definitely wouldn’t have fancied camping if we hadn’t been so lucky with the weather.

And the cycle path itself. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but this stretch was excellent tarmac the whole way, which meant it was smooth for Evie and easy cycling for us. It was also incredibly well signposted, although the book was still useful.

On the whole, I would tell anyone who loves cycling to do this trail. We saw lots of families at different stages touring. There are lots of playgrounds along the way and it couldn’t get any safer. The lesson I learned and would think more about another time is to really take on board your children’s needs and their tolerances… but then this can change so quickly, in just the two weeks we were on the go, Evie became interested in food and has almost learned to sit up, so predicting these things is difficult when you’ve never had the experience before!

The end of the trip – a day in Vienna

Vienna – the city of amazing buildings. Not just a few, but streets and streets of them in every direction.

First port of call is working out the U-bahn. Not tricky unless the ticket machine doesn’t work! But we got it sussed and got to the main Bahnhof to get our tickets back to Munich airport. A ticket for €8 a day did us well, works on trains, trams and busses and lasts for 24hrs.

Tomorrow’s train sorted, onto sightseeing. First stop was St Stephan cathedral. What a sight to behold both inside and out. None of the gold of places but instead finely carved stonework and the detail was something else.

Outside there were people selling tickets for an intimate evening concert, in the room in which Mozart first gave a concert at 6 year old. After some contemplation, we decided to get some tickets.

Just walking around Vienna is amazing without looking at anything in particular, but just looking up.

The buildings are enormous

The archways are intricately decorated

And the courtyards inside are something else at times

One now shopping centre was just so beautiful, you can only imagine that at some point the wealth of each individual residence to be decorated such.

A lunch and my final ‘Gespritz’.

After packing up the bags we headed out into the late afternoon. Via the incredibly impressive Rathaus, where there was a 2018 film festival going on.

We went onwards to Votivkirche, which was towards the end of its process of being cleaned up on the outside. Beautiful again.

The inside was mostly behind curtains and being turned into a temporary art gallery.

We walked in via impressive building after impressive building….

…… to an innocuous doorway.

Once inside though we were in Palais Schönborn-Batthyany, the place for the concert. Quite relieved the tickets were not a con, we took our seats.

The musicians were said to be from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Opera, certainly they were good enough to be so. Playing and singing all the well known pieces, the first half went well.

In the second half Evie started rubbing her eyes and getting very wriggly…. then crotchety…. and finally loud shouts. Mid-piece, there endeth the concert for me & her. She had done very well to this point though and you can’t really reason with a 4 month old!

But as soon as I walked her around outside the door she calmed right down, so I could at least dance on the stairway to the final pieces, which in itself was quite nice. Whether for me or not, they kept the door partly open once I walked out.

A final meal in a very local pub, The Centimetre, just round the corner from our hotel. Popular and with good reason.

A really enjoyable evening and way to finish our trip.

Tulln to Klosterneuburg – 27km into the wind

Our last day of cycling, a short day in distance but a big day in effort as the headwind got ever stronger.

First exciting thing. We trialled Evie in a high chair and she was great in it! Less frustrating for her and a whole lot easier for me!

Clearly I made sure she was dressed in her most appropriate romper for our final day!

And finally we were set for off!

We visited the ossuary / charnel house in Tulln first thing as the door in the amazing doorway was now open. Was intricately painted inside.

Then past the front of our youth hostel from last night. We never did find out what the building was in the past …. speculated on it being a hospital

And we were on our way. It was just big open river for practically the whole way

Mum wanted a go at towing Evie , so we swapped bikes, which made me suddenly feel like I was riding an e-bike (not that I’ve ever tried but how I’d imagine it to be).

Battling into the wind became quite energy sapping. We eventually got to Korneuburg, which had a tale of a rat catcher almost identical to the pied piper of Hamlin.

We had planned to go in to see the Rat Catchers fountain, but it looked a busy town and I didn’t fancy navigating it towing Evie, and due to the wind it was getting later than planned.

So instead we got our final river ferry of the trip across to Klosterneuburg, which Evie slept through. Back on the south side, we finally enjoyed a drink

And a swim / paddle / play with stones!

There is a huge monastery in Klosterneuburg which is massively impressive from the outside.

We decided to make this our final call and cycled there to discover you couldn’t go inside unless on a tour (which was in an hours time – too long to wait). But you could go and see the church, which was pretty impressive from the outside. Check out even the roof!

…. and just so beautifully painted inside.

And then that was it!

Bikes to be unloaded here in Klosterneuburg as our rental company wouldn’t collect from Vienna. Sad times.

Loaded the panniers back into bags, un strapped the car seat. It was hot and despite having used up nappies and milk powder, the bags were still heavy!

We lugged them to the train station to find out there actually isn’t a direct train. Then we lugged them to the bus stop. A change also required….. so we got a taxi! So much easier and to the hotel door…. stress evaporated!

Our hotel, Station Graf, has a bonkers lift!

Evie was exhausted!

And Vienna looks beautiful…. we have a day here tomorrow to enjoy, before it’s all change and onto adventures new.

Krems to Tulln – 43km and a little bit more

So today was not so interesting and started a bit of a pain.

We finished being students, leaving our university campus accommodation in Krems

Found a nice little park first

Tried to see a bit of Krems (but it was very busy, looked more like a fancy shopping street and we were now late morning already), before giving up on that and getting going.

Deciding to cross back onto the South side of the river, as it was meant to be nicer, turned into a bit of a mission and took us nearly an hour to actually get on the right path. By the signage to Tulln, we went from 41km to 38km to back to almost 42km. Plus getting lost (along with at least two other groups). Then add in a suggested pretty deviation through vineyards, which was a narrow dirt track unsuitable for towing a trailer. Suddenly it was almost midday before we actually rode in the correct direct down the south bank! Thankfully Evie slept through it all!!

I am continually impressed by the effort they take with their cycle paths. This one runs across a bridge next to a very main duel carriage way, yet felt totally safe.

We got views of the impressive looking Göttweig Abbey up on a hill, but decided against visiting this one, due to time…. and effort of the hill!

Once we actually got going the going was good. Making the most of Evie sleeping we flew through about 25km before she woke. The scenery was pretty but unchanging today

And we were glad of the warm sunshine without being roasted!

Stopping for a picnic lunch that had been sat in the bag for a couple of days (mmmm) and a nappy change we continued to enjoy the river view. I was desperate for a swim but this place wasn’t suitable, with steep sides and a faster current.

Round the corner was a nuclear power station, built but never commissioned. I liked the fact it had banks of solar panels in front of it!

And then in front of it…. an alpine hut! Where of course we had to stop for a drink, not quite ‘Apres’, but almost

And I was very glad to see that the bikes we are riding clearly are for women, as they label their toilets with them!

Just round the corner at Zwentendorf I saw just what I had been on the lookout for all day. A swimming beach!!! I couldn’t get in much quicker!

Sadly Evie was not so amused today so she didn’t do more than get her toes wet and was happier back in clothes!

Onwards to Tulln, the last few kilometres of which kept crossing under the electric cables

We managed a little wander around Tulln , which has a few nice buildings. There is a couple of buildings from Roman times, and I love the doorway of this top building

And I reckon the base of the church must be pretty old to

And he church is yet another with a very impressive vaulted roof

Then to finish, some generally nice, are some old, but not Roman old, buildings

And then, finally time for dinner. Evie is getting more excited by mealtimes by the day. Which means she is harder to control sitting on your knee…. good job she likes cucumber and everything comes with at least a slice of cucumber. This way she can join in the meal!

Melk to Krems – 41km. Up the Burgruine Aggstein and into Wachau. 27/08/18

After the worst night sleep in a long time, we finally gave up and got up! But what a day we have had. The sun was shining, so the makeshift towel shade went on, and we managed an earlier start.

Out of Melk, straight up a hill (felt like a mountain with the trailer), and along the south side. From the river bank you could see Schönbühel, a privately owned residence – imagine if this were your house!! You couldn’t get near it unless you swan down the river! But incredibly beautiful to look at in the morning light.

First stop was the St Rosalia Parish church and monastery, one of 15 chapels on a processional route from the Holy Land to Rome. So precious is this church that you can’t go in, but you can look in.

Also had a lovely vista

From here we peddled on, down a clearly very dangerous (small) hill! Given the hills I cycle at home, this seemed an extreme sign.

Down a beautiful woodland path… and then bike track roadworks!!!

We looked up at Bergruine Aggstein, discussed going up there, decided it was a silly idea…. then found ourselves going anyway. Well, I had seen a picture taken from it, and I’m a sucker for views! It warned of 20% climbs, so we thought we would bike as far as possible and then walk. What that meant was we turned the corner…. and then walked!!!

The ‘wanderweg’ sign suggested it would take 1hr 15mins. It was steep, it was beautiful, and it only took us 45mins (and we weren’t going fast). Through gorgeous woods, it was actually quite nice to be off the bikes and on foot for a while.

And the walk was worth it. The castle, another UNESCO world heritage site, was still in very good condition. It was very well set out (unless you are scared of heights!), lots of boardwalks to access high up and phenomenal views.

Somewhere you didn’t want to end up, the 8m deep starvation put!

The views really were just something else.

And it had a nice cafe / restaurant!

Reluctant to leave again, but we still had another 20km to cover. Walking down we were attacked by killer-corns, raining down from the oak trees. I think there may have been a cheeky squirrel up there throwing its acorns at us!

Back at the bikes and we were off. Passing by lots of orchards and then into the start of the vineyards.

We crossed on a ferry to Spitz, as the north bank at this point was said to be beautiful.

Now have you ever seen a little ferry that has flower pots on?!??

And it was beautiful. At this point the bike trail comes away from the Danube and you wind your way through vineyards and really old small towns.

I loved this church in Spitz, look at the roof. It was getting later so we didn’t go to see inside.

The vines were loaded with grapes. Not knowing much about it, I don’t know if this was normal or exceptional due to the hot summer.

From Spitz to Weißenkirchen , this church was literally on route, although again you couldn’t go in. They obviously don’t trust the cyclist passerbys!

We continued onwards through the vineyards

And through the beautiful old small towns of Dürnstein

And Stein

We stopped to try the local gin (and bought some – just a small bottle mind)!

Before continuing on our way

To Krems, our stop for the night

In my opinion, this has been the best day yet, very varied and three completely differing beautiful types of scenery. Some, what I would normally call undulating roads, towing this load I call mountains!! But worth it…. in fact I would love to do this day all over again!

Grein to Melk – 47km 26/08/18

Having listened to pouring rain all night, we were a bit ambivalent to how today may go. But it’s fair to say, we lucked out!

Leaving our accommodation (surprise surprise) later than planned, knowing we had a reasonable ride ahead of us, we decided against visiting the castle in Grein.

So straight down to the ferry landing past a famous sundial (no sun in the sky though) and onto the boat, Evie already asleep!

One last view of Grein before we headed down the south bank, because it was the quieter of the sides.

It was a lovely small road through beautiful trees and back to wooded sides to the river, turning autumnal.

First stop for us was Ybbs, where we specifically went to go to the Radfahre museum (history of bikes). Small but worth a visit.

We went on the penny farthing….

Saw the fire engine bike….

The first inflatable rubber tyres (made by Dunlop)

The army bikes with sword attachments!

A bike with a waterproof cover (we need these back home!)

And a candle lamp (how did they stay alight? And how did they really guide the way?)

Ybbs itself was small but nice, although for a small place it had some massive buildings!

We crossed the hydroelectric bridge to Persenbeug, on top of which was a good view of one of these boat locks

And continued on our was along the north bank. Back through villages and agricultural land, until we found a nice lunch spot at Metzling, on the opposite side side of the river to the Theresien Chapel, a former Cistercian monastery. Looked nice but you can’t be on both sides of the river at once!!

We woke Evie for playtime and wiggle time. She chomped on more cucumber and tomato and then it was time to move onwards. Leaving Metzling, we passed these fun little stick men

We twiddled through the bumpy backstreets of villages because the cycle path was being replaced (will be super nice and smooth for whoever gets to ride on it soon!) until we came to a super curly bridge bike ramp!

The clouds were gathering so I feared they may unleash their worst

But as I said at he beginning, we lucked out and the sky got bluer.

Only 4 km to go to get to Melk, and our goal of reaching the Benedictine Abbey for getting our tickets before 4.30pm, the latest they let people in.

Impressive from a distance and ever bigger as you get nearer, this is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

However, despite its obvious popularity with tourists, there were no signs of how to get there by bike, which was odd considering it must be one of the major attractions on the cycle route. Anyway, we went up through the town (note the up, with the trailer, with a time pressure, equalled hard work!), and mum rushed in to get our tickets just in time whilst I did a much needed nappy change!

You enter through into a very impressive couple of courtyards and We then had 1&1/2 hours to scoot round the buildings and gardens. A well done exhibition of all things church related and super old (artefacts dating back many centuries), then through the library

Down some super fancy stairs

And into a highly ornate church with so much gold and colour

And a very impressive done

Back outside, the views from the balcony show us our route tomorrow

And we see a very old clock, that until recent times was made entirely of wood

Back out into the courtyard

Leaving 30 mins to see the gardens (don’t be late, you’ll be locked in behind massive metal gates!)

I rather likes this (amongst a set)

By going

By feeling

By speaking

By loving

By seeing

By thinking

By questioning

You are

(At least I think that’s how it translates)

And then it was time to leave, bump down the cobbled streets of Melk, and find our accommodation for the night.

Never easy, the owner had to search for somewhere suitable to store the trailer (I think it’s in his own living room!).

A tag-a-long with a difference

I am writing this as a reminder to myself in the future, when Evie has grown into a little girl. In the hope she will being riding her own bike some of the time, but maybe get tired and need some help along the way.

I saw this contraption in Germany and have seen a few variations along the Danube cycling trip, and they seem to make it possible to allow kids to have independence when they have energy, and help when tired. Therefore allowing families to cover reasonable distances!

I’m not even exactly sure how it works, except that when not in use it live on the parents bike. More weight = greater fitness training!!!