Spitz, Lower Austria, Austria
I awoke at 5am and couldn’t get back to sleep. In Vienna, I had listened to the news on my ABC app, but without wifi...well, at least I could work on my blog! We met for breakfast at 8am, and then prepared for a big day of hiking. I felt so professional with my new backpack and 2-litre water bladder with a tube that comes through a hole in the pack and sits over your shoulder so that you can easily access it whenever you wish. It’s just a pity that, despite a quick rinse, the water tasted like plastic! Hopefully, after a few uses, the awful taste will dissipate!
It was 10am when we left the village square, after having a quick look inside the church just as the congregation were exiting. The first part of our 3.5-hour walk to the village of Weissenkirchen takes one up....and up and up. But then there were some gentle undulations and easy sections. A good deal of the first part of the walk was shaded by tall trees through which we could look down on the river and townships below. An clearing finally afforded us an unimpeded view — time for a photo stop.
Three minutes after the 3.5-hour mark (the timing clearly didn’t allow for photographs or for stopping to look at a little green lizard or yellow butterfly!), we reached the village market place. The plan was to find a way for Hermann to catch a train or bus back to Spitz and then come back in his car to collect the rest of us. As Gitti and Hermann had seen the church situated high up on a rock, accessed by a long flight of covered timber stairs, they decided to proceed to the railway station whilst we checked out the church. We agreed that they should find their way back to Spitz by whatever means they could, and that we would meet them at the station. When we got to the station and checked out the timetable, we discovered that only three trains run each day, and that the one had been scheduled to depart 15 minutes earlier. As there was no sign of Gitti and Hermann, we concluded that they had either just made the train or had headed off in search of the bus stop. As planned, we waited there for them, and just over half an hour later, they drove up in their car.
It turns out that when they had reached the station, they had assumed they had missed the train by one minute. But then someone then told them that it was actually running late. And then they heard the whistle blow. If it weren’t for the fact that the train was running two minutes behind schedule, they would have missed it! The next one was due three hours later.The bus, that runs every hour) would have been the next option, or we would all have had to walk the 6 kilometres back along the bike/walking track by the river.
Our next destination was the village of Dürnstein, above which lie the ruins of the castle in which Richard the Lionheart was once imprisoned. The climb up to the castle was quite strenuous, and so I was happy to stop and read the information boards along the way. We explored every nook and cranny of the ruins, including a prison cell which, we assume, was where good King Richard was locked up until his release was finally negotiated.
The village of Dürnstein is small and very pretty. We wandered through the main street and then returned to the car via a bike/footpath that runs next to the river.
Back at our hotel, we freshened up and then strolled into the village for dinner at the heurige (this time we had wisely booked a table the night before). Michael and I had taken our iPads, just in case the heurige had a wifi connection — such excitement when we found that it did and we could at last reconnect with the world! We downloaded our emails and sent a few brief messages to family. After a delicious meal of cold meats, fresh bread and various other tasty foods, including vegetables in aspic, we headed home, well and truly ready for a good night’s sleep.
Carina
2018-07-18
Magnificent place.
Debbie
2018-07-18
Looks like you had another big day Merrilly, great scenery. Hopefully we might get to Durnstein to see where Richard was imprisoned. Look forward to your next instalment. Xx
claire
2018-07-18
Fantastic effort. The water bladder is what saved us in Cinque Terra as it was sooo hot. I had not been very supportive of the idea but was incredibly thankful that Shane was carrying it and the water was perfect - so persist with rinsing it. x
Ian
2018-07-18
It is now Wednesday evening back in Adelaide. I am not sure that I am still travelling with the bus, as I have not received any photos or narratives since Sunday 15 July. And I am unsure if my responses for each day the bus is travelling are reaching you.
melandmic
2018-07-19
I’m runnng behind with my blogging — too busy having experiences to find time to write about them! I’m doing my best though. I’m really appreciating all of the comments — yours are being recorded, Dad — thank you, (Thank you for the tip, Claire — as yet, I haven’t needed to use the water bladder again, but will no doubt require it again on this trip.) xxx
Lynne
2018-07-21
Hi. It's Saturday night in Adelaide so I'm catching up with you. Wow. It all looks so great and so many historical places to check out. I didn't make it up to Adelaide last week for the Impressionists Exhibition but I am going up by bus early Monday morning. It will be the last week for the exhibition so at least I will see it. Cheaper to go to Adelaide than to see the art in Paris!! Hopefully I'll be able to get back to "work" in a few weeks. Have been going somewhat stir crazy with not being able to drive to go out (although I can now with the plaster off) and not even being able to catch up with my knitting. I'll give that a go in a few weeks too. After I get back from Adelaide I'll catch up on all your adventures but what on earth is a water bladder??? A new form of water bottle or something really high tech. And re Debbie's comment on 18 July is that referring to Richard the Lionheart and where he had to get be ransomed from which jumped out from my passion for English history.
Tracy
2018-07-23
Such wonderful history to explore but all sounds a little energetic to me! Glad that you finally found wifi - amazing how dependent we have become these days