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. 

Asparagus fields for ever.

On Wednesday April 18th I set off through the asparagus fields to Altmelon, following Erich's daily map.

 Climbing over a hill to the north of Vienna - a location for an exclusive suburb.

 Midday pub stop. In the background is Mike chatting to expat Brit who had just popped out to walk the dog - he was wondering whether his wife would swallow his excuse of being diverted by someone riding on horseback from Beijing to London.

 Our friendly host Gerhardt Rodinger of the GR Ranch who fed and watered both us and the horses.
http://grranch.jimdo.com/          Many thanks!

 A strangely immobile Austrian policeman guards Zorbee for me on my way to my next stop of Bierbaum on Thursday April 19th.

 Bierbaum is Erich Huber's stamping ground, and he had arranged a complimentary loose box for Zorbee at the local stables run by Rosi Shreiber-Jeringer.  Here she is training a small mite in vaulting.

And not only were we provided with en suite rooms at the local guesthouse, but treated to an amazing meal in the restaurant 'Zum Goldenen Hirschen' or Golden Stag, where the chef's speciality was game.  A happy Mike tucks in  to a plate of venison with knoedel (a kind of Austrian dumpling).   I had wild boar with asparagus.

 The room was decorated with dead animals and I have to say it was a little disconcerting to have the raptor below circling over one's plate of food.

 The happy party.   Left to right -  Irwin and Rosie who helped with route planning, Erich, me and Mike, Erich's wife Brigitte and sons Max and Alex, Edith and Hans who rode with me the next day.

 And finally I was invited to sign the guestbook - and in what company!  At the front it had been signed by Christian democrat politician Leopold Figl, the first Federal Chancellor of Austria after the Second World War.  A significant Austrian figure, he was not only incarcerated at Dachau by the Nazis for five years, but escaped a death penalty for 'high treason'..

Into Schnapps Land

Monday 16th April dawned a cold wet morning to start riding through Austria, but a parting shot of schnapps at the stables set me up for the day.  I had welcome company in the form of Mathias who had decided to guide me to my next stop .... 

 A restorative coffee break..

 A long day in the saddle, but we eventually arrive at Shetty Farm in Hollern - here are Zorbee and me with our host for the night Anita Cuban ....

The amazing Erich Huber provided me with very detailed maps with my route for the day marked!  And what lovely routes they have been  .......

 Beware of the chickens!.....

Bolashak is travelling in the lorry, coming out to graze at rest stops - for a steppe horse used to wiry steppe grass, it is as if all his birthdays have arrived, and he is filling out rapidly - it is not long before he will have to go on an enforced diet ....

 
 I was met by a mounted escort for the last few kms to the stables of our superlative hosts in Parbadorf, Patricia and Hans (Team Pati), where I was greeted with a wonderful champagne reception!  Here we are all posing for the media.  I am flanked by my mounted escort, and standing left to right are  Patricia, Erich Huber and the ever affable Hans.

And the hospitality did not end there.  I did not even have time to shower and change before we were whisked off for a superb meal at a local restaurant - I had young white asparagus in hollandaise sauce - asparagus or spargel is a local speciality here and as I love asparagus I was most content.

Thank you Patricia and Hans for a great time!

And in close up!  Erich, me, Patricia and Hans

Through the Iron Curtain

When I knew I would be riding through Germany, it was natural that I would contact old school friend Alison Metzger (nee Martin) and her husband Franz who live in Nurmberg, and when they realised I would be crossing into Austria near Sopron, they in turn put me in touch with their good friends Michael and Traude Floiger, who live just across the border at Loipersberg in Burgenland.   Restrictions on horse riding in Austria meant that crossing the country might not be as easy as I had anticipated, but Micheal and Traude threw themselves into the task of ensuring a smooth passage, contacting Austrian horse organisations and the media. Here they both are outside their beautiful house where Mike and I stayed for a night

As a keen local historian, Michael made a perfect guide when they took us on a evening walk round the beautiful old town of Sopron, ending with dinner in one of the many former wine merchants' cellars with which the inner town is riddled.  And of course no meal in Sopron would be complete without a carafe of Kekfrancos, the local red wine for which the area is famous....

The night before the big day Mike and I stayed down the road from the stables in Kophaza at the Levanda, a quiet, cosy and friendly little hotel - the proprietor very generously refused payment for the stay when they found out what I was doing!   Much recommended if you are ever passing this way.

http://www.levanda.hu/

On April 15th I rode over the hill to meet up with Mathias Rendl who had ridden down from St Margarethen in Austria on his quarter horse to accompany me back over the border.   He took me along a lovely route along the reedy side of  Lake Neusledl (or Lake Ferto on the Hungarian side) to the frontier.

 

The crossing point turned out to be an extremely significant one, as it was the location of the Pan European Picnic.  I had never heard of this before, but it was a momentous event which marked the first step in the collapse of the Iron Curtain, a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Officials on both the Austrian and Hungarian sides agreed to open the border for a few hours to allow a peaceful picnic and demonstration on the Hungarian side of the border.  About 600 East Germans took the opportunity to flee across the border, leaving all their material possesions behind, including in many cases the cars they had driven to the border - and one had to wait years to acquire a car in East Germany. 

Mathias himself rode his horse into Hungary to attend the picnic, and told me he passed people running across the border into Austria with tears in their eyes, sometimes with young children. 

For more details of this emotive event  see -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-European_Picnic    and http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,4580616,00.html

It was an extraordinarily moving experience to cross at this location which marked a turning point in the return to freedom for so many people.

Here are Zorbee and I behind a symbolic stretch of Iron Curtain at the border. In the background you can just see the large monument which has been erected in memory of the events that occurred that day......

  

.....and here I am crossing the border with Zorbee and Bolashak.  The only danger now is not armed border guards, but cracking one's head on the low beam across the road.....

...and it was all captured on film for Austrian TV, not forgetting the local newspaper.

 Arrival to a reception at the stables in St Margarethen ....

Also present but not shown here was the amazing Erich Huber-Tentschert who masterminded our crossing of Austria - more of him later!

Who are Zorbee and Bolashak

On Wednesday 11th April Dallam and I arrived at Robert Grubit's stables in Kophaza, where my Shagya mare Zahira was waiting for collection.  Unfortunately she had not come into season or been covered by the resident Shagya stallion as I had planned, so I have arranged to leave her there until a successful mating.

I also heard that the Kazakh stallion's EU passport was ready, so it was off to Mateszalka with Mike and the lorry to fetch him.   Dr Ungvari had asked me to give a talk to the local Rotary club, and we stayed overnight and drove back the next day.  It gave me a chance to meet up again with the amazing Bernadette Miko who masterminded our travels through Hungary - Many many thanks Betty for your invaluable help!

Thus I now have two horses, but hang onto your hats for the explanation of a complete renaming.  Are you sittting comfortably?............

The Kazakh steppe stallion was originally called Bolashak (and passported with this name) by Rowena for Kazakh sponsors Bolashak http://www.bolashak.com/- see the 2011 March 8th post 'The Bolashak Pony'.  Unfortunately last spring he was ill and unable to join us, but Rowena managed to replace him with the big black stallion.  His real passport name was Suncar, but for the purposes of the ride we called him Bolashak (or Big Bolly).
As my horse Zorbee died of colic in August last year, when the Kazakh steppe stallion joined the team I decided it was easier to make him the replacement Zorbee for our sponsors Vidazorb.http://www.vidazorb.com/  and leave Suncar as Big Bolashak.

Then Suncar (Big Bolashak or Bolly) also tragically died and I bought the Shagya gelding to replace him.  His registered  name is Mersuch Robin-P, but as you know his stable name was Dallam - which means Melody in Hungarian. 

Are you sure you are concentrating?  It seemed silly to the Shagya gelding Bolashak which is the REAL passport name of the little steppe stallion (who has been called little Zorbee).

SO...
The little Kazakh stallion has reverted to his REAL name of Bolashak,
and the Shagya gelding is now the new Zorbee.

A big thank you also goes to my good friend Anthony Frost of Welsh Cottage Cakes http://www.welshcottagecakes.co.uk/  for putting up the money to buy the Shagya gelding.   Anthony's delicious cakes have cheered me up on many a miserable day and are highly recommended.  I am particularly partial to the fruit and brandy cake!

Diolch yn fawr, Anthony.

We get thrown out of town

April 8th.   Arrived to a great welcome at Gyorujbarat just south of Gyor.  Dallam had a comfortable stable, and we were put up in the lovely Pension Eterem below  http://www.aranypatkofogado.hu/ courtesy of proprietor Mogor Csaba who also treated us to a delicious dinner in the restaurant.   Very much recommended if you are passing this way.

Mogor Csaba and Mike outside the pension

We all had to try Mogor's novel way of drinking palinka which involved rolling the glass round one's face - it probably also accounts for the blurred photo...

The next day I was guided for part of the way by Dora and the Roland, our enthusiastic interpreter.



The gorgeous Roland



Ready to set off on April 8th

As the stables Betty had earmarked for us were a little out of our way, we decided to stop for the night at a grassy spot outside the cemetery in a small town. But it was not long before the Rendorsweg or Hungarian police turned up. Someone had complained and we were politely told to get out of town. No mention of the fact that there was a half empty bottle of wine in front of us and there is zero tolerance for drink driving in Hungary!  But every cloud has a silver lining, and no sooner than we had been shown a little place on the edge of town by friendly locals than we were approached by Joseph, a young man from the farm opposite who had seen me in the newspapers.  He insisted that we put Dallam up in his stable, flinging hay around with gay abandon to clear a space for him.  And the following morning Joseph Senior turned up on his bicycle with breakfast, or rather a large bag of provisions including eggs, rolls, a home cured ham, chocolate etc - enough to feed a small army for a week!



Joseph Snr

Next stop was Fertod, as I wanted to see the Esterhazay Palace, the summer dacha of the Esterhazay family.

A knight in shining armour who gave me a lift to the ATM.

 

In front of Esterhazy Palace

 We stayed at stables nearby.  Unfortunately the Palace was shut, but we went for a stroll in the gardens the following morning.

Group at the stables near Fertod 



To Babolna

 Friday 5th April was a misty moisty morning when cloudy was the weather,but instead of an old man dressed all in leather, intrepid riders Sergio and Adele turned up to join me riding to Tatabanya. They brought alond borrowed horses, Sergio on a robust native Hucul or Carpathian pony.  We definitely took the scenic route which involved much poring over maps - here we are lost in the woods again, though Adele's terrier Foxy looks cheerfully optimistic.  Highlight of the day was stopping for coffee and cream cakes at a small village.  Thanks Sergio!

I eventually arrived at Szentgyorgypuszta with hosts Anton and very pregnant wife Suzsanna who gave us another enjoyable evening en famille with the help of a dictionary.

Anton and the other love of his life.....

The next day it was a long and straight ride to Babolna, centre of Shagya arab breeding....

Dallam had a loose box, and we were put up in the hotel courtesy of the stud.