Saturday 7th September Mistelbach to Vienna Rainy day Cycling. Misty Mistelbach to Venting Vienna.

September 7, 2019

September 7 Saturday 42Kms

Mistelbach to Vienna Rainy day Cycling. Misty Mistelbach to Venting Vienna.

Overnight rain has left sogginess in the air but we make a good start in slight drizzle. The cold seeps in and so we stop and add extra layers. The path and signage are good but has many more ups and downs than we anticipated.

A further complication is that the distance, which I read as only 44kms in Mistelbach, seems to have increased by 20kms more when we read it at a later point. Did I read wrong? Are we on the correct route? The Euro velo 9 signs are good and clear though- you just have to spot them. In this, an overhanging leafy branch proves our undoing, obscuring a vital turn and having us do a full circle. Eagle eyed Ann, says she recognises the landscape and she’s right! I’d know that rock anywhere. At this point we spot the train icon on the Wolkersdorf sign - 7kms, and we’ll train in! Not ideal but the rain has been so heavy we’re soaked- outside only- our Ground Effect jackets have done the job and our Mac in a Sac overtrou have been remarkable.

Ann manages the ticket machine at the station and following a) brilliant spacious lift and b) wheel straight on train carriage, we’re on our way to Vienna and getting 15 minutes of dry & warm.

On our exit at Floridsdorf station (exciting to suddenly emerge into a cosmopolitan city again) we sit in a cafe over coffee and melted cheese & tomato panini plotting our route to Florianistrasse, where we are staying. Time to go and the rain intensifies!

Not a real Hundertwasser but fun anyway.

Without finding all the cycle lanes, it’s a zigzag route, but Ann uses Mapsme to get us there. We pass several landmarks- over the Donau Kanal, the Donau River, past a Hundertwasser building ( larger version of Kawakawa Public Toilets, although we find out later that it is a copycat to cover a local refuse station), and past several stately buildings. We came into this city in our VW kombi in 1979 and found London friends who had returned here. How did we do it? No internet, no google maps, no phones! Yet we managed somehow.

We reach our destination in Skodagasse, district 8. It’s a stately old apartment building with beautiful decorative additions, heavy doors, and wrought iron work around the lift shaft. Karin greets us and welcomes us, showing us our wonderfully spacious room. We are cold but a warm shower returns us to normality and after a meal of Stefan’s ‘lumberjack ‘ food, we are completely restored.

The water supply for the apartment from days gone by.

Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 1,927 km (1,197 miles)

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