Austria's long distance hiking trail "Weitwanderweg 04"

THE PLAN: WALKING THROUGH AUSTRIA

The red line running from right to left is a long distance hiking trail, "Weitwanderweg 04", starting in Vienna, the capital of Austria, in the East and ending in Bregenz in the West. It covers a distance of 1,000 km - about 625 miles.

The first section of the trail between Vienna and St. Pölten leads us through the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald), an area of low wooded hills between 200 and 893 m above sea level, the northern part of the Alps.

Come and see our first day trip:


Sunday, 16 March 2008
Vienna Woods/01

We take the bus to Kahlenberg, a hill on the outskirts of Vienna with a beautiful view over the city and the river Danube.

The sky is cloudy, it is early Spring, and we enjoy the panorama. Although the weather is not bright, many people have come here to start their Sunday trips.

We feel that we are at the beginning of a great adventure!

But we are disappointed that we cannot find a sign indicating the starting point of a trail running 1,000 kilometers across the entire country! Nevertheless, we know the way to the neighbouring hill Leopoldsberg...

We step down and see the first sign:
ÖSTERR. WEITWANDERWEG 04
Wienerwald, Salzkammergut, Bregenzer Wald
Our destination is so far away and we are curious about what we will encounter!

Soon we reach Stift Klosterneuburg
with its beautiful Baroque monastery modelled after the Escorial. The Romans built a castell here, a monastery was founded in 1114, and the town received its charter in 1298.

http://www.stift-klosterneuburg.at/index.php?language=en

We stroll through the city with its Baroque City Hall



Baroque? The City Hall, but not the bus stop in front!

Then we pass by gardens with early blossoms.
The river Danube makes the climate mild.
Good for the wine!

When we leave Klosterneuburg behind, it begins to rain and we have to walk for miles on a street. Finally we reach the woods and our dog is happy to run without a leach!

We walk through endless woods, and once we pass a sign indicating that we are now on the track of a medieval pilgrim's trail,
Jakobsweg, "The Route of Saint James"
heading for Santiago de Compostela



Slowly the evening comes, we see the river Danube in the distance



We walk down into the plain which the river once formed



From the small village St. Andrä-Wördern, the train takes us back to Vienna.



We have walked a distance of 15 km - 10 miles - and we think that this is not bad for a first trip after a long and lazy winter...