11.11pm, Sitting outside David and Val's cabin, talking about the day. Today has to rank as one of the best of not only our trip but also my life! It really was incredible.
We went through a little village and thought what we found was a perfect place to go for our first glass of Wachau wine. However, it wasn't open yet and just up the lane was a church. As we got to it, we started reading a sign about it and found out that it was the site of a pagan sacrifice. Skulls and bodies had been preserved there, and the church warden let us in to see. It was so eerie and quite sad, but an amazing thing to see nonetheless.
We rode on to the next town, which had lots of vineyards and wineries (are they the same thing?!). However, in the Wachau, each vineyard is open to the public for about two weeks a year, and they all rotate so there are always some open. It turned out that one of the ones that had opened that afternoon was right at the top of the hill. As we all began the ride up, it got steeper and steeper and most people got off and pushed. However, if there is one thing that is going to power me up a hill on a bike, it is the promise of wine at the top so I managed to get all the way up still pedalling and found the most beautiful little winery waiting for us.
As it was at the top of the hill, it overlooked miles of rows of grapevines, and was surrounded by other hills and mountains. A really spectacular setting. We all tried a different wine and decided to have lunch here too: meats, cheeses and breads. It was perfect.
The best thing about going up all the hills is going back down them again and, after a couple of glasses of wine, we thought we'd better carry on throughout the wine region. Ten km later and we were just about ready for another glass of wine. This time, we tried a Muskateller that tasted like elderflower and was so good, we all bought a bottle to take with us! We sat in a gorgeous little sunny courtyard, and a random bagpipe player came and played to us. Very bizarre but funny.
Another 10km on and we found a gorgeous sunny garden and played Cheat while sampling more of the local delights. By this point we were in a beautiful little village called Weissenkirchen... and were quite a few wines down so decided to carry on to Krems before we got too wobbly! As we cycled through the village, we had to get off our bikes to push because there were quite a few people in the village square. Nicky was first of us all and, as she tried to negotiate her way through people, someone handed her a glass of wine.
It turned out that a bank was opening (the first in the village), and the street party was to celebrate that. Everyone from the village had turned up, as well as the local wine-maker, the mayor, the bank manager from Krems and lots of other people. Within seconds, literally, it seemed as if we had become guests of honour. The wine-maker, Manfred, took a shine to Nicky and, as he waltzed her around the square, the rest of us were offered food, wine, and were introduced to everyone. Most people only spoke German but, luckily, my German-speaking skills are directly proportionate to how much wine I have drunk so I thought I was fluent and was happy to chat away and translate when needed.
Andy started talking to the local priest, who it turned out had lived in the same town Andy had lived in, in Austria. Before long, he had to go and say mass (the priest, not Andy), but told us if we were still here in an hour, he would give us a tour of the church and show us the view from the clock tower. We said our goodbyes to him, thinking 'Of course we won't be here in an hour.'
Of course, an hour later, we were still there. Charming the bankers, drinking the wine and generally thinking Weissenkirchen was the best place we had been. Ever. Seriously, everyone was so friendly and welcoming, the sun was still out and so warm and the village was the prettiest. After Val had a dance with Manfred, her and David decided to carry on and try and get to the campsite before dark, while the rest of us went to the church to find out if we really could have a tour.
Mass had just ended and so we found the priest (whose name we still don't know!) and went in to the church. It was beautiful. He began to tell us a bit of the history of the church and, as he didn't speak English, Andy and I found ourselves translating words we didn't even realise we knew! Jack, Ally and Ruth all had a go on the organ, which sounded amazing, and then we climbed up the ancient stairs and in to the clock tower. From up here we could see for miles. It was so surreal and we felt really privileged to be up there.
Around 45 minutes after our tour began, we gathered outside to say goodbye and listen to a final, thoughtful prayer in German. We were all kind of awestruck as we cycled off, shouting goodbye to our new friends and promising to come back on the same day next year, 1 June 2013. It's an annual tradition now, apparently!
As we pedalled on to Krems, the sun was going down and we arrived to find that David and Val had sorted us the best spot on the campsite. We had hot goulash soup for dinner and sat around talking about what a ridiculously incredible day it had been. Despite (or because of) the extra 40km!
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