Wobbling Winos: Day 35 - Vienna to Riedling-Sitzenberg.

Day 35. Vienna to Sitzenberg-Reidling. 70 km, 4:16.

We made our way in beautiful weather through the streets of Vienna to the Euro Velo 6 Danube cycling track with ease. Fortunately we had a good map and map reader, who was on top form, aka Ian, for the exit from Vienna. We were sad to leave this beautiful city but were looking forward to spending some time cycling next to the impressive Danube river.

We cycled out of Vienna along the Danube canal. This then joins the Danube River proper. It is a beautiful expanse of green water that makes it's way lazily towards the Black Sea.

The Euro Velo 6 is well sign posted and took us along the banks of this magnificent river 90% of the time. For the rest we cycled on quiet roads that wound through small villages. By 9:00 we started to see more cyclists, mostly going in the opposite direction. As this is a very flat route, there were people of all ages, shapes and sizes just having fun cycling.

There are cafes all along the way where one can stop for a breather and something to eat and drink. We had a picnic on the banks of the river, listening to the cacophony of birdsong in the forest nearby. Everything is so laid back and relaxed.

We turned off at Tulln where we popped into the Tourist Info to pick up a brochure on the Euro Velo 6. The brochure has good information on accommodation, restaurants and interesting sights along the way. We have booked our accommodation a week in advance now, as things are starting to fill up, due to a number of cycling companies that book up a lot of the accommodation well in advance.

Our accommodation for tonight is at Gasthof Schmit in Sitzenberg-Reidling, 8 km off the route. This quaint little village is at the start of the winelands along the Danube. Ahrenburg Kellergasse is 3 km out of Sitzenberg-Reidling; here there are a few heurigen where one can buy a glass of wine and eat typical Austrian fare, cold meat platters, cheese and pâtés all locally produced. We ended up going to Heuriger Familie Gramer where we tasted Gruner Veltliner, Riesling and Zwieglert which is a surprisingly good red wine.

Each wine farm has a set period when they take a turn to run a heurigen, so for example there will be a different winery running a heurigen in May, June and July. We just loved the ambience while we sipped wine and tasted the typical Austrian cuisine of the region with the farm lands as a back drop.

A walk around the lake before dinner took us through a small forest where there were swarms (not sure what a collective noun of frogs is) of little frogs in our path. It looked like a plaque of locusts!

Dinner was on the stoep of Gasthaus Schmidt. We had a pleasant evening chatting to some Dutch cyclists who had cycled from Budapest to Vienna.