Wednesday Sep 18th - Graz Austria

Rode around Graz searching for the elusive rear view mirror and poncho, thought it might be wise to get some fenders too if i was going to ride along the rivers and they are all flooding… well the first bike shop i went in had the mirror, last one, they sold e-bikes ranging from $2500 to $6500 which was an awesome mountain bike but no poncho no fenders. 

2 other shops had nothing i rode the perimeter of the west and north parts of town, found the river and came back to old town, right in the center was a great shop by the tram and bus central station, yes he had 26” 65 cm fenders 35 euro ok great how much to put them on ? Took him a long time, 65 to install, 100 euro total… lol no way that’s way more than i want to spend…. Yes they had ponchos too, really nice nylon poly ones but 99 euro… so l left there empty handed and then thought well maybe i should just buy the fenders and put them on myself tonight… no i have enough to manage already cooking dinner finishing laundry (one nice thing this air b n b had a wash machine, tho there are no dryers here they have radiators or towel drying racks in the bathrooms). Well i thought I’ll see maybe i won’t really need fenders or a poncho weather report says it’s going to clear up for the next week so let’s get packed get to bed early get an early start tomorrow which is just what i did and now 3 days later i can report happily it looks like I’ll need neither fenders nor a poncho for the next few days. I’m getting caught up on the narrative here, tomorrow next day i will try in earnest go upload some photos. 

Tuesday Sep 17 - Schwarzau im Schwarzaut to Graz Austria

 So with all the rain and the river route Amazon of Europe probably very wet muddy I decided to go up to the city Graz for a couple days then see what options I had. Booked an air b n b near the city center a block from the river it turned out to be very nice. I was the first renter so there were a few loose ends still like there was no hot water how to turn on the water heater,,, but once that was solved it was a good stay. 

Went to grocery got food for 2 dinners and 2 breakfasts at a Spar supermarket by the train station, you never saw so many bikes parked in these elevated racks and on the sidewalks… it was the only store open til 10m good thing i didn’t realize til 830 everything closed at 8, except for this one store, and it was busy. 

So once i cooked dinner had a Radler and a good hot shower had a good nights sleep, slept a long time, tomorrow I’ll take it easy just ride around town figure out where to go from here. 

Beautiful sites in the old city architecture, modern art, trams and people everywhere on bikes walking, a beautiful city with a vibrant buzz of youth and culture. 

Well i thought rather than go south again to the Amazon of Europe tour i would take a train up to my original planned route the EuroVelo 6 Danube trail, but alas, the trains in Austria, owing to all the rain and snow in the mountains, and flooding and mudslides, train service was disrupted on many lines, some with bus replacement, which can’t carry bikes, and the national trail company ÖBB asked people to postpone all non-urgent travel until at least Friday Sep 20. So that’s out… now what? 

Well I have another day/night here so no trouble get a good rest figure it out tomorrow. 

Monday Sep 16 - Maribor Slovenia to Schwarzau im Schwarzaut Austria a rainy adventure

 So I had a great breakfast at Vilaraj north of Maribor and got a good start, the steep climb was a lot of fun coming down just check the brakes a few times be sure i could slow down… mostly descended 12-18 mph and then made the poor decision to go south into town to shop for a rear view mirror and a poncho, mistakenly remembering where the train pulled in was a shopping center, tho my next stop was to the north a ways. Did not find either at the shopping mall so got a sandwich to go and started north into the hills, then it started to rain. 

And the hills got steeper, and the rain was harder and when your hands are wet, and the phone is wet, it doesn’t work for finger controls… so I got off the path spent an hour or so trying to get back on the track. 

Finally decided to make a reservation somewhere on air b n b there was a nice looking place at a good rate log home guesthouse at Schwarzau im Schwarzaut, so I headed there and saw some big hills i had to get off and push just once but once everything was soaked it got a lot heavier a load. I had emailed the host i expected to be there 3-5pm, then again 4-6, then about 5, then well probly 6-7, and i finally arrived 715 lol after she emailed do you need us to come pick you up? 

But everything worked out fine tho i had no dinner didn’t see a grocery store since Sentilj Slovenia, she said there was a good place in Wolfsberg that delivered so i had a nice pasta and salad dinner, and Eva gave me a good bottle of local Austrian beer, had a good hot shower and laid everything out to dry had a good night sleep. 

Catching up Sep 13-17 Munich Germany to Ljubljana Slovenia to Maribor Slovenia

 Well tomorrow is a week since Marian went home, and I haven’t yet started on the rivers routes due to the heavy rains and flooding. Once I got back to Ljubljana from Munich, going through a blizzard type snow storm in the mountains south of Salzburg, got the bike put together but had a problem with the steering cap not fitting right. Went to a shop in Salzburg the guy hammered it on with a metal hammer and screwdriver, lol then said that’s the best i can do there’s a gap… so, once in Ljubljana I looked up a shop looked a little more professional and took it in for a basic check over and the steering tube cap. They said it’s fine just a rubber dust seal missing which they didn’t have but no danger maybe just some dust will get in there. 

So finally Saturday I test rode around Ljubljana a bit with one loaded pannier on and the trunk rack and handlebar bag, seemed to be OK so i bought a ticket for the train to Maribor Sunday, it was about a hundred miles but had a couple big climbs in it i wasn’t confident of riding that far fully loaded so it was a nice train ride I’m glad I took it cuz it rained most of the way. Got to Maribor looked up a place to stay on booking.com one right outside of town 6 km looked good, fair price, well, lol the map didn’t show the near vertical climb of about 150 meters to get up there… now mind this is my first day riding fully loaded too with that extra 50-60 lbs thought I might have the big one lol so I stopped to cool down 3 times but finally made it up there, after 5 though the office was closed and I had no food…

I knocked on the kitchen door and the guy opened it and of course I speak only English he speaks German, some English calls his son over who speaks pretty good English he checked me in I asked for something to eat, anything…. He said maybe there was some soup, I said soup and bread would be great! He showed me where to put my bike in a storeroom, and I carried the 4 bags up the steep stairs to a very nice, very tiny room with a great view of the valley below. A few minutes later here he comes to my door with a big plate of food and bread, veggies and meats left over from the soup, they had a birthday party so his dad cooked a bunch up this was left over and it was delicious! Yup even the chicken very well done, and the sausages also well done… ok so a good shower slept great and next day would head up to Mureck where the Amazon of Europe trail starts on the Mura (or Mur) river. 

More to follow catching up tomorrow, it’s bedtime and I need an early start tomorrow a long way to go on the gravel trail alongside the Mur, oh, I’m in Graz since yesterday, it’s about 40 miles north of Mureck so i hope to make it at least there tho 120 miles the last 4 days legs are a bit tired I’m not yet rounded into shape. 

Next couple days I’ll work on getting some photos posted, they’re all on ICloud and this blog is on Google… 

Catching up Aug 26-Sep 2

 Well I’m catching up here after a week and a day… after a rest day in Munich we took the train to Salzburg which we enjoyed very much. Our air bnb was on a quiet street Nonntaler hofstrasse with a bakery next door, a coffee shop a block or two away, and two nice casual restaurants. The main plazas around the river and fortress were very crowded w tourists from all over. We took the funicular up to the fortress for a chamber music concert atop the fortress at night the fortress itself was like a city on the inside just huge 6 stories of living rooms and everything needed to be self contained. The concert was quite good played with the windows open looking down on the lights of the city against the mountains in the background and also a cool breeze came in the windows. They played two encores to end with a standing ovation. I’ll post pics when I get that sorted out… 

We then took the train through Austria to Slovenia and 4 days in Ljubljana which truly is a magical and lovely city. Sustainable at every turn, water you could drink out of all the fountains you come across, and the river walks on both sides of the rivers full of shops and outdoor cafes. We took the little electric train tour around town n up to the castle, past the architect plezic? Who was the main architect of Prague and vienna  as well, he created long stretches of bench type steps on the sides of the river for people to bath and sun and enjoy the river for picnics and whatever. There were numerous spontaneous concerts and marching bands popping up time to time, and the church bells ringing to tell the time. We were able to walk everywhere we needed to go the pedestrian zone was quite large and even outside of the pedestrian zone it was very pleasant to walk the wide sidewalks and narrow cobbled streets. 

We rented a car got a nice Mercedes B180 hybrid and drove here to Pula, another ancient Roman city, with the best preserved of the remaining arenas, which we toured this morning, as well as the temple of Augustus and just old Roman ruins here and there about town. Another very walkable city our apartment tho on the 3rd floor 36 steps up, is right on the main walking strand in the pedestrian zone, so many bakeries, shops and places to eat outside our door. The port is at the end of the street with a cooling breeze off the Adriatic, good thing because it is hot hot hot..no wonder the Roman’s had air conditioning … we are happy to have it too! 

Tomorrow we will drive south to Skradin, which is close to Krka National park, famous for waterfalls and swimming, boating. And also near to beaches of the Adriatic, so for two days it’s nature n water, then we will be to Sevid for two days Oceanside and more beach time… more to follow and pics as well.

Getting ready to go

 First tho a few days at the farm and another 12 days til we fly. Haven’t yet decided on the bike should i take it on the plane or ship it, more research needed. Also same for bike gear extra bag wont really need it for the first 18 days. OK we the real purpose of this post is to try out my iPad with keyboard and it’s working fine i think that is what i will take with me typing much faster this way. O

Hey I’m back !

 9 years since last posts, but I’ll be starting up again, as I am finally going to get my first Europe tour this September/October.