September 23, 2018
We reach the Danube at Linz
Freezing and lost
We felt a little out of place at dinner last night. Our hotel's restaurant was closed but the Spar Hotel opposite had dinner available. It is an extremely elegant (and astronomically expensive) 'wellness' hotel and exceptionally well groomed people were there in search of even more pampering. The meal itself was absolutely delicious a gorgeous pumpkin soup (with pumpkin seeds in it)followed by a dish of turkey and a big fat prawn then a pretty desert of chocolate and berries and cream. To make sure your meal was choosen with care every dish had the calorific value of it listed ! It certainly wasn't the sort of place where you could photograph the food! We will have to get used to the price structure in Austria as compared with the Czech Republic
The weather forecast was not good for today, rain and temperatures of 9 degrees which contrasted with what we have been having, sunshine and 30 degrees. We decided to book an Ibis in Linz which was only 25km away that we could cancel if things turned out differently. We were due for weather like this as it has been perfect every day
We had no maps but last night's host had given us a map and some good advice. It was to avoid the main road but instead take a smaller road to Reichenau and from there find a small road that followed a stream down to the Danube. He said it was further but was beautiful and would be quiet. The weather was heavily overcast with a bit of mist and cold as we pushed our bikes up the very steep road to the village and we easily found the road we needed. Both of us had imagined that today's ride would be all down hill as we need to lose 600m. This however was wrong the first 12km it was largely uphill looking over the manicured Austrian countryside with its massive houses and barns, apple trees fully laden and dropping their fruit and the odd glimpse of cows munching neatly away at their silage in barns.
We got to Reichenau, a road to Linz took off - not the one we needed There was a little stream going down with a road beside it as marked R28 it must be what we needed Through a congregation leaving church we went, it started to rain, quite lightly at first. We hurtled down a steep sustained descent Following the little stream, it went on for 20km. It would have been beautiful had we been warm enough to appreciate it. There was virtually no habitation or shelter of any sort. Wonderful, it levelled out, the R28 turned right but to the left was a a church spire and other signs of a town - with hot coffee and shelter in our minds we turned left. We were rewarded there was a cafe/Backerie about to shut so we shaking with cold we dripped in and were rewarded with enormous pastries and luke warm coffee.
What to do now? We could go back to the R28 but really we didn't know where it was going. We just bumbled along for a while till I got out my phone and set Galillao on Linz. We got a route - it looked feasible and took off a big loop of the Danube. There is a problem using the phone in rain. Firstly you cant turn it on when your fingers are very wet and I was paranoid that my phone would drown as Keith's had. We were going from peoples garages to bus stops to motorway underpasses and yes we were getting a route but in cutting off this loop we were in very steep country and frequently on tracks with gravel so loose it was unsafe to ride. In the wilds we did find a fish farm with tanks full of trout at one point. Eventually we were lead to a paved road going very gently down hill and fairly soon came to signs pointing to the R1 (the Danube cycleway) it had taken 2hours to do 9.1km - not a smart bit of cycle touring.
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5 years ago
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From there it was easy to Linz. Crossing the bridge we saw an Avalon boat tied up - it would be more comfortable on that. Then into the square where we saw a restaurant, in we went not even worrying that our bikes were out of sight and I had a warming plate of Golash and Ken sausages. We came out the bikes hadn't been stolen, the rain had stopped, there was a Tourist Information to get maps across the square and it was easy to find the warmth of the Ibis - it has great hot showers.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 1,800 km (1,118 miles)
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It was in Linz that we discovered the Thalia bookstore chain and we have spent ours in them ever since.
Sorry you had a cold ride, we can imagine how good the shower felt.
David and Maun
5 years ago
Tricia
5 years ago