Cicov to Sturovo 85km

The pension last night was lovely and thankfully I had a great breakfast before leaving. It was a long ride today, with a mixture of levee riding and road riding. Some of the surfaces were very rough including some not so fun gravel at the start. I stopped a couple of times for a drink, once accepting help from a local who filled my water bottle. The cute caravan had cold coca-cola and that was just what I needed for the last 30km given food was non-existent apart from a banana and a gluten free madeleine.

I booked some swanky wellness campground and I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s a wellness hotel, with a hostel and campground, pools, eating outlets, swimwear, activities and people everywhere! I’m pretty tired and ahead of schedule so thinking of a rest day here tomorrow. The town looks lovely as does Esztergom across the river. 

Bratislava to Cicov 80km

After a quiet night in the very basic campground, we headed off reasonably early and managed to circumvent the hills to get back on the Danube. Tom cycles quite a bit quicker than me, so after navigating out of town, he headed off for our destination. My lack of phone service meant I was navigating by very limited signage for the EV6 here in Slovakia. There is a distinct difference in the amount of signage and quality of the cycle paths here in Slovakia compared to Austria. There was a gravel section today that was completely unrideable, so I rode the road, as I’m sure many others do. Again, the levee riding gets quite monotonous, especially doing 80km, full sun, no respite. I ended up being slightly misplaced but managed to get back on track by hot spotting my phone from my iPad. I’m in a hotel tonight so looking forward to a decent sleep.  

Vienna to Bratislava 78km

It was a lovely day cycling out of Vienna although navigating out of big cities is always stressful. I’m still riding with Tom, so thankfully he did the navigating to get us back on the Danube and did an excellent job. The levee riding is very safe but it does get monotonous after a while as there is not respite from pedalling or the sun. 

I crossed into my sixth country today, Slovakia. Unfortunately. My phone does t work here so I have limited internet access until I hit Hungary. The old border crossing buildings still stand. 

Bratislava has a lovely old town. Unfortunately, I’m camping five kilometres out of town and up a hill so I had limited time to see the city. 

Vienna

After a pretty rough night with restless legs and tummy discomfort, Tom and I headed out reasonably early to see as much as we could of Vienna for our rest day, despite the rain. We had a fabulous breakfast at Das Vivet with lots of GF options! Fabulous food and great service. We used a combination of the tourist bus and the metro to see as much as possible. Then back the Gasthaus Zum Wohl for an early dinner. 

Krems to Vienna 82km

The ride from Krems to Vienna today was mostly beside the Danube swapping from the north and south banks. This meant the ride was relatively flat which was a good thing as I’m suffering from severe stomach cramps. I suspect an issue with contaminated water/water bottles again so made sure I used the product Susanne helped me purchase in Ulm, to wash the bottles before refilling, this time with bottled water. 

Tom did the navigating today and did a superb job as once we hit Vienna, the capital of Austria, things got a little spicy with road crossings, and a multitude of bike paths. We eventually made it to the accommodation and once settled, headed out for food. We were both starving hungry as it was past 4pm and the last time I’d eaten was breakfast! We found a dedicated gluten free restaurant with GF beer! Yay, finally! The food was delicious.