Vienna to Valtice - June 21

June 21

We had decided to catch the train to get us out of the city, and since Tracey is still not 100%, and neither am I, we took it to Ladendorf, about 40km north of Vienna.
After an early rise and brekky of cereal in our hostel we loaded up our trusty bikes once again. It was a cool, fine morning as we headed to the nearby metro station.
We took the metro in to the central station and changed to a regional train. Being Sunday there was no problem getting on the metro with our bikes.
The regional train was almost empty, ran within one minute of schedule, and took about an hour to get to Ladendorf.

Our bikes on the train.

We had bought a good Bikeline map covering our route into the Czech Republic, and we quickly found the bike route.

On the bike route towards the Czech Republic.

We had noticed that there were more wind driven generators in this part of the country than we had seen anywhere before, and we knew what that meant. And of course it was a headwind, quite blustery at times.

Lots of wind turbines.

We bought some fruit at a roadside stall.

Despite the wind it was a beautiful ride, taking us mostly through gently rolling hills and small towns, all very quiet on Sunday. We stopped for coffee at Mistelbach, and a picnic lunch at Poysdorf.

Beautiful countryside.

The roads were relatively quiet so we opted to avoid the bike route in parts, and this worked well.

Getting close to the border.

Everyone we talk to who has travelled in the Czech Republic tells us it is great, so the collective mood was very positive when we reached the border and stopped for the usual celebratory photos. Entering a new country on a bike, having just ridden pretty well from one end to the other of the last country, is a good feeling, and I think we all felt that.

We made it - another country!

I had strapped my camera to a signpost with my Ultrapod for the group photo, then Rod asked me to take a photo with his camera. We had ridden on about 500m when I decided I had better go back and unstrap my camera from the signpost - doh! It was pretty safe, as the road across the border is a very quiet, narrow little road. There were no guards on either side of the border.

We rode on into Valtice and spotted a cafe/restaurant with lots of customers and lots of bikes parked out the front so we went in. The young waiter spoke enough english and they took our euros. A good start.
We had a look in Lonely Planet for accommodation options and found Penzion Prinz, around the corner from the main square and the church and chateau. I was very comfortable and reasonably priced by Austrian standards.

Penzion Prinz - and the church spires in the background.

After dinner at the restaurant we had found earlier I went for a wander through the chateau and its extensive gardens.

The front of the chateau.

Looking back towards the church.

The main entry.

Part of the formal garden area.