Day 11: Grein to Krems – 83.2k, 272m climbed

As promised, Bernard got his second ferry ride in two days before we’d even turned a pedal – the dock was directly in front of our campsite:

As luck would have it, the ferry had just arrived and we were the 11th bike in the queue; the maximum was 12:

The skipper took my €4.40 (as he was manoeuvring the craft into the river – I’m sure he knew what he was doing), and we were off:

Guillaume put his feet up today: there really wasn’t much for him to do with signage this good:

Highlights included a peaceful first hour or so on the south bank:

Which we shared with walkers, mobility scooter users and roller bladers, while a speedboat whizzed by on the river:

I admired this triple-purpose bridge at Ybbs:

As well as carrying traffic over the river, it also generates hydroelectric power, and allows the passage of freight barges and cruise ships. I can’t overstate how huge these locks are:

And speaking of engineering, I loved this helter-skelter style ramp to take cyclists up to the next bridge (although we didn’t get a chance to use it):

There were lots more flood defences, and I couldn’t help but feel for the people whose homes happen to be outside the protective walls.

Plus, I was intrigued by these high sections – what’s the point of them? Especially bearing in mind that the river is flowing away from me in this picture. I can’t figure it out – if anyone knows, do please explain:

In most guidebooks, the architectural highlight of this stretch of the river would be the abbey fortress of Melk. Ours describes it as ‘possibly Lower Austria’s finest monastery church’, with an interior that is ‘baroque gone barmy’:

Its vast scale is hard to appreciate from close up:

But Guillaume had had the foresight to route us along the north bank beforehand:

Although personally, I preferred the 12th century Schloss Schönbühel just downriver. The onion-domed tower smacks of a new owner wanting to make his mark:

Speaking of castles, this ruin on the hillside above Durnstein’s unusual church was once the Kuenringerburg, where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned in 1192. Come for the pedalling, stay for the Plantagenet history:

Team Bernard’s explorations in food and drink continued with this poppyseed-stuffed Mohn Beugel – pretty good, but not a patch on yesterday’s croissant:

This wood-smoked fish stall was both pungent and popular, but I wasn’t tempted:

Guillaume was a little distracted by this sign:

And indeed between Melk and Krems – an area known as the Wachau – we cycled through a lot of vineyards:

The harvest can’t be far off:

And there were orchards among the vines, growing plump red apples and the apricots for which the area is also famous: word of the day – Marille:

So when I saw this tiny stall outside a house, I couldn’t resist;

Plenty of competition for Sign of the Day. This detailed schematic of cycle path river crossings (both bridges and ferries) won the Most Informative category: