Almost Ready.            Monday Aug 3

Arrived safely here in Vienna by Aer Lingus and soon all loaded on a mini-van for my hotel in Central Vienna.  

The tour van (parked outside ) made it very easy to spot the hotel and a few of the riders were already checked in. Soon after check-in I had the bike re-assembled and road worthy. On Sunday I went for a 60 km spin to loosen out the bike and the rider up and down the Donau Insel ...a 24 km long Island in the middle of the Danube.

Barges were still battling their way up against the flow as I had my lunch at the western end.

I continued on up through the city passing all the tourist spots...the Palace, the Opera etc.

The bike is the real way to whizz around...no problems with parking, one-way streets, lanes, traffic. The city is well equipped with cycle lanes...and plenty of fast moving cyclists.

I called around by Stephansdom (St Stephens Cathedral) where I finished my cycle last year and I had my photo taken there again to mark the start of this adventure.

Today, I met up with the tour staff for a briefing of new members...there are 8 of us and also a bike inspection. I have met a few of those who started in Paris and I think we’ll get on just fine.

I’ll be depending on Wi-Fi to upload the blog and so uploads may happen every 4 or 5 days, but you’ll get a day by day account.

So now all is ready for the off, and the bike is geared up to pull out from the hotel tomorrow morning.

Looking forward to each and every day till we reach our destination.

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