Friday July 26, Aggsbach Markt

It's apricot season on the Danube

Yesterday we had a change of plans, as often happens to us on the road. Realised that we are in the second heatwave of this summer which will continue for a few more days, and we needed to find somewhere that  we could get some shade and electricity. Flagged the ride yesterday and continued along the Danube to check out a few possible sites, and found a wee gem. It is a Stellplatz which has electricity and all facilities for waste….and we have a great spot underneath a shady tree…and all comes for €13 a night. It is directly on the river where we can watch all the river boats passing by, the bike path is right beside us and there is a small sandy beach. Couldn’t be better. Have decided to spend four days here when hopefully the weather will be a bit cooler.

Ended up having a rather lazy day yesterday, swimming in the river and enjoying the breeze under the trees. I walked into the little village which has a rather nice small grocery store and picked up some buns and ham for lunch.

Today we got the bikes out and had a really nice ride to Melk. This area grows a lot of apricots and we bought some directly from the farmer who had a tractor and trailer beside the road, just so sweet and juicy.

There are a lot of river cruise boat passing by and couldn’t believe it when we got to Melk, where nine boats were pulled up beside the town. They were double “parked”!!!. This is a very popular tourist spot with the 11^th century Abbey being the real draw card. We decided to give it a miss, especially with the temperatures once again well over 30 degrees.

Turned around and headed back to camp, although did feel we needed (and deserved) a cold beer  at a café on the way home – just to rehydrate!!! We have actually been drinking lots of water, it’s the best way to deal with the heat.

More swims this afternoon, the water is quite fresh but it helps to cool the body down. Understand the temperatures in northern Germany, France and Holland have even been much higher, breaking all sorts of records, so guess we can be thankful of where we are.

The grassed area beside the camp, great spot to catch
a bit of breeze.

This morning after some neighbours moved out,
but it wasn't long before the spots were full again.

Great bike path

The Melk Abbey

Just so many river boats lining up to visit Melk.