Long delayed update

21/07/09 Epinal to Fouchy

The heat returns - one temperature sign showed 37c at 1 pm. I suspect that was exaggerated, but we are back to consuming 2-3 litres of water per day. We stayed close to the forest for today's ride to benefit from the shade. We ended up on some interesting roads, including unsealed and very steep. It was a good workout after the last few days of valley and rolling roads.

After crossing the hills of the Vosges, we stopped at the first Logis hotel we came across - it was almost time for the Tour stage to finish. The hotel wasn't offering it's usual menu that evening - instead it was a 12euro guinguette with ham and salads a go-go, drinks and desserts extra. The food was excellent - like a pot luck picnic but prepared by professionals. . It's a regular Tuesday night thing for them, and it attracted more than 140 people from the surrounding villages. It was a great event - the music got people dancing, with lots of happy kids running around. Near as we could tell, we were the only non-French attendees - It's the sort of evening you'd seek out if you knew how to find it. We stretched the budget and had 2 half-litre jugs of Cote d'Rhone at 2.20 euros each, and we had 3 desserts between us.

22/07/09 Fouchy to Barr

The purpose of today's ride was to get us close enough to Strasbourg so that on Thursday we could get there in the morning to disassemble the tandem. We had were thinking about Rosheim on the river Bruche, but we liked the look of Barr when we passed through, so we stopped early and found a Chambre d'Hote through the tourist office. Since the hostess was out shopping and wouldn't be home for a few hours, we left the luggage with the women at the tourist office and did a circuit without baggage to Mt St Odile, a former abbey on the top of a 600m hill. The view was magnificent and the buildings impressive. The most impressive thing though, was that the hotel and restaurant run by the abbey are dirt cheap - a double room with WC down the hall was 32euros! The major part of the hotel was being rebuilt, so it might have been a construction-time special. Whether it would have been worth hauling the luggage up that hill to stay there is another question.

We dined on the terrace outside a winestub and had escargot and sandre (fish) in riesling sauce, kugelhof glace for dessert and a bottle of bubbly - Cremant d'Alsace.

23/07/09 - Barr to Strasbourg

We're used to the French weather being relatively stable - you don't very often get the four-seasons-in-one-day effect we love in New Zealand. Today was an exception with overnight thunder and rain at Barr, a bright sunny morning, then a torrential downpour in Strasbourg just as we had ducked into a cafe for lunch. The bike disassembly went smoothly but drew the usual crowd of gawkers. The poor bike was filthy dirty after the rain and occasional dirt roads - thank goodness for Singapore airlines socks - perfect bike cleaning mitts.

Dinner was at another winstub, just around the corner of Crocodil - our favourite Michelin star restaurant (though they've lost their 3rd star in recent years.) It was closed for remodeling - not that we could have afforded to eat there now! The winstub was very busy while most others were quiet, so we must have chosen the right one. Norm had pork knuckle with choucroute and sauteed potatoes and mille feuille of red fruits, while Vee had rabbit en cocotte with a yummy game sauce and tart myrtille. Talk about Bluetooth (or blue teeth!)

24/07/09 - Strasbourg to Vilshofen

A short night as we had to catch the TGV to Charles de Gaulle airport at 06:11. If only all travel could be as simple as this! We arrived 30 minutes before departure, rolled up to the train at 05:55 and stacked our suitcase and panniers in the luggage racks and relaxed into our reclining seats. Espresso from the bar car and a smooth ride at TGV speeds.

Then, of course, we arrived at the airport! It wasn't easy to find the right check-in desk and when we did, two agents were handling all the check-ins for an Airbus 318, including 8 seriously disabled passengers in wheelchairs. Add to that a two-hour delay while the plane was replaced due to a fault and busing us around the airport to another gate and a missed train to Vilshofen because of traffic delays on the transfer bus and we arrived in Vilshofen to find our room had been given to someone else. We wangled another room and we are now comfortably showered and looking forward to dinner at a nearby biergarten.

SANTANA Vacations Danube Cruise

This will be a holiday from our holiday. Instead of having to repack our stuff everyday and carry it all on the bike, we will be safely ensconced for a full week in the cabin of the Amadeus Royal, a river cruising hotel by Luftner Cruises which will follow us down the Danube. Each day will offer a choice of easy rides down by the river, or harder rides through nearby hills. We'll opt for the hilly rides whenever we can so we can spend time with our friend Wolfgang, who plans the hard rides.

All meals are provided on the boat - breakfast and lunch are buffet, while dinner is sit-down-and-order, but in informal style. They offer lots of choices at each meal and wine and beer are included. The days start early and formalities finish early, though the bar will remain open until the last passengers stumble off to bed.

As usual, the Santana group will be an assortment of a few serious riders, a few long-time touring riders, and the balance will be social riders who do a few kms each day, but hit all the shops and cafes along the way while showing off fancy bikes and equipment. Our is not THE cheapest and oldest tandem, but we're not far from it. Still, I reckon ours has done as many kms as any on the trip.

25/07/09 Vilshofen to Passau

No cycling today, just bike assembly in the morning, a spot of shopping, and then down to the dock to await the arrival of the river cruise boat Amadeus Royal and the Santana cycle tour. The tour started in Prague with bus transport to Vilshofen with a stop for lunch at the Pilsner Urquell Brewery. The boat was early - arriving before midday - and the buses were late - arriving 2 hours after the scheduled time of 2.15 pm. Then it was bike assembly on a grand scale with 68 tandems needing to be assembled on the top deck of the boat. Bill & Jan McCready, owners of Santana, had a team of experienced tandem hands to help the owners with
assembly, so Norm did just a bit of dirty work while Vee chatted with various fellow travellers. Drinks and Bavarian snacks were served in the Panorama Bar at the pointy end, then dinner at the square end. Food and wine were good but not exceptional, but we met more of our companions and a jolly time was had. The boat cabins are well equipped, functional and comfortable - a good place to unpack our gear, hang things on hangers, and not have to repack for a week.

It was particularly good to see Wolfgang again after several years - he is working as hard as ever but still looks dangerously fit. Tomorrow will tell the tale - he will lead the long riders up a few hills away from the river.

26/07/09 Passau to Linz

Early start - as will become normal - Generous breakfast buffet. The majority of riders choose the shorter option which is all along the river, while we opt for the Wolf Pack - stronger riders who follow Wolfgang over the hills. Another big buffet for lunch, though we had to bolt it as we arrived a bit late. The afternoon was not so hilly and we met up with some non-Tour friends of Wolfgang who live in Linz and gave us a quick tour of the hillier parts of town, followed by ice cream in the platz in in front of the "new" church - 1830.

Just time to shower and change before dinner which is ordered at the table. Good but not star-quality food and lots of it. The bar is quite expensive, so we just hang out unless Robert is buying!

27/07/09 Linz to Vienna

Another frantic breakfast and it's off with the Wolf Pack again. Slightly steeper and much faster ride today with 10 instead 8 tandem teams of yesterday. Another bolted lunch when Bill calls for Wolf Pack to be ready in 10 minutes. We are last to leave, so we get slightly lost and refound before trying to catch Wolfgang - a hopeless cause. We pause at the bottom of the hill below Aggstein Castle which Wolfgang and Pack were visiting in the shade of a cafe. As soon as the drinks arrive, so does Wolfgang. 8 km race to the Spitz ferry before most of the tandems opt for the short ride while we enjoy a great climb and downhill into Krems for wine apertif in a 1000 year old cellar. We buy a bottle of Grunver Veltner for enjoyment in our cabin.

Norm did the wages before dinner, thinking we'd get to McDo to use the wifi - however, the boat departed before dinner. We paid almost 10 euros to use the ship's very slow internet to do the business, then look at Wolfgang's photos of his house in the Italian lakes.

28/07/09 layover in Vienna

Grace matinee while the majority of riders bus to the Schonbrunn Palace for the Marionetten Theatre. It's not as corny as it sounds, but Norm has been to three performances with AYH groups, so we opt to cycle into the city and book some opera tickets. The Stadt Oper is, of course, quiet in the summer, but we found a performance of Zeller's "The Bird Seller" at the Palace Theatre which is a delightful romantic comedy and the singing and music were wonderful. We took tram and Underground to and from the opera, arriving back for the end of the Kareoke and pyjama party which suffered by comparison.

29/07/09 Vienna to Komerom

The day started with a 15 km ride on an island in the Danube without cars - a veritable bicycle motorway, followed by a detour to the ancient village of Bad Deutsch Altenburg. A 2000 year old arched gate set against a backdrop of 21st century windmills - no offended sensibilities here!

The lunch boat was at nearby Hainburg - a welcome respite from the 33c heat! After lunch we visited the rest of the historic monuments in town before departing on the easy bike path along the river to Brataslava, a Communist showplace of dreary housing towers and abandoned buildings. We had a beer and ice cream in the leafy cobblestoned lanes while waiting for the boat to catch up. We would have had time for a stroll after dinner, but the air conditioned cabin was too tempting. The boat sailed for Komerom at 11.00 pm.

30/07/09 Komerom to Visegrad

The Wolf Pack was swollen to 15 tandems, but it was only a short jaunt to morning coffee at Tata, at the foot of a lake over which loomed the Esterhazy Palace. We pushed ahead of the group with three other tandems and climb three good hills before lunch at Estergom. The villages remind us of France 30 years ago, with very modest houses and small shops and cafes. Lunch stop is shortened by the boat we are rafted to, so we hurry off the boat to join the Wolfpack at the magnificent Basilica. After enjoying the coolth of the church for longer than strictly necessary, it's an easy ride along the river to Visegrad. Before dinner we are marched to "Solomon's Tower" for a medieval tournament and everyone has a go with the weapons. Norm was relegated to the chair of nails, as if being Bill's friend for 45 years wasn't torture enough! A good time had by all, followed by the usual dinner at the more civilised hour of 8.00 pm.

31/07/09 Visegrad to Budapest

No long ride option today. The first segment is 8 km to a ferry crossing where only one boat was operating instead of the promised two, so it took nearly an hour to get everyone across. We were in the second to last boat and enjoyed the company of some of the slower riders for the first time. The morning beer stop was at Szentendre for a poke around the tourist shops before the ride into Budapest with a local guide to help us with the twists and turns. We were the red lantern for our group and kept having to stop for a team from Canada who had trouble with the bumpy surface and tight manoevering, another team that dropped their timing chain three times before allowing Norm to readjust it, and the couple test-riding Bill's top-of-the-line tandem who suffered a puncture. A bit annoying for the guide, but it allowed us plenty of time to enjoy the view.

A nice long nap in the afternoon was followed by a folklore music & dance performance in Budapest - very athletic performance and a short walk for Vee & Norm around the parliament buildings and basilica before dinner.

Sorry we haven't posted any photos for a while - that will have to wait until we next have a free or cheap wifi connection.