Oh, Au

One of the inescapable delights of riding along the banks of the Danube are the preponderance of wildflowers.
I don't know their names, perhaps you do?



The Puhringer Gasthaus proved to be comfortable but basic, with no Internet connection and cash only, and, despite being the end of August and still in the high tourist season, pretty well deserted. We were the only guests.

Directions on the cycle route, you can't get lost?

Au an der Donau is a small hamlet nestling behind a huge dyke on the Danube with a grocery and pastry shop and not much else. Typical all along the Danube, is the Au marina, an artificial harbour cut into the banks of the river providing anchorage for pleasure craft and leisure facilities for the nearby camping site.

Marina at Au, note the cycle path on the top of the dyke.

With Au pretty deserted we walked to the larger town of Naarn through fields of corn, orchards and soybean dodging the showers but soaking up the intermittent sunshine. Although still showery the weather was in a warm trend and getting better. Not much to say about Naarn, a small country town with a bank, some shops and a cafe.
When planning our ride this year we built rest days into our schedule and after three days in the saddle the day "off" was greatly appreciated, so we walked and explored the area, sunned ourselves in the breaks in the weather, and rested.
Oh and my faithful Cassio camera has a developed a fault, no viewing screen.

Fine dining at the Jagerwirt Gasthof

Beautiful country and horrors of the past

Both feeling pretty chipper after a good nights sleep, bit stiff in the legs but no sore bottoms thanks to gel pad pants and the liberal use of Paceline's Chamois Butt'r, expensive but definitely worth it.

Showers on and off all day, interrupted with bright periods of blue sky and sunshine. At least it was reasonably warm. The days destination was the village of Au an der Donau some 28 miles away where we planned a break from riding with a two night stay at the Gasthaus Hafenwirt Pühringer.

After leaving Ottensheim, the left bank route follows a cycle way alongside the busy road to Urfahr over the river from the City of Linz. 

Cycleway near Linz

Linz is built on the site of the Roman market city of Lentia and its harbour and has a long history of trade and industry, development by Kaiser Maximillian, and the site of Europes first large industrial factory. When we cycled in around midmorning, nothing seemed open, but we soon found a little restaurant in Urfahr that provided shelter from the rain and the most wonderful cake and coffee.

We stayed on the left bank as we left the city, riding through extensive parkland, dyke riding all the way to the village of Abwinden where we found a cafe, some beautiful Goulash soup and beer for lunch. Very few cyclists and people around, most things seemed shut and its only the end August.  The season seems to end very early?

Revitalised and refreshed, the route now passes on quiet lanes through a series of villages away from the river, with few cars and few people. At Weinergraben we stocked up at the Euro SPAR supermarket, peddled past the turn off to Mauthausen concentration camp, now a memorial to the horrors of the past, and into the lovely town of Mauthausen. 

We both decided early on in the planning stages of this adventure that we didn't want to visit scenes of Nazi atrocities, and after visiting the Auschwitz death camp in Poland some years ago, I didn't want to experience that horror again.

We discovered that most of the small Gasthaus don't have credit card facilities, so a visit to Sparkasse Bank Geldermat in Mauthausen, or ATM to you and me, to replenish the coffers before the short ride to Au an der Donau for our next stop and rest day.

Oh, Au

Gasthaus Hafenwirt Pühringer

On leaving Mauthausen I saw this and had a right old chuckle.

Enjoy the slideshow

Onto Ottensheim

Our second day on the bikes was dominated by the weather, heavy overcast and frequent showers. Sylvia was suffering sickness from something she ate the night before and I had broken a spoke in the rear wheel of the bike, a little worrying when you are carrying all that weight.

Near Kobling

The ride however was through the Sauwald forest, around the S curve in the Danube and eventually breaking out into the fertile Eferdinger basin before Ottensheim and our overnight stay some 30 miles downstream.

The hotel at Schlogen proved very comfortable although a little expensive, and a better bet would have been the Gasthauses at Inzell, a tiny hamlet about 3 mile further along the river. We set off and soon after reached Kobling where we stopped at a cafe and managed to get some soothing chamomile tea for Sylvia who was still suffering.

We continued on in light showers until Aschach where we again stopped for refreshments and a visit to a bike shop to see if the broken spoke could be repaired. Nothing short enough for the 20" wheels so with spoke tied back we pressed on with fingers crossed.

By lunch time, with the rain increasing, we found a Gasthof overlooking the river at Brandstatt and had the most fantastic fish soup you could ever wish for, washed down with a beautiful local beer.

Our plan for the afternoon was to cross the river at the Ottensheim Wilhering power station, but the way was closed due to works so we had to push on to Wilhering for a ferry crossing to Ottensheim and our overnight stop.

Donauhof at Ottensheim

We arrived just in time at the crossing point and shelter as the heavens opened. Now the ferry is rather special at Ottensheim, it is driven by current ..... river current. It is tethered by a cable and steers side on into the fast flowing Danube current which thrusts it across to the opposite bank. How green is that?

The Donnauhof overlooks the river near the ferry landing and two bedraggled cyclists came to hear the most welcome words you have ever heard,
"Her Heeley, we've been expecting you, welcome, your room is ready."

First day on the road

After a rather decent breakfast, bikes packed and out of the garage, we set off by 10:30 for Schlogen some 27 miles away.

Packing and ready for off

Our hotel was right on the Donauradweg so we were soon on the trail along the promenade at Passau, over the Danube and Ilz and on our way down the left bank out of the city. The route is on a very smooth surface alongside the road past Erlau, Obernzell and all the way to the power station and river locks at Jochenstein. There were a lot of cyclists on the route this morning and many riding pedelecs out for a days ride.
Sunday in this part of the world means most things are shut, but a good strategy is to pull into camp sites where more often than not the site cafe is open. And so it proved by Obernzell where the campsite outdoor covered cafe proved the perfect place for lunch when the heavens opened with hail and heavy rain.
At least it was warm. We were soon on our way again along the pathway, cycling in glorious sunshine and crossed the frontier into Austria just downstream from Jochenstein.

Into Austria and wild fruit, ahhhhh Blackberries

The route now becomes wilder with thick forest on both banks of the river, and we made good time cycling on the super paved surface, passing through little hamlets on our way to the bicycle ferry at Au for the crossing to our hotel.

Onto the ferry and across the river to our overnight stop

Two euro each on the cycle ferry and we were at our hotel for the night in Schlogen right on the bend of the Donau Schlingue.

End of the first day

Passau

The Deutscher Kaiser turned out to be a real little gem, our spacious room on the corner of the building facing the railway station. Passau is built on a peninsular jutting out into the confluence of three rivers, Danube, Inn and Ilz and is a key postion, hence its interest for the Romans and any army that happened along over the coming centuries.

Top to bottom - sampling at street stalls, where the Danube meets the Inn, Rathaus, relaxing in Passau




Our guided walking tour came to nothing as it was only in German, so with tourist map in hand we soon settled into a self guided tour of this compact and interesting city defined by St Stephens, the Rathouse and the many riverside promenades.By lunch the shopping precinct had come alive and we soon discovered old familiar long lost brands of C&A and Woolworths, jostling side by side with the more unfamiliar for space on the high street.



Many river cruises are based in Passau and we booked a '60s night dinner cruise which took us some 20 miles downstream through the Jochenstein Locks before returning us to our hotel by midnight.

Cruising and dancing to night away.

What a terrific day to start the tour, tomorrow we ride to Schlogen.

Long day on the train

Our overnight on the ferry was uneventful and thanks to messers Marks and Spencer we dined in some elegance without relying on DFDS for sustenance.

Our ICE125 departed Amsterdam right on time and provided a fast smooth journey until the German border when we suddenly came to an unscheduled stop. Tree across the line we were told. Funny after an hour and half we started again and made an unscheduled stop just over the border where German Customs came onto the train and spoke to a couple of passengers. That excitement meant we had missed our connection in Cologne but Sylvia soon discovered that if we stayed on the train we could catch our connection in Franfurt.
Sure enough we boarded our first class compartment in Frankfurt and settled down to our meal when again the train came to an unscheduled stop. "Tree down across the line, we'll have to go another way to Passau which will add 1 hour to the journey" as told via a rough translation of the German.
That it did and we rolled into Passau at midnight, eleven and a half hours after we left Amsterdam.

As luck would have it, when we contacted the hotel Deutscher Kaiser advising our late arrival, our helpful host had been in contact with a relative of the hotel manager who was on the same train. This turned out to be the train superintendent who duly collected us on the train, wheeled our baggage out of the station, down the road to our hotel, where he let us in and bade us goodbye.
What super service from our hosts at the hotel and German Railways. Many thanks to everyone.