Today we completed a metric century as we biked down the Danube to Linz, the third largest city in Austria. The Danube, and its river valley, are beautiful but hardly blue. Of course, all the recent rainfall did not help. Still, it's a worthwhile trip should you ever get the chance. The trail is a virtual freeway of bicycle activity, so you are never out of sight of someone! Plus, we got in a ferry ride as we neared Linz; however, there are many opportunities along the way to cross the river and bike the opposite bank.
Yesterday, Jerry successfully navigated his way by bike from Maria Thalheim to Moosburg on the Isar (remember Moosburg?), where he caught a train to Passau, arriving about the same time we did. He then joined us at our hotel and for dinner . . . so-so Indian food (you can't eat German every night!).
Today, we resumed our travels together, headed southeast, and stayed mainly on the south shore of the Danube. Our first stop: Dreiflüsseeck, for a view of the Danube and the confluence of the three rivers, the Danube, the Ilz (flowing from the left), and the Inn (flowing from the right). A little factoid here — left and right banks are determined by looking downstream (hence the Rive Gauche is on the left side of the Seine, looking downstream).
Looking from Dreiflüsseeck at the confluence of the three rivers, the Danube, the Ilz, and the Inn.
From Dreiflüsseeck, we made our way upstream on the Inn River, crossing at the first bridge over to its right bank into Innenstadt, a cute but congested town. We got caught up in the old town looking for the way to the river trail we knew we were supposed to be on. Nothing looked promising, so I pressed down a one-way street (in the wrong direction and mostly on the sidewalk) with Happy close behind. Apparently, Jerry is not as adventurous as the two of us, as he stayed behind to look further. His perseverance paid off, as did ours, but again we were separated. Nothing new here!
Finally, down on the river trail and looking back across, what is still the Inn.
We followed the river for a short distance before joining a somewhat major roadway where the trail was on the opposite side of the roadway. We crossed again back to the riverside at the German-Austrian border, where we took the requisite border crossing pictures.
Welcome to Austria, our second visit! I would say, "Same Language, Same Food," but that might offend some. ;-)
All of the dams have locks to allow the cruise boats to bypass the dam and continue their upstream or downstream voyage. And the locks were always on the left bank (so in this picture, the opposite bank of where we were biking). Shortly after passing this dam, we started our only hilly part of today's ride. The Danube passes through several mountain ranges that technically form parts of the Alpine Foothills. The river, over the centuries, has cut a nice path through for itself, but we poor mortals must still work to make progress!
Crossing our first pass and looking down on the Danube.
We needed lunch; we were doing 60 miles today. And it was so inviting. And at this point, we only had 17 miles or so to go. Seventeen flat miles! And a ferry ride.
The ferry service to Ottensheim at MP 53. Here, we reconnected with Jerry. As usual, Happy and I had gotten ahead of him, but I'm guessing he passed us while we were having lunch. We found him as he was waiting, for some time apparently, for the ferry to arrive. Jerry can be a little impatient, so maybe he wasn't waiting THAT long. ;-)
After crossing to Ottensheim, we were essentially in Linz! Well, not quite. We had some hills to climb still! Crowded hills, as it was a regular highway of cyclists. It was exciting to see them all.
Streetcars in Linz! Passing while Happy and I had a beer.
