The next day, after looking around the village we headed back up the river to the crossing to ride doen the northern side of the Danube through the Wachau Valley. As we saw from the flood markings on the walls in the village, the river flood often; The bridge was built well above the high water mark and the road up to it was exceedingly stee. We stoppped for a breather half way up and when we restarted Wendy stood on her pedals and the bicycle did not budge, save for a gentle lean downhill as the bike slowly fell over. We walked the last bit and then headd out over the massive waterway that is the Donau at Melk.

Slideshow.

The ride down through the Wachau Valley is stunning, one of the great rides for everyone byt Richard the Lionheart. On his way from the Third Crusade from the Holly Land, his ship was wrecked, and he was forced to take the land route through central Europe. Near Vienna, he was captured by Duke of Austria Leopold V, under the accusations of conspiring for the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat and was taken to Dürnstein Castle, where he was kept for the next few months.

The misdeed of the Austrian Duke and Holly Roman Emperor didn’t stay unpunished, and they were both excommunicated by the Pope, because the imprisonment of a crusader was contrary to the public law. After that, he was handed over to Henry VI, a Holy Roman Emperor who has asked an enormous ransom of 150,000 marks, two or three times the annual income for the English Crown. After collecting ransom money from the confiscated golden and silver treasures of the churches and taxes, Richard the Lionheart was released.

We crossed back over the river at Krems and camped for the night in what appeared to be someones backyard somewhere near Traismauer.