Linz

Looking downstream
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Thursday. Today was an easy and pleasant 38 mile ride to the rather large city of Linz. En route, we stopped to see a Cistercian monastery on the south side of the river, then crossed over to the colorful and pleasant town of Ottensheim for what was my first truly delicious meal of the trip: lake trout in a cream sauce with fresh leeks. I was inspired to try the trout since I had read that Schubert composed his Trout Quintet near here.

The very end of the ride was a bit stressful, as we rode in to Linz in heavy traffic and rode up the Landstrasse, sharing the cobbled road with a mix of pedestrians, bicyclists, and streetcars. It feels more chaotic than Munich, more Italian I might say, except that I think maybe it’s just Austrian. After a rest, we rode back into the Platz for supper and (of course) Linzer torte, and were surprised by rain that presented us with a wet ride back on slippery cobbles.

Following the Danube

Riding in Linz
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I was glad to have an easy day today. Our daily rides have been a bit longer than we anticipated since we’ve done a certain amount of exploring each day. We covered close to 100 miles during our first two days out of Salzburg. Yesterday was just 40 miles, but included some steep climbs. I was starting to feel a bit fatigued--some of that left over, too, from our 30+ mile ride up into the Alps the day before we left Salzburg. Today, though, I’m feeling stronger again.

The river riding varies quite a bit. We may follow a very flat towpath for a while, or climb up in the hills above the river. Any town ending in -berg I’ve learned is like a street named Prospect in the U.S., and castles and monasteries are usually at the top of stiff climbs. Doug tells me the climb to the Oberberg in Passau yesterday was marked 25%. I had my head down and didn’t see any signs at all.

Lunch in Ottensheim
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I think I mentioned that our bikes from Austria Radreisen were good bikes and well equipped. They each have a bell, generator light front and back, odometer, front shocks, fenders, tool kit, and luggage rack with panniers. Surprisingly, no water bottle cage, but I bought myself one in Burghausen. Also, no toe clips, which I miss less than I thought I would. They are well designed touring bikes, but they are not light!

Methods of crossing the river vary, too. There are a few bridges, and we can usually ride over the hydroelectric dams, though the one we did cross had quite a flight of stairs to climb, as we went up over the locks. There are regular ferry points, too, and the ferries can be little boats for bicycles or larger car ferries. We took one intriguing ferry today: large enough for half a dozen cars, it was attached by cable to another cable strung across the river. Once it casts off, it simply allows the river current to push it across. Doug compared it to a kite.