Day 82: Au to Marbach, Austria: The Weenie Weg

August 9, 2012

We woke up in our luxury campsite, with the free wifi and nearby covered table, and looked around at all the other “radfahrers” (cyclists). There was also our nearest neighbour, who had one of the biggest tents we had ever seen. We had negotiated access to the one plug in the covered shelter, so we could charge the netbook while he could still keep his coolers cool. The campsite is on a peninsula and only a portion of the river was adjacent to our tent, but that bit of water was still lovely.

As soon as we hot the road, it struck us again how the Passau to Vienna run is really the “bunny hill” of cycle touring. Maybe more accurately we could call it the “weenie weg” (weenie way). The path is mostly wide, smooth, and flat. People can and do bring children on it, and there were lots of people there.

We bowled along quite rapidly (for us), and soon arrived at Wallsee, about 15 km downstream. There we encountered some French people, like us trying to decide which way to go. We had fun discussing it with them in French, where we can communicate clearly. A second look revealed that all four (and later, more) had on the same clothes, had panniers with the same logos, and moreover that there stuff all said Peking to London 2012! Yikes, they had cycled from China. We were suitably, mega impressed, especially with their minimal gear, until a Renault van pulled up. It turned out this was just one of their support vehicles. Support vehicles? OK, we were a lot less impressed. Still, it is a lot of kilometres any way you do it.

Wallsee is built on a hill, and the Schloss, Church, and market square are at the top.. As tough veterans of the Gesause Park we felt we should leave the soft masses behind and check out the hill top. On the other hand, we are now also veterans of several hundred villages from England to Austria, and though really nice, we judged Wallsee not worth the effort this time.

We did cross the river to the north side to go into Grein. Grein was also nice, but maybe not worth the crossing. One thing there, we stopped for some schnitzel and the restaurant also had “pancake soup”. It’s a logical idea. We put noodles in soup, dumplings, won ton, why not pancakes? It turned out to be just like won ton in terms of the broth.

We decided that we really could go nuts, switching sides of the river. Maybe the path is greener (flatter) over there, or maybe that town is more picturesque than this one? So we stuck to the north side, for no other reason than that our eventual camping would be on that side, just beyond Perserbeug.

The camping was actually at Marbach, and while ok, had summy trailers and was without wifi. So how are you reading this, you may ask. Ah, it’s some of my precious, non-renewable British megabytes!

Part of the French Peking to London group

A Wallsee "suburb". Note, no more balconies with window boxes of flowers

This picturesque hilltop was not actually a typical scene today.

The Donau from our restaurant window in Grein

An old Steyr tractor on the road. It was one of three.

This boat has very small cars, maybe from Romania?

Not that great camping at Freiheightzentrum Marbacher.

Today's ride: 65 km (40 miles)
Total: 3,883 km (2,411 miles)

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