Danube - Austria Sept 4

Sankta Agatha to Linz

It was a fabulous day.  Great temperature, great weather, great day!

It started out with a...  wonderful downhill!  What a way to start the day, by flying down the hill.  😊   There was a downside though.  These beasts of a bike were not the most nimble little things.  So we really could not get them up to full descent speed.  But any descent is a good descent. 😉

We rode right along the Danube for a good portion of the morning.  It made for such an idyllic ride.  The trail took us along the cliffs in the cover of the trees.

We lasted a good 5 to 10k before we were lost.  Or not exactly lost, we were directionally impaired shortly after our adventure initiation.  The first dilemma was the ferry that we were supposed to take.

We stopped at the first spot that was supposed to be where we were to catch the ferry but there was no ferry to be found.  So off to the next...  And there we caught the means to the north side of the river.

The river, even though now has a green milky color to it, has a certain majesty.  

There are castles that dot the hills above the river that appear periodically.  They signify a time when the river and control over it were paramount to the people around. 

This is a watch tower slightly off the river that must have served to monitor traffic as it moved up and down the river.  

The ferry boat that we had to catch when the river bank became impassable to bikes.  We caught the ferry and sailed down river for 800 meters to resume our journey.

A small town where we caught lunch.  We ate traditional Austrian dishes.  And as usual the portions were enormous.  So much so that it was difficult to climb back on the bike for the last 10k into Linz.

What is great is how bike friendly everything is here.  This is a bike repair station on the side of the restaurant where we ate lunch.  They have all the tools necessary to make any repairs or adjustments available for all to use.  You would not see that in the States.

We got into Linz and it was a Sunday...  Everything was closed and I mean everything.  The downtown was like a post apocalyptic ghost town.  It also did not have the charm of many of the towns we have been in.  I must say it is my least favorite town we have been in.

That and the hotel we stayed in sealed the deal.  We wanted to eat dinner but all the tables in the restaurant had reserved on them.  When we asked about getting a table they said they were all full.  After a "kind" word or two they miraculously came up with a table for us.  And all the while we ate dinner many of the "reserved" tables went unfulfilled.  It really soured me on the place.  So Linz is kaput...

Tomorrow we face our first real day of rain.  As a matter of fact forecast is for two days of rain.  😟