We had, well, right off the bat, a crusade of cruise ships leaving and coming from somewhere up and down stream. Melk is a beautiful city that we didn't visit, but I'm sure all the people on the cruise ships, which run about 4000 bucks a week, had an excellent time.
The boats followed in line up and down the river separated by only a few kilometers. And not only that, but there were barges, tug boats, ferries, and recreation vehicles... and then us. We were slooshin and sloshin and splashing and rockin, all up and down that river. In the middle of it all I managed to blow a kiss to a rich blonde woman hangin off the side of the top deck of the cruise ship. She blew one back, which gave me the strength to paddle the next 65km through the most beautiful country we have seen yet.
I can't recall the mountain range but its spectacular. Its between Melk and Vienna... maybe Spitz or Krems. Yeah that's it. Its wine country with beautiful castles. And if it wasn't for our lofty goal of paddling 175km in 3 days, we would have stopped for sure and bought some wine.
But the show must go on. It was breath taking beauty and I'll definitely be back here.
We stopped later on for some pizza and 'almdudler' which is an herbal lemonade from this region... refreshing, cool, smooth, yet tingly and mild.
This gave us the strength to finish the day with an hour long double portage. I don't even want to explain what that means, but it sucks.
After the dam, John and I talked about if we want to paddle 2 more hours, find camp, paddle tomorrow, till what time, blah blah blah, then we heard someone yell, 'you speak English?!' We said "yeah!" this was all coming from the dark, as it was 10pm by now. They yelled "come grab some fish and wine!".... "okay!"
The voices came from 2 other kayakers doing the same trip. The were catching fish and drinking wine. We talked about our journeys and how were going to continue and smoke some cbd weed.
They will meet us in Vienna as they have some friends, and who knows, we might be paddling with 4 people now down the Danube.
I didn't mention but on the way over from Linz the other day, John gifted me with one of the most generous gifts I've ever been gifted. A 200 dollar kayak paddle. This thing is not only nice, it's perfect. Its adjustable in every way, has a flawless grin, and a sturdy as hell paddle. This is no amateur paddle. This is top notch gear.
I actually shed a tear out of joy and gratitude. John is a really, really good friend, and beyond that and even more so, he is my brother. I wouldn't be having the time I'm having without him. And I'm grateful to have him as a friend. Thanks John, you're the man!
Km markee 1979, 50km from Vienna!
Pieces of trash on the river that I've seen: 6
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