Section 4: Lilienfeld to Vienna

When we left Lilienfeld it wasn't actually raining, but the cloud was low so we took a low route and 'saved' a day. We ended up in lovely little Ramseau, and had the best Gasthof meal of the trip (they tend to be simple, hearty, but repetitive).

The forecast for the next day was better, so we chanced things with a last upland path. Alas! Four miles along a ridge at 2,000 feet in rain and cloud, following a small (but thankfully never disappearing) path through pine woods is not a pleasant experience. Just to rub it in, the last mile went up another 1,000 feet, and tantalised us with a series of false summits. The hut at the top was, Heaven be Praised, open and warm, and on the way down the skies cleared for this photo.

After that we were in the WienerWald - lower country, more like the Chiltern Hills near London. On the last day (near Mayerling) we got up early, walked through woods, past the Motorway, through more woods, had our last Gasthof meal (best chocolate cake of the trip, and nice company - we got a round of applause when the other customers realised how far we'd come) - more woods, then vinyards, to Perchtoldsdorf, which turned out to be the Highgate Village of Vienna. It was still only 2pm, so we decided to go for the centre.

And we arrived at the Schonbrunn Palace at 5pm. (Di here now). Although already tired when we reached the outskirts, the magnet of reaching our goal was so strong that we decided to continue. Having agreed that getting to Schonbrunn was a good end point, we stepped out through the main roads round the edge of Vienna, and were pleased to get to the Tirolean Park and have a splendid view of the Palace. It was a great feeling to touch the building and realise we'd walked 250 miles, to the place where the six year old Mozart played to Maria Theresia, and sat on her lap and asked her to marry him.

We're feeling a bit of anti-climactic now, with the end of the walk, but this afternoon we're going to visit various places associated with Mozart around the city, and then tomorrow (Sunday) night we get on the train home, and back to London life, probably by Monday evening. After that Jeremy will do a final post on the trip and the fund. Thanks for reading this!