Wachau valley bike ride

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The slow regional train took 1.5 hours from Vienna Westbahnhof to Melk, the start of our Wachau valley bicycle tour. Austria had a similar bike rental system as Hangzhou in China, with locked bikes parked in various areas throughout the country, for cyclists to use. It helps that we are in one of the favourite cycle ways in Europe, as the Wachau valley is but one small part of the 365km long cycle way from Passau in Austria to Bratislava in Slovakia along the Donau River. Lucky we were only doing the 41km from Melk to Krems today, not 365km!

We rode on the south bank of the Donau. Before long we came across a little church built on the river bank with its dome high over the water - this is Schonbuhel. The Donau is green and fast flowing like the Salzach in Salzburg, but not so cold that its water is cloudy. The bike path was right next to the river, separate and shielded from the road by tall trees. I felt the wind in my hair, heard birds singing in the trees, and smelt the sweet scent of flowering plants. The heart immediately started to lighten.

It took us another 40 minutes to reach the village of Aggsbach Dorf, with a ruin perched on top of a tall hill. We were taken by a lovely restaurant with a glass panel terrace overlooking the Donau and decided to have lunch there. One can see how fast the downstream travelling vessels went, and how slow the upstream going ships battled, thus deducing the river was very fast flowing. After a very average lunch where we had to change our orders twice because they ran out of the ingredients, we came to Aggstein which was the village right after Aggsbach, and the start of the Wachau valley wine road. Alas, we were too eager to have lunch and missed the good place to have it!

As far as the eye can see, there are vineyards covering the slopes on both sides of the Donau. The north side is busier with little villages dotting the green scene, whereas the south side where we rode was just greenery stretching far away. On the bike path we came across fruit trees growing over orchard fences. There were quite a few tall cherry trees. Then suddenly Martin stopped and climbed up a small slope to a wire fence. Growing inside the fence but with lots of branches stretching outside were bunches of raspberry bushes. We were like kids finding the most amusing things to do, picking raspberries off the branches and carrying them until both hands could no longer hold. I had never seen raspberries growing on the plant, nor picked them before. It’s such a novelty to gently pull the soft berries off their stems, leaving the green stems behind and having a juicy, red berry with a hollow “belly” in the hand. I picked them until I could fill a small pastry bag. Not far from the raspberries we found a tall cherry tree with branches hanging over the fence, and big round red cherries not too high to pick. This time we were not so greedy, after the experience of having the carefully picked raspberries crushed after bouncing in the bike basket with the slightest bump in the road. Then we found another cherry tree with yellow cherries, so we couldn’t help ourselves again. This was pure heaven! Riding through the vineyards, next to the green winding river, picking berries off trees and eating them fresh, all in such a scenic setting!

The prettiest place had to be in Rossatz, looking across the river at Durnstein, with its tall blue clock tower of a church, which sits below a mountaintop ruin overlooking the pretty village below. There’s a sandy beach on the river, families were playing in the river with their kids. Such an idyllic picture!

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