Day 15: Surrounded by capitals

Tulln to Hainburg (80km)

All the yachts were firmly looked and secured this morning, so alas, it was back to the kayak for me. My aim for the day was a trip longest of 80km, through Vienna, to the very outskirts of Austria and the town of Hainburg.

The route into Vienna was quite slow due to a lock, but as the city approached, the current slowly rose. Paddling through Vienna was cool, it was a beautiful day and the sun glistened off the impressive shore line buildings. Vienna is not completely built around the Danube which means that you don’t quite get a full perspective of the beauty of the city from the river, but it was still pleasant as I swiftly passed through.

Almost immediately after Vienna is lock Greifenstein, from my maps I couldn’t quite tell how I was supposed to navigate past this lock. As I drew closer, it became even less clear. All the signs were indicating for people to go to the right but that side had steep concrete sides for about 2km leading up to the lock. I stopped at the last possible spot that I’d be able to get the kayak out, tied it to a rock and went off to investigate. I walked for ages to reach the lock, then around it, still unsatisfied about the route, I crossed over the bridge to check out the other side. I eventually found a suitable place to remove the kayak from the water and a path that lead down passed the lock and back into the river, by this time I was at least 30 minutes’ walk from the kayak. It was a hot day and the walk back was painfully unrequired.  When I was about half way back, I thought I spotted, in the distance, that the kayak was drifting away from the side. I increased my pace to a jog, before briefly concluding that it wasn’t the kayak but simply a bottle that was floating in the river. I retracted back to a walk for a few minutes before ultimately realising that it was the kayak floating blissfully down the river. When I called the trip the ‘JOG to the Black Sea’, I explicitly outlined that there would be no jogging involved, yet here I was, once again running down the bank of the Danube, plotting my entry into the river to retrieve my wayward vessel. I got in line with the kayak which had fortunately not drifted too far from the side, removed everything except my shorts, climbed down the ladder and plopped into the river. The heat combined with my jog meant that the cool river was actually quite pleasant, I quickly retrieved the kayak and pulled it back to the side. Climbing out the water, I was met by some bemused passers-by, who hadn’t seen the whole event and must have assumed that I either went for a swim or had fallen in and someone removed my shoes, t-shirt and phone before I did so. I dragged the kayak back up to where I’d initially left it, cursing the rock that was staring at me with blameless ignorance despite its clear incompetence. This is now the third time I have had to jump in and rescue the kayak, it is becoming a real nuisance, if it happens again, I may decide to leave it and swim the rest of the way.

This debacle took a long time, it was now 3pm and I still had 39km to go to Hainburg. Fortunately, the lock, as they always do, produced a good current. I had also been promised by the Austrian guys that the section from Vienna to Bratislava was one of the fastest sections on the whole river. This proved absolutely true and I flew to Hainburg, arriving around 6pm. The section was very enjoyable, not just for the speed but also because the river was lined with little huts, used for fishing I believe, that varied in quality and style. Every hundred metres or so, there was a wee hut, every one different and every one with its own charm.

Hainburg is the last town in Austria before the Slovakian border, but it already had a very Slovakian feel to it. As far as I could tell, everyone was speaking Slovakian and even some of the signs seemed to have changed language. I will most probably be staying here tomorrow as well to stock up before I continue east. Austria has been amazing, the people I’ve met have been incredibly kind and the scenery across the whole country was spectacular. I am a little apprehensive about what the next countries will bring, but one thing I’m certain off, is that they will bring plenty of adventures on this winding river.

NB: The dates at the top of each blog post are correct. I am struggling to find the internet and energy to regularly update the site, as you can see, this post was from August 16th, so I am considerably far behind. I will be posting an account of each day, but patience will be required. If patience isn’t one of your virtues or if you are simply curious to see where I am now, then you can see my exact whereabouts on the map on the home page. I’ll be updating this almost every day, so if you don’t mind spoilers, then this is the place to go. Also I’ve not been great at responding to comments on here, but I am reading and appreciating them all, so please keep them coming 🙂