Day 2: Krems to Linz. 50km.

In the language that brought us 'schadenfreude', inevitably there must be a word in German for that feeling you have when you think you have forgotten something but don't know what it is yey. There must also be a word for a sense of dread of something unknown. If I was in Germany I could strike up a conversation at a cafe or bar with someone and ask them about this, who would say 'naturlich' and look at me in that German way of being bemused at my question. But sadly I'm not in Germany, I'm still in Austria, which I have discovered is full of miserable fuckers. Last night my only encounters were with:

• An angry woman cyclist complaining about I don't know what, as she passed me on the bike path. I my hurry I couldn’t remember the German phrase for 'I don’t understand' or even the one for'what’s wrong?', so instead I had to shout after her 'welcome to Austria!' Which funnily enough didn’t seem to help.

• The zombies that work the night shift at McDonald's. No disrespect intended, but working at an all night McDonald's isn't likely to pull in many extroverts is it?
  

Hardly representative of a whole country you would think.

But then, I started this morning with an angry cleaning lady complaining about me bringing a bike into my Airbnb. I mean, I had made it very clear but I was arriving by bike and kept updating them on my progress, so I don't know how the bike has taken them by surprise. She marched me outside and pointed angrily to the small printed note on the outside of the door saying bikes were verboten, which you will be surprised to hear. I didn’t see last night at 2:30 in the morning.

From that point on, every other encounter today has been with some sour faced miserablist doing their best to discourage tourism. From bakery to cafe, to train station to museum (more on that one later). I speak rubbish German, but at least I’m trying. The response to hearing my German has universally been as if I had told them I had just run over their cat and found it hilarious.

Anyway, back to my sense of dread and the feeling that I had forgotten something important. It didn’t take long this morning for me to realise that there was a reason for both of those things. It was pissing down when I woke up and I had forgotten to pack my waterproof trousers. They are probably still on the bed in our spare room alongside my missing innertube and chamois cream.

The rain only got heavier and heavier all morning and at one point I went through a village that had a flash flood running down the main road. After last night, this is not a start to the trip I wanted. I alternated between trying to ride or sheltering under a bridge or in some shop doorway or at one point, in a wooden cabin. The forecast looked grim so I decided to take a tactical move and try and jump ahead of the rain by going 20km west on a train. This worked for about half an hour and then the rain clouds caught me up and I got soaked for a second time.

I stopped for lunch in a crappy roadside Café and called Rachel who reminded me that I was on holiday and not taking part in the transcontinental, so nobody actually gives a damn whether I ride the full route or not. "no one is following your route on a map" she said. I resisted the temptation to tell her that I knew exactly who would be following the map and who would tell me that I had missed out of section (you both know who you are).

After 45 km I came off my route and pulled into a layby to think about my options. There was a huge map of the area in the layby in the middle of which was an advert for a bicycle museum which turned out to be just 2 km away. That to me feels like the gods of cycling telling me ”you are done for the day Paul just go and visit the museum “. And very nice it was too. The only other visitor was an Australian also on a touring holiday and we had a nice chat for 30 minutes about where we had each been and plans to go next.

The Aussie told me that he didn’t bother with riding in the rain “why do it and be miserable?" he said. Quite. I promptly rode to the next train station and got on a train, well in fact a series of trains to get to my final destination for the day in Linz.

I’ve just had a massive pizza and cold beer and I’m feeling much better about the world in general. Although obviously not about Austria.

Tomorrow is my last day in Austria and the weather forecast looks fantastic. I'm hoping it will be the start of the trip I wanted.