Day 53: Altenmarkt to Steyr

June 21, 2014

So, let's go over this again. After wiggling kind of east and west for a while, the Enns got down to it and shot north. In another 20 km it will join with the Donau (Danube), In this area, the Donau can be thought of as the major east-west artery (though as you head west it does also rather drift north). Once we too plug in to the Donau, we will shoot west, immediately coming to Linz (hopefully the home of the Linzer tortes) and eventually we will reach Passau, at the German border. Passau is where the Inn river joins in to the Donau, and we will hop back on the Inn, heading south. So we have a section coming right up on the Donau Radweg, and that will be followed by part two of the Inn, this time going up it while from Innsbruck we were coming down it! After we do part two of the Inn ... we'll let's see us complete that first, and then see what happens!

The back courtyard of our really old house in Altenmarkt

Most places in Altenmarkt had their history on plaques like this. Here is the background of the grocery/bakery

We were clearly the only guests in the house last night. Notwithstanding, the lady brought us quite a nice breakfast. When I licked the jam off my knife, Dodie remarked that my parents had never taught me table manners. So I searched my brain for someone who who be a good role model for table manners. How about the Queen? "Do you think the Queen licks her knife?" I mused. "Oh,no, I concluded "She has someone to do that for her!". Dodie may be ready to give up on me, in this area anyway!

Altenmarkt, where we started off this morning, is still deep in the national park. The mountains are not huge, but they are close all around. It feels just a little claustrophobic. Also contributing to the cramped feeling is the choice we had for ways out of here. We could follow the radweg, which takes a secondary road, way up into the hills, or we could go with the main road, number 115, which more or less follows the river. After reading the comments of Grampies 2012 about the up in the hills way, there was no question but that we would stick to the main road. That road, though, has no shoulder, and a moderate amount of mixed traffic.

We just gritted our teeth, turned on the rear flasher, and made sure to cycle as straight a line as possible, and went for it. The road had hills, lots of them I guess, and Dodie chose to push up quite a few. On the other hand, none was of the type where she needed a hand to get up. In fact, we moved along quite well, and Dodie was not really taxed by the slopes.

One of the advantages of walking some sections was that Dodie spotted wild strawberries by the roadside. Dodie is an excellent berry picker, having been trained by her grandfather. So we had some treats to help us along the way!

Eventually, the land opened up a bit, and the river was no longer so fast moving. In fact, it became very placid, though still emerald green. It remains green all the way to the Donau, being not long enough to lose it mountain colouration.

The mountains here are close. Here we pass under snow sheds.

Like in Canada, one national park follows the next

The radweg wnats us too turn left, up into the mountains. Note, the ski lift is in the same direction! Thanks anyway, we are taking 115.

On 115, riding the white line. For a change, we have a stone wall instead of a steel rail beside us.

The land ipened up a bit, but at this stage the mountain trial was far from over.

When there is construction with only one lane only, the system of lights never accounts for the slow speed of bikes. So you eventually get impatient drivers, having waited for a green light, charging towards you.

Ruins often look a bit boring in photos. Of course, we are not about to climb the hills they are always on top of, to see what is really there. Here we just let the camera do the climbing

Eventually the land did open up a lot, and stayed open.

There are a few small towns along the way, but nothing really of note until the Donau is getting close. Then, just before Steyr is Garsten, which has a large, two towered abbey We crossed the river and passed by Garsten, but we are so fast moving, that we did not pause to actually have a look. We expect when we get time and internet we will find out what we missed.

Any regret about Garsten was soon erased by Steyr. One of the big lacks along the Enns is of towns with interesting old centres. Steyr makes up for that. It is much more like the towns of the Donau than those of the Enns. The main pedestrian street features interesting old buildings, including several churches and an impressive rathaus. We have finally decided to try for some dirndls for the grandkids (except Avi and Joey, of course!) and we walked the pedestrian street with an eye out for any kind of a deal. We had seen some nice ones around Salzburg, but now that we are looking, they have become scarce.

We stopped in to one church, the Marienkirche, and found the expected over the top gold treatment. I complained that more pink was also needed, as in pink cherubs, but Dodie pointed out they did have pink marble.

We came to the end of the walking street, reaching a point where two years ago a local man had spoken to us and given the opinion that all the old buildings should be demolished, since they are so costly to maintain. We still remember that, because the man was clearly an idiot!

Walking through Steyr, we wondered what they have here that we might be missing. Well, we missed the farmers' market, that was held in the square from 9-11 this morning. And Steyr is the home of .. Steyr tractors (and the world's largest BMW plant). Steyr is also really big on Christmas. In Austria, Christmas presents are brought by the "Christ Child" or Christkindl. Steyr has the Christkindl pilgrimage church, with an adjacent post office where letters are hand stamped. There is a pilgrimage trail between the Christkindl church and, yes, that church in Garsten, that we also missed.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so we are unlikely to trek back in to Steyr. We are eager to get to the Donau, of course. As soon as we turn west on it, we will be in territory we have not covered before. That will include the towns of Enns and Linz. Even if the dirndl shops are locked up tight for Sunday, they gotta have a bakery or two on the go, right?

In the Marienkirche, this Jesus image had a rather Hindu appearance, I thought.

Main street in Steyr. The town was started in 980, and was chartered in 1287. A fire in 1727 destroyed most of it, but there are examples of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo architecture.

The town gate has a fresco depicting two Habsburg emperors, Friedrich III and his son Maximillian. These are supposedly the founders of Steyr.

The baroque Church of St Michael, I think

The Steyr river joins the Enns here. There is a bike way along the Steyr, about which we know nothing, of course.

The bike/foot bridge across the Enns to our Camping, north of town

Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 2,741 km (1,702 miles)

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