More rain, and big city excitement in Vienna.After leaving Melk, I rode along the Danube, which is predictably wide and impressive, though very definitely not blue! I was surprised to see occasional rocky outcrops and hills between the vineyards, for some reason I expected the landscape to be completely flat.

My sightseeing record did not improve, however. The road to the runied castle at Aggstein was being dug up, and had been reduced to muddy bulldozed ruts. So I carried on to Krems, site of another monastery where I proceeded to get determinedly lost. When I eventually found the monastery, I could barely see it. Perched as it is a couple of hundred meters abover the river, it sat swathed in mist, its candy-cane ink and whiet towers looming eerily through the clouds. I did visit, in spite of the fact that the reception staff seemed quite put out to be asked for a ticket. The interior in itself is more interesting than at Melk, as all the walls are onately painted with birds, landscapes and hunting scenes, but as a museum they have done less with it. I was however amused to find myself surrounded by truss and staging as they set up for a conference!

After that stop the weather worsened constantly. For the second time in six days I rode through hours of rain - I even had to put on my extra fleece for warmth: a digital sign in one of the villages read 10 degrees! Only the fact that I was nowhere near anything of interest, coupled with eternal hope that it might get better, kept me going. Eventually, after taking three and a half hours to cover just over 100km due to poor visibility, I made it to Rust, on the Neuseidlersee. I'd decided long before that to stay in a hotel, and I'd been staving off visions of warmth and luxury, knowing that the higher my expectations the more likely I was to be disappointed.

I managed to miss Rust town centre first time round, but on the second attempt I spotted a small hotel. Dripping wet and shivering, I squelched to the door. It would have been only natural for the owner to recoil in horror at this soaked apparition, but instead she hustled me in, gave me a room, and held my hands in hers to warm them! And you know what? It was perfect, a lovely little attic room with a hairdryer for wet boots and a phone so Tim and parents could call me.

Tim checked the weather forecast for me. Bratislava: rain, Vienna: sun, so I decided to make an exception to my "no cities" rule and hole up in Vienna for a day or so.

Friday dawned dry if not bright. I headed for the Neusiedlersee, an area of marshland known for its wildlife, and wandered for a few hours, spotting egrets, lapwings, hares, a deer, and lots of geese with their goslings. Just after lunch I headed Vienna-wards. I stoppped off in one of the villages to make a phone call, and as I got off the bike a tall skinny man with too few long yellow teeth examined my licence plate.
"From where you come?"
"Scotland."
"Ah!" He broke into a wide grin and gave me an appreciative thumbs-up. "I from Hungary." He pointed. "You just one?"
I said yes, and showed him on the map where I planned to go. Another big grin and thumbs up, and off he went.
Thirty seconds later, as I took off the tank bag, he was back.
"You have money for me? One euro?"
I'm sure when I started travelling ten years ago you weren't expected to pay for every conversation, now it seems to be the standard parting word.

I called Dad's colleague in Vienna and gave her the hostel address I'd written down.
"Oh that's easy, it's right next to the West Bahnhof, one of the major train stations. Just follow signs for the centre then ask someone."
Which I duly did - and spent two and a half hours riding round Vienna. Every time I asked, I was told it was too complicated to explain, but that I wanted to be going in the opposite direction - not easy when you're on a four-lane one-way express road! Eventually I spotted a petrol station, and begged tearfully for assistance. Whereupon a very nice manplucked a map off one of the shelves and showed me - it was so easy! Clearly the Viennese, like Londoners, simply don't drive in the city. Any one of the people I'd asked could have sent me a long but easy-to-explain route to where I needed to be!

After a pleasant evening at the hostel bar with some much-needed beer, I walked into town today. Vienna is elegant, expensive, full of tourists and interesting museums. I watched the Spanish Riding School exercising their horses and went to an exhibition of old maps, including some from Roman times of where I'm going. Mine are definitely more accurate, but lack pretty little pictures of villages and wildlife! I also ate ice-cream and walked, walked, walked. But the one thing Vienna didn't have was sunshine: it's been cold, and grey, and occasionally wet. Although I did manage 36 hours without rain, which is an achievement in itself, so I should be grateful for small mercies!

Tomorrow I head for Slovakia, and hope for sunchine. If none appears, I may just head south, and make this a Mediterranean trip instead! Although apparently only Spain and Portugal have sun at the moment, and that's a long way to go! Or I could go home - I'm told Scotland has been beautiful...