Day One
We started after lunch on the Wednesday the 10th, because it was steadily raining. It had been all morning. It was also the coldest day this summer. It had been forecast to clear around 11am. So at around 2pm we gave up waiting and committed to a short sprint down the hill to the nearest railway station where we caught a local train to the main station for a train to Bruck an der Leitha. This place is just west of Leithagebirge, a small mountain range to the west of Neusiedler See. Neusiedler is a massive stepp lake 35km long, 10 to 15km wide but only 1 to 2m deep. So shallow it freezes over winter. No river drains the lake and it is fed by a couple of small rivers, including the Leitha river. This is the lake that is visible from the air when flying into Vienna. The southern section is actually in Hungary. It is where Susanna learnt to skate and much later, sail a boat. It is a Ramsar listed wetland, one third covered in reeds and has around 350 different species of bird life.
Half an hour later, we are at the Bruck an der Leitha station. It is still raining.
It is still raining!
We make the decision to continue to cross the Leitha mountain range for the views (if any) and to keep warm then ride along the round the lake cycleway to where we were staying, at the Haus Im See. We head towards the higher ground and the bitumen gives way to gravel and finally a boom gate with signs in both German and English explaining that the military are testing live ammunition in the area. We retreat back to the flat ground and the sealed road and continue south to find another route across the range. We find it a little later and while the road had fast traffic, the climb was no worse than the hill here.
Back on the main cycleway, we pass vineyards and flat cropland. Note the sunflowers' bowed heads.
The rain finally stops about half an hour before we get to the lake houses. The roofs are thatched, the vertical piles are concrete, everything else of timber and the boardwalk over the water about 500m long - the resturant for the accommodation was at the end.
Susanna posing infront of the reed beds, and ready for dinner.
Day Two
We had two nights booked here, so the second day was always going to be easier, flatter and no panniers.
Overcast but no rain.
View to the left of our accommodation.
After a late breakfast, we rode back up a causeway out of the reeds to the main town of Fertorakos then north into Austria and to Morbisch am See along another causeway through the reeds to a port where we caught the ferry to the other side.
Most of the ferries are set up for cyclists with a structure built out over the stern for easy bike parking. It is a gentle slow half hour to the over side to explore the National park, lots of flat pathway and numerous lookouts and bird hides.
This was the most spectacular;
and the view from the top.
This is very flat, very fertile country.
We continue along the lake cycleway through Hungary.
Above, the Turkish tower in Pamhagen where we had a very late lunch. . . of Hungarian Gulash, napkin on the right. The invading Turks rewarded the hospitable locals (who fed them well and generously) by informing future Turkish invaders that the town had already been looted so protecting them from future harressment. That is why there is a star and cresent at the top. |
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We had coffee and cake at Fertod where Count Miklos Esterhazy built his 'versailles', Esterhazy Palace. Susanna with a statue of the musician/composer, Joseph Haydn for Esterhazy, in the gardens.
Yes, this is hemp, a whole field of it.
Just some funky Hungarian arthitecture and a very well timed drinking water foundtain.
This area is famous for storks but this was the first nest we have seen in the area.
With the time passing on, we continue along rolling hills until we make it to the western shore and the cycleway heads away from the flats and into the hillier vineyards. Nasty short sharp climbs but magnificent views.
And back home for dinner.
