We Drink Gruner Veltliner in Heurigens

The following morning April 20th, riding friends Edith and Hans turned up with their horses to escort me to Krems; Edith on her little arab mare, and Hans on his Tennessee Walking Horse.  Western riding is very popular in Austria and Germany, and I have been surprised at how many American breeds I have seen - many of them imported directly from the Americas - Hans' horse had come from Canada.

Unfortunately my camera battery ran out so I was not able to record the ride. However Edith had her camera and was able to record the highlight, which was stopping at a little wine cellar built into the hillside to drink Gruner Veltliner, a delicious local white wine, this being an notable wine growing area. So here are Hans and me with the owner, very happily sipping our morning refreshers....

  And we also stopped at a little restaurant for a most civilised lunch in the garden.  Bliss!

Near Krems we were generously hosted by Emmerich and his wife Renata who provided comfortable boxes for the horses at their stables   http://www.psv-krems.at/   and took us out to a heurigen for a lavish supper with yet more Gruner Veltliner. Heurigen are Eastern Austrian wine taverns where wine growers can sell their wine without licence for a limited number of weeks a year - neighbouring heurigen will open in rotation.  They are also allowed to serve cold food.

Planning HQ - Erich and team organise my route for the next few days .........

About to set off for Obergrunbach on April 21st - Mike and Zorbee with Emmerich (far right) and English speaker Wolfgang (second from left) who very kindly put Mike and I up in his house overnight at very short notice......

 Through the vineyards...

What sort of person lives in a house with a skull on the gatepost and a plane crashing into the roof?!

 We start to ride through more wooded and hilly countryside ....

We had said our goodbyes to Erich, but he turned up again at our next stop - here he is chatting to an Austrian Noriker. On the right is Harry who owned the stables where we stayed.

Mike shows local landlady Helga my route from Beijing, or Peking as they still refer to it in this part of the world....don't ask why the map is on the ceiling.