Our seventh day on the bike without a break, and our last big riding day before heading home; we were due for an easy day, and today was it. A long day in the saddle, but with mainly downhill runs, good weather and surfaces and a tailwind it was most enjoyable. Monday morning in the square was a lot different to Sunday afternoon, with businesses opening up, the smell of fresh baked bread wafting from the bakeries and the delivery trucks weaving in and about the cyclists doing the shopping or heading off to work or school, or in our case, embarking on another journey. The air was cool and damp, as we are deep in a valley, surrounded by high (so high!!) mountains, but as the sun rose this changed (by the end of the day the temperature was in the mid twenties - so summer is still lingering here). We were retracing our footsteps now, as we had ridden from Leoben to Bruck in 2017. This time, at the end of our trip and with over 2000 km in the legs, it was a more relaxing trip than it was then. Stopping to get some bread in Bruck gave us a breather and a bit of time to look around, then it was on to new territory, following the Mur towards Graz. The route was a mix of small villages, large industrial complexes (quarrying, building materials), hydro, rolling countryside, mountain tops and river views, with the occasional castle ruin, or big church/monastery/convent on a hilltop. As you would expect, it was more countryside at the beginning of the day, more industrial at the end near the second major city of Austria) Lunch was at Frohnleiten, in the delightful baroque square. The buildings around the square were so attractive, and the fountains and statues added to the postcard scenes - yet it was so quiet! Such a calming and pleasant atmosphere, with some people enjoying the sun at the cafes, or cyclists on a morning training run (the lycra clad ones) or doing the shopping (the ones in ordinary clothes), or the primary school children going home to lunch. The outer areas of Graz are quite industrial with heavy traffic (at least from the impression given by our route into the city) but once you get close to the centre our bike route took us along the Mur away from cars and into a green space dedicated for pedestrians and cyclists - of which there are many! Penny wanted me to slow down, to enjoy the atmosphere of the place, which was full of people pushing prams, children playing in the parks alongside, even beach volleyball going on at ‘Mur Beach’. No swimming in the river though - it runs very fast through the town! After checking in at our lovely and spacious apartment (not without hassles, as we had to download an app to use the mobile phone to lock and unlock the apartment - so lucky and grateful that we had the helpful cleaner to assist us with this), it was off to the tourist office. This was about 10 minute walk, but took us a lot longer with all the distractions - the castle on the hill, the MurInsel (we are 1 min walk from this), the buildings, trams and people! It is great! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graz Not normally included in the pantheon of cities to visit (most popular cities to visit in Austria are Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck), it is most attractive, with a well preserved historic centre (one of the best in Europe), and being a university town, has a real buzz about it. We will do more exploring tomorrow!