7/21/19-7/28/19 Yes, We've Been to Scarborough Fair!

Well, at least we have been to the location for Scarborough Fair. It was held on the waterfront in Scarborough between 15 August and 29 September every year for 500 years--for the last time in 1778. It was a gathering of fishers, processors, packers, merchants from all over Europe, craftspeople, doctors, dentists--a huge event where fishers scooped up boatloads of herring, which were cleaned and processed right on the wharf.

Sunday, 21 July 2019

Flew from Budapest, Hungary, to Leeds, England, via KLM
Accommodations: The Barn, Bay Horse Lane, West Yorkshire. Host David. Comfortable room in renovated barn with private bath and shared kitchen and living area. David welcomed us graciously at near midnight, offering tea and snacks and a place to assemble our bikes in the morning. Beautiful area. Wish we had booked a few nights here.

Dinner: Schipol Airport, Amsterdam

This was a long transfer day. We got up at 2:45 am for a 6:30 am flight to Amsterdam, where we missed our connection to Leeds. We were able to rebook for a 10:30 pm flight and spent the day reading and resting in the airport. We checked in at our guest house, The Barn, at about midnight, in a cool drizzle. It seemed good to be in England, where they speak English. (Sort of. We struggled to understand everything our chatty cabby had to say. It could be partly that we were tired, and partly that after three months of not understanding the language, we were having trouble listening well.)

Monday, 22 July 2019

Biked from West Yorkshire to Scarborough, 76 miles, 2,231 feet of climb

Accommodations: Shrove Cottage. Night 1 of 7. Hosts Judith and David. Small cottage, a bit dated and worn, but very comfortable and with absolutely everything you need to relax and refresh for a week. Our hosts had stocked the kitchen with basics and treats, and even left us a packet of maps for local bike rides.

Dinner: Crown Pub across the road. Mixed grill. Good pub food, nice back garden.

This was a gorgeous day of riding, through villages and gated communities, horse estates, and the city of York, and up along the seashore. We had a mix of dedicated cycle trails, small quiet country lanes, busy highways, hills, valleys, rivers, and bridges. It was our longest cycling day of the trip, with a good amount of climb. By the time we got to Scarborough, I was very tired, but it felt good to push it, and the weather was perfect.

At lunchtime, we found a village pub open--a rarity on a Monday. The pub had just reopened with new owners and didn't have its food service license yet--but we spotted crisps in a basket and made a snack of those plus cold drinks. The pub owner gave us lots of information about the area, pointing out that the huge estate we had passed on the way belonged to the family of Roger Moore (of James Bond fame). And the village churches built in villages between there and Scarborough had been financed by a wealthy landowner. 

Each phase of our trip has posed new navigational challenges, and this one is no exception. Our plan is to follow the British national and Sustrans cycle routes as much as possible, using their online map and route suggestions for planning and then creating customized routes in the bikemap.com software we used in Greece and Italy. We can download each customized route onto our iphones and use the offline maps for navigation. We had created our customized map for today while hanging out in the airport Sunday. I was able to use our offline map on my iphone to lead us through the first third of the day, which was overcast and cool, with no problem. Then the sun came out. A persistent problem is that my iphone overheats and is difficult (impossible) to read in the sun. But Ken's newer iphone held in there, and he got us through to Scarborough.

It was good to crawl into bed and know that we would be staying put for a week. We are not tired of being on our bikes, but we do feel a need for a good rest.

Every little village still has a red phone booth near the town center. We didn't check to see if the phones work.

We haven't seen hedgerows like this since we cycled in Ireland in September 2001. We haven't spotted a hedgehog yet, but a grouse tried to outrun us on this stretch of road.

Yorkshire is stunning. Nevertheless, we took very few photos--we couldn't choose which views to photograph, and we didn't want to stop too much because we knew it would be a long day.

Tuesday, 23 July 2019

Rest day. Biked and walked about 10 miles around town

Accommodations: Shrove Cottage, night 2 of 7

Lunch: Market Hall. Yorkshire pudding

Dinner: Tops, a few blocks down Falsgrave Road. The best Chinese food we have had, for a reasonable price. Excellent service, nice dining room with calming waterfall window in front.

We were more tired than we thought! After sleeping late and doing a load of laundry, we biked to Richardson's Cycles (www.richardsonscyclesscarborough.co.uk) for some vehicle maintenance. Ken's front disc brake was bent during the transfer from Budapest, and my rear tire has had a slow leak for the past month.

Two hours later, we left Richardson's with a new brake, a repaired tire, seven paper maps, tons of advice, and a new plan for our UK adventure: we are headed to Scotland! We were told that the roads are much less congested, the scenery is incredible, and B&Bs are looking for customers because many visitors now travel in caravans instead of renting accommodations. It wasn't hard to convince ourselves that we could head north on quieter roads for a while.

Scarborough beach. The locals are complaining of the oppressive heat. It is an unprecedented 79 degrees Fahrenheit. We waded up to our knees before deciding it was too chilly for a swim.

Wednesday, 24 July 2019

Rest day. Biked and walked about 10 miles around town

Accommodations: Shrove Cottage, night 3 of 7
Lunch: Fried haddock in a fishery just off the beach
Dinner: Vegetable stir-fry with rice and fruit at the cottage (we cooked!)

Slept late again, went grocery shopping, biked to St. Mary's Church and the Scarborough Castle. We are both feeling tired and glad to be resting this week.

Scarborough Castle ruins.

St. Mary's Church. Small, quiet, and understated. So different from the huge, elaborate cathedrals and basilicas we have been touring in Italy and Hungary.

Thursday, 25 July 2019

Rest day. Biked and walked about 10 miles around town
Accommodations: Shrove Cottage, night 4 of 7
Dinner: Indian Lounge, next door to Richardson's Cycle. Excellent Indian food. The waiter recommended papadums with relishes for a starter, and they were perfect. We shared lamb curry, spinach with Indian cottage cheese, and a mushroom sauce with salad and rolled-up flatbread.

We were both still tired. Actually, we finally admitted that we weren't just tired, we didn't feel all that well. I made appointments at the nearest clinic, and by 1:00 pm we had seen doctors, picked up antibiotics, and were on the mend. I even fit a haircut in before the clinic appointments! The National Health Service worked great for us: we registered as temporary residents and got completely free exams and medications, and it all took a little over an hour.

We carted my soft-again rear tire back to the bike shop, then headed to Sainsbury's Super Store (like a Target Superstore). After three months of limited shopping in minimarts and corner stores, the volume and choices were overwhelming. We splurged on cucumber, green apple, and lemon sparkling waters, fresh fruit and veggies, and chocolate (of course).

Hiked back to the bike shop at 4:45 to pick up the re-repaired tire, then next door to the Indian Lounge for an awesome dinner.

Friday, 26 July 2019

Rest day. Biked 20 miles, 800 feet of climb; walked about 3 miles to dinner and back
Accommodations: Shrove Cottage, night 5 of 7
Dinner: Gianni's Italian Restaurant. Black ravioli with shrimp and prawn, seafood spaghetti marinara, olive bread, and coffee and chocolate pavlova. A busy restaurant with excellent service and food. Reminded us of La Grolla, our favorite Italian restaurant in St. Paul.

We were getting a little restless, so Ken planned a 20-mile ride through East Ayton, Forge Valley Woods National Nature Reserve, and Hackness to Langdale End and back--up a beautiful valley almost to the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. We even saw a little patch of heather blooming in the distance.

But first Ken had to take my again-soft rear tire back to the bike shop. We've been running tubeless tires and have not had a single flat with them--amazing considering the rough trails and roads we've been riding with saddlebags on. But my rear tire has been getting more leaky, and we were thinking it wouldn't be smart to head into the remote Scottish moors with a troublesome tire. So we had a tube put in and bought a few spare tubes, just in case. Hope this solves the problem!

Grade II listed Diary House in East Ayton.

Saturday, 27 July 2019

Walked about 5 miles around town
Accommodations: Shrove Cottage, night 6 of 7
Lunch: Eat Me Cafe. Beet root and goat cheese burger with hand-cut fries and a salad; Welsh Rarebit with boiled potatoes and a salad. Good food, large portions.
Dinner: Fruit, vegetables, scones, and focaccia in the cottage

Ken got a haircut, I caught up on some of my blogging, we mapped out the first couple days of biking for next week, and we walked around town again. This time we explored the spa gardens, returned to the beach to buy fudge, and made our way back to the cottage via the pedestrian shopping street and train station.

We discovered numerous large arcades full of families. Candy stores. A medieval shop. A ferris wheel. Ice cream stores. A funicular. Josh and Konur would have fun here.

Scarborough Town Hall (formerly the Nicholas House).

Sunday, 28 July 2019

Ken biked about 30 miles; I didn't
Accommodations: Shrove Cottage, night 7 of 7.

Ken was restless, I wanted some quiet time. So we split up for the first time on the trip. (Hard to believe we haven't felt the need to get out on our own until now. Not to say we haven't had moments of not getting along perfectly, especially when discussing navigation. But we have been able to give each other enough emotional space to hang around together physically.)

Ken decided to bike the same route we took Friday but go farther and get onto the North Yorkshire Moor. He was about halfway there when he met up with the Richardson's Cycle group on their Sunday ride, and joined them for a challenging spin.

I stayed in the cottage and worked on our blog.

Looking forward to getting back on the bikes tomorrow.

7/13/19-7/20/19 Slovakia and Hungary

Saturday, 13 July 2019

Biked 60 miles from Klosterneuburg, Austria, through Vienna to Bratislava, Slovakia

Accommodations: APLEND CITY Hotel Michalska. Nice 3-star hotel near St. Michael's Gate just inside the Old Town. Very comfortable, but very noisy. Would not recommend because of location/noise.
Dinner: Touristy restaurant in a smaller square. Okay food.

It was a cloudy and cool day of cycling, mostly on dedicated cycle paths. The route through Vienna was a little hard to follow at times but kept us out of the main city center. Once out of the city, we were on a cycle path through parkland along the river for at least an hour, then on cycle paths through small villages and along the river all the way to the UFO Bridge across the Danube to Bratislava.

Bratislava is a big, noisy, touristy city. We tried to appreciate it, walking up the hill to the castle and exploring the Old Town and alleyways, but mostly we found crowded restaurants with large groups of loud young people, and the party noise outside our hotel carried through our earplugs until after 3 in the morning.

Every day, we met interesting people on the trail. The trail led right through the grounds of this palace at about the halfway point on our route.

This blue gate marks the border between Austria and Slovakia. During Soviet rule, it was closed and guarded; now it is always open.

The UFO bridge into Bratislava. Under the roadway on each side of the bridge is a pedestrian walkway. We arrived on the opposite side of the river at rush hour and had to dismount and walk our bikes through the crowds to cross on the bridge.

Sunday, 14 July 2019

Biked 60 miles from Bratislava to Nagybajcs, near Gyor

Accommodations: Györgyi’s home apartment, across the road from a small lake 9 miles off the cycle path near Gyor. A great space with full kitchen, bath including washing machine, and two bedrooms, plus front porch and garden area out back.

Dinner: Bajacsi Halasztanya Etterem, a casual family restaurant on the other side of the small lake from our apartment. We had excellent service and a delicious fish dinner of local perch.

Fairly easy biking mostly on cycle paths the first part of the day. The last 10 miles were on busy highways with no shoulders, and we finished in a rain shower (after waiting out the worst of the storm in a handy bus shelter).

The cycle path traversed flat agricultural land the first half of the day.

We ate lunch across the road from the Schloss Ovar castle in Mosonmagyarovar. This was our first stop in Slovakia, so we first had to find an ATM and withdraw florints; Slovakia and Hungary are not on the euro.

The front porch of our apartment, overlooking the small lake.

Monday, 15 July 2019

Biked 70 miles from Nagybajcs, Slovakia, to Esztergrom, Hungary

Accommodations: Amadeus Guesthaus, Host Rocks Amadeus. Double room with private bath and shared kitchen and dining area. Nice, clean, and quiet.

Dinner: Csulok Csarda, at base of hill behind our guest house. Family-run restaurant with excellent food and service. We had traditional Hungarian meals with meat, sauces, and spices.

Almost the entire day was riding on highways with constant speeding truck traffic and no shoulders. The few stretches of cycle path were rough and narrow with sudden obstacles like unmarked curbs. We felt kind of beat up when we finally arrived in Esztergrom--our hands and shoulders were actually bruised from the constant impact.

But we loved Esztergrom. We met our host, Rocks, at his souvenir shop in town, and he loaded our bags in his car and hauled them up to his house in a quiet neighborhood at the top of the hill across from the basilica, while we pushed our bikes up the hill. We had incredible views. Rocks gave us a thorough introduction to the guest house and our room, plus a list of recommendations for places to eat and things to do. He is passionate about his city, the region, and the country, and happy to share what he knows. During the school year, he teaches seven- and eight-year-olds, and in the summer, he is busy with his shop as well as the guest house.

After a shower and lots of cold water, we headed to Rocks' second-favorite restaurant less than half a mile away. (His first favorite was a couple of miles away, across the Danube in Slovakia; we were not up for getting back on the bikes at that point.) The restaurant was awesome, and we had a good night's rest thanks to a few Tylenol.

Our host insisted on taking a photo of us at the top of the hill behind our guest house when we arrived. In the background is the impressive Esztergrom basilica.

A sunset view of the city from the top of our guest house hill was glorious.

Tuesday, 16 July 2019

Biked 35 miles from Esztergrom to Szentendre

Accommodations: Erika Guesthouse, hosts László and Maria Nagy. This place looked great online, and our host was very nice, but the house has seen better days. It was dark and dingy and smelled a bit of smoke. We had a double room with private bath and small terrace, with shared common room. Night 1 of 2.

Knowing that we had a short day of biking, we spent the morning in Esztergrom, hiking up the hill to the basilica and climbing up the dome. The area around Esztergrom offers spas, hiking, lakes, and castles. It would be easy to spend a few days or even a week exploring the region--and making day trips to Budapest and Szentendre.

We headed to Szentendre before noon. The first part of the route was along the Danube through parkland, across the river on a ferry, along the river another five or six miles on a cycle path through parkland, and then back across the river on a ferry to Visegrad. We had pastries and coffee at a resort along the way, cold drinks at the first ferry landing, and fish and chips at a cafe near the second ferry landing--leisurely riding, a really pleasant start to the day.

Then we headed out on the highway (the marked cycle route) from Visegrad to Szentendre. At one point, our map showed a cycle path between the highway and the river. We had trouble finding it, and a local directed us to a mountain bike trail through fields between the highway and the river. We toughed it out for a couple of miles and then bushwacked to the highway when it turned into a single track.

Our guide books describe Szentendre as a quaint small town filled with art galleries and cafes. The main center of the old town is that, but the highway leading to our guest house a mile away was busy and noisy and lined with unappealing businesses. Thankfully, the guest house itself was on a quiet side road.

The front of the Esztergrom basilica.

The view from the dome of the basilica, looking down on the palace and the bridge across the Danube to Slovakia.

Wednesday, 17 July 2019

Rest day. Walked several miles to, from, and around the old town center.

Accommodations: Erika's Guesthaus. Night 2 of 2

It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed a long walk to, from, and around Szentendre. The city is divided into a number of neighborhoods, each one with its own architecture, look, and feel. We had a nice lunch in the main square and then went back to the guest house and fell asleep and had a nice nap.

The main square in the old town of Szentendre.

This neighborhood was mostly cottages from the 1600s and 1700s.

This neighborhood had more formal buildings from a later time period. 

Thursday, 18 July 2019

Biked 15 miles from Szentendre to Budapest, walked about 8 miles around Buda

Accommodations: Bauhaus Flat, hosts Bianka and Andrea. A very comfortable, clean studio apartment in a Bauhaus heritage building near the Margaret Bridge in Buda. Included a washing machine and a kitchenette stocked with basics. Even had a wall map of Budapest with labeled with recommendations for restaurants and other places of interest from the hosts and other guests. Night 1 of 3.

Dinner: Marvelosa Restaurant near Chain Bridge. Recommended by another guest. Small, family-run, home-made traditional Hungarian food. We found the food okay but somewhat bland. We enjoyed the view of the river and Chain Bridge from the outdoor seating.

(Note: On Sunday, 21 July, we fly from Budapest to Leeds, England. We scheduled three nights in Budapest to give us time to find boxes for our bikes and disassemble them, do laundry, rest--and explore the city.)

A dedicated cycle path led us from our guest house in Szentendre straight into Buda, within blocks of our flat--and right past a brand-new bike shop. We pulled in and saw perfect bike boxes in the back of the store. The store's team leader was friendly and helpful, and said we could certainly return the next morning and take two boxes for transporting our bikes on the flight to England. Yay! One major issue resolved before we even settled into town.

I was excited to stay in a Bauhaus heritage building. The flat had been renovated a few years ago in keeping with principles of the Bauhaus movement, and was fresh and clean and efficient. The building was a bit worn, but I loved the original circular glass elevators and utilitarian but beautifully designed doorways, lobbies, and terraces.

We stocked up on a few groceries, checked in, showered, and took a nap. This napping thing was getting to be a habit.

After dinner we walked up to the top of Castle Hill and explored the palace grounds. We walked back along the top of the hill through the nice neighborhoods there, stopping for ice cream along the way.

Chain Bridge from Castle Hill.

Parliament at sunset.

St. Matthias Church.

Reflections.

Friday, 19 July 2019

Travel prep and sightseeing day. Walked about 12 miles around Budapest
Accommodations: Bauhaus Flat, night 2 of 3
Lunch: Market Hall. Traditional langos and cabbage rolls with lemonade. The hall was fun but the food at the stands wasn't great.
Dinner: Vietnamese cafe near Parliament. Good food on a relaxed pedestrian street.

We picked up our bike boxes first thing in the morning and walked them back to the flat. Then we headed across the Chain Bridge to Pest. We had lunch at the Market Hall, followed parts of two of the historic walking tours in the Rick Steve's guide to Budapest, ate dinner, and then caught the last tour of the day through Parliament. Walking back along the river to our flat that evening, we were tired but relaxed. I really enjoyed the architecture and history that we took in.

Market Hall.

Lobby of the 5-start Gresham Palace hotel near Parliament. Stunning architectural detail and design. I could have spent all day poking around buildings like this, soaking up the beauty. Oh, actually, I did spend all day doing that! Lucky me.

St. Stephen's Basilica. 

The Lords' Chamber of Parliament. When the Parliament was built in the 1800s, it included two chambers for the country's bicameral governing bodies--the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Hungary has abolished the House of Lords and now has a unicameral government. This leaves the House of Lords empty and available for tours.

Our bikes on the terrace of our flat.

Saturday, 20 July 2019

Walked about 8 miles to dinner and back
Accommodations: Bauhaus Flat, night 3 of 3
Dinner: Blue Tomato. Excellent nontraditional food and classic Hungarian lemonade with tonic water and fruit.

We did laundry, packed the bikes, napped, read, and then walked across the Margaret Bridge to dinner and back. Finished with ice cream at a shop in our neighborhood. Early to bed in preparation for journey to England tomorrow.

Margaret Bridge, walking from Buda toward Pest.

7/9/19-7/12/19 Moving Down the River: Last Days in Austria

Tuesday, 9 July 2019

Biked 50k from Grein, Austria, to Melk, Austria
Accommodations: Private Zimmer Marillenhof. Lovely studio with private entrance, bath, and kitchenette.
Dinner: Ratshauskellar in main square. Good traditional Austrian home-made food.

Pleasant day of biking along the Danube on quiet roads and cycle paths.

Village across the river.

Monastery on a hill between Grein and Melk. 

Courtyard of the Stift Melk Benedictine monastery.

View from above the Stift Melk Benedictine monastery in Melk.

Wednesday, 10 July 2019

Biked 40k from Melk, Austria, to Krems, Austria, through the Wachau Valley

Accommodations: Gasthaus auf der Kunstmeile, Stein/Krems, night 1 of 2. Hostel with private room and bath, including an incredible breakfast with vegetable omelettes prepared to order by our host, Ferdinand.

Beautiful orchards, vineyards, villages, churches, and castles all along this stretch of the river. We took our time biking to Krems, took lots of pictures, and explored an old church and tower.

Just one of the many villages we passed through in the Wachau Valley.

The river flowed beside us all day.

We stopped at St. Michael Church to explore the old tower and buildings.

The St. Michael Church tower is newer than either of the existing church buildings.

Thursday, 11 July 2019

Rest day
Accommodations: Gasthaus auf der Kunstmeile, night 2 of 2

Tower and gate into Krems. Our hostel was in Stein, just outside of Krems. We walked through this gate to get to Krems.

Krems.

Friday, 12 July 2019

Rain day. Took the train from Krems to Klosterneuberg
Accommodations: Privatzimmer Familie Fux, approximately 2 miles west of Klosterneuburg in a quiet neighborhood in the foothills. Hosts Theres Fux and Reinhard Fux, a sweet couple just a bit older than us. Smallish room with shared bath and a nice breakfast.

We woke up to pouring rain, pulled up the OBB app, and booked train tickets for ourselves and our bikes. The trains were full of cyclists with the same idea. By the time we arrived in Klosterneuburg, the rain had eased off to a drizzle. We had a late lunch, cycled around the monastery grounds, picked up groceries, and then biked out to our private room in the foothills. After a picnic dinner in our room, we hiked up in the foothills for a couple of hours. We found an observatory, cross-country ski trails, a compost center, and farm fields along the way. A fair number of people were biking the paved road up into the hills and back down--it was the perfect pitch and length for a good workout.

Benedictine monastery in Klosterneuburg.

7/6/19-7/8/19 On Our Own Again

Saturday, 6 July 2019

42 miles from Passau, Germany, to Aschach, Austria, mostly flat
Bike route: see Danube Bike Trail 2
Accommodations: Gasthof de Sonne. Guest house with cafe right on the trail, on main street in center of town.

Meghan and J2 flew home yesterday. We miss them! We had a wonderful time with them and are so glad they were able to join us. Today was an easy ride along the Danube/Donau (I am starting to think of it as the Donau, which is what it is called in Germany and Austria). We started on the south side, crossed to the north side via a bike ferry in Engelhartszell, crossed back to the south side via the second bike ferry in Schlogen, and ended in the quiet town of Aschach. We found frequent refreshments and services all along the trail--many more than along the German stretches. It was nice to grab a sandwich when we were hungry, and an eis kaffee when we were thirsty.

Just another day along the Donau. Still smiling!

Bike ferries were a fun change from riding on busy car bridges.

Sunday, 7 July 2019

40 miles from Aschach, Austria, to Mauthausen, Austria, mostly flat

Bike route: see Danube Bike Trail 2

Accommodations: Gartenszimmer, Familie Marksteiner (Barbara and her husband and four sons), Mair z'Haid, Haid 8 A, 4310 Mauthasen, +43 7238 2416, Mobil +43 676 821252023, schlafen@gartenzimmer.at, www.gartenzimmer.at. Beautiful family farm (formerly a pig farm) about 4k outside of Mauthausen. New guesthouse with large kitchen, dining room, and garden. Barbara and her family were incredibly nice and friendly. Our room was large, airy, and spotless. The breakfast included eggs from the host family chickens, ham smoked with honey from a neighbor, an assortment of local cheeses and butter, rolls, local yogurt with apricots, a nut cake, and home-made elderberry juice.

Restaurant: The Jagerwirt in Haid, a family restaurant and gasthaus that specializes in local cuisine and especially apricot dumplings, which the 76-year-old matriarch has recently perfected (according to Barbara).

Biked mostly along the Donau, through small towns, moving from south bank to north bank by ferry and bridge. It rained lightly on and off the whole day. We stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant, one of the few places we found open on the trail. (It's Sunday.) Pulled into Mauthausen about three in the afternoon but couldn't check in until four or later, so we had cake and coffee in the main square and then biked out to our guesthouse in Haid, 4k away on a quiet gravel road in a small farming community. (We decided not to visit the Mauthausen Concentration Camp and monument; from the pictures in the guidebook, it looked much like Dachau, which we visited a couple of weeks ago.)

Our host, Barbara, greeted us with a refreshing home-made elderflower drink and made a reservation for us at "the perfect" restaurant/gasthaus just 1.5 kilometers away--the Jagerwirt. We showered and hopped back on the bikes, and had an incredible dinner of smoked trout, venison pate, bread, salad, and apricot dumplings. Got back to our room just as it started to rain again--and Barbara, her husband, and son met us at the gate and invited us to drive with them to Mauthausen for a music festival in the square. We went and enjoyed a rollicking evening of locals dancing to a regional band as well as a visiting group from the southernmost part of Puglia, Italy--where we were last month. Great fun, and totally something we could not have planned.

Bike ferries are a nice alternative to busy bridges.

Love the painted stucco buildings along the Donau in Austria.

People add their own personal touches (such as cowboy boots and cowl neck sweaters) to their traditional regional costumes.

Locals gathered in Mauthausen town square for an outdoor music festival.

Music, dancing, drinking, and eating went on from 7:30 to 10:30 despite a few thundershowers.

Monday, 8 July 2019

Biked 27 miles from Mauthausen, Austria, to Grein, Austria

Accommodations: Maria and Johann Kloibhofer, Private Zimmer, Brucknerstrasse 1, 4360 Grein, +43 (0) 7268 378, ma.kloibhofer@aon.at. Comfortable room with private bath and balcony, 1.3k from Grein town center on the edge of the country. Breakfast included. Nice.

Restaurants: lunch at the Gasthof Parlament, with a wooden pear in the garden (including pear juice with sparkling water from the nearby perry) near Leitzing on the trail, dinner at Gasthof Schinakel on the riverfront in Grein (Donau catfish kebabs with grilled vegetables and potatoes and a salad, Donau fried perch with a salad and vegetables).

A combination of biking along the river and through the farmland. This area is a fertile valley, with hills in the distance. The river enters a steep gorge in Grein, so tomorrow will be a little different terrain again. It has been cooler--in the 70s--today, and cloudy, but no rain. We had a short, steep climb to see the castle and market in Wallsee along the way, and another at the end to get to our room outside of Grein. It was good to remind our legs that they can climb.

Today we felt a little lazy after all the excitement from yesterday, and missed the activity and chatty times with Josh and Meghan. We continue to be surprised at how much every day is different, and how interesting it is to experience it unfolding.

We had read about the perry and restaurant serving fresh pear juice near Leitzing in our guidebook, and were watching out for it when lunch time rolled around. No worries: the official bike trail takes you right through the garden of the restaurant and around the wooden pear; you can't miss it.

Fertile fields and distant hills.

Grein across the river. One more bridge before we are there.

Grein town square.

We have been noticing the bright yellow and orange stucco--brighter colors here than we were seeing yesterday and the day before.