Passau, Germany to Haslach, Austria
The journey to Prague began this morning with a 15 km backtrack east on the Danube to Obernzell. Once there we knew the routing challenge and the hill climbing were about to begin. We wanted to find the road heading up that was not the main road, highway 388. We tried asking a couple of different people, but none of them knew where it was. They all, however, made it very clear that the road we were going on is very steep.
The initial climb was 5 kms to the town of Untergreisbach where we rewarded our effort with a couple of pieces of bakery. The climb had a few switchbacks but didn't live up to all of the steepness warnings we were given.
From there the hills continued. We went from completely flat riding the past few days to not a single stretch of flat today. And we hit some steep ones. We were tuckered when we stopped for lunch in Wegscheid. When we came out it began to rain. We were in our usual indecisive rain mode (should we wait it out, should we call it a day, should we ride?) but decided to ride. We only made it to the near end of the next town when the rain started coming down harder. We ducked into someone's open garage and waited about 20 minutes before deciding to ride into town and get a room. Well, there were several gasthaus places in town but only one seemed to be open. It seemed a bit pricey and the rain had stopped, so we decided to roll on.
We went up and down, up and down through little villages. The sky still looked threatening, but it stayed dry. At Oepping we decided to leave the main road and take a scenic road for about the last 10 kms of the day. This turned out to not be the greatest decision in hindsight because the map we had wasn't very detailed. We did alright by asking people up to a certain point where we asked someone walking which way it was to Haslach and didn't clearly understand the way he pointed. We ended up climbing about 2 kms before we asked a woman washing her car which way it was to Haslach. She pointed back the way we came to our dismay. She went into her car and gave us a really detailed map of the area and we hightailed it back to where we had gone astray.
Finally we arrived in Haslach but it didn't get any easier for us there. One of our maps showed a youth hostel in the town so we thought we would give that a try. We asked a few people where it was and finally happened upon it. There was no sign anywhere and there was nobody there. There was a sign on the door with a phone number, so we went to a pay phone, called and were told it was only open to big groups. O.K. We had passed a campground sign on the way into town and decided to go there even though we really wanted to stay inside tonight to get some of our damp things dried out. We left the main part of town and went back to the campground to find it deserted with a sign in German telling us where to go for information. We would have just camped there anyways, but the showers were locked and we really needed to warm up a bit. So we rode back uphill into town and stopped at the gasthaus by the town tower. It ended up costing even more than the gasthaus we turned !
down earlier in the day, but at that point it was our only option. The area that we traveled through today has many long walking tracks. At one point we got on what we in the U.S. call rails to trails. Once we left the river the countryside opened up and we could see the big rolling hills that lay in front of us.
Kms 63.81
Time 4:32:15
Avg 14.0
Max 44.2
Total 1178.7
Thursday, June 7, 2007
2 June 2007
Au, Austria to Passau, Germany
For the most part last night was eerily quiet except for a few calls from the resident peacocks that decided to sit in the tree right next to the tent. There were just some very light sprinkles overnight and the morning was foggy but looking like it was going to clear. A short day of riding took us into Passau, Germany where we wanted to spend some time looking aound the old city. The 40 km's flew by and we had our tent set up by 11:30. There was a Canadian couple that had just arrived late last night still packing up to start their day and their 6 week trip. We got to chatting and kept on chatting under cover as a pretty good rain shower came through. When the rain ended they took off and we headed into the city to look around and see if we could find a map to guide us up to Prague. The Aussie couple, Robin and Peter, peeked our interest and we decided to go for it. As we were heading into St. Stephen's cathedral, we saw their bikes parked outside and Robin inside so we gri!
lled them for more info. St. Stephen's cathedral was very impressive and holds the world's largest cathedral organ with 17,974 pipes. We even got to hear it being played. Incredible. From there we searched out a book store to find a map of cycle routes in the Czech Republic. We found one that will get us to Cesky Krumlov, where Peter said we could find all the maps we would need to bike the greenways to Prague. With that taken care of we shopped for food for tomorrow since no stores are open on Sunday, then strolled the city some more and made our way to an internet cafe to see if we could get more info on routes up to Prague. No luck. Back in camp John had some repairs to make to his bike due to another spectacular wipeout that bent his two biggest chain rings. So now he has matching road rash on both sides of his body. He had to take the chain rings off and hammer them back into shape (flat). He also found he was missing a screw on his pedal for his clips but another bike!
r in camp had a spare. A test ride around camp seems to indicate that
the repairs were successful. With all tht going on we didn't eat dinner until 8:30 P.M. and as we were finishing up the rains came again. So it was a mad dash to the tent. As we finish writing this the rain seems to have come to an end.
Kms 39.51
Time 2:12:21
Avg 17.9
Max 31.7
Total 1114.9
For the most part last night was eerily quiet except for a few calls from the resident peacocks that decided to sit in the tree right next to the tent. There were just some very light sprinkles overnight and the morning was foggy but looking like it was going to clear. A short day of riding took us into Passau, Germany where we wanted to spend some time looking aound the old city. The 40 km's flew by and we had our tent set up by 11:30. There was a Canadian couple that had just arrived late last night still packing up to start their day and their 6 week trip. We got to chatting and kept on chatting under cover as a pretty good rain shower came through. When the rain ended they took off and we headed into the city to look around and see if we could find a map to guide us up to Prague. The Aussie couple, Robin and Peter, peeked our interest and we decided to go for it. As we were heading into St. Stephen's cathedral, we saw their bikes parked outside and Robin inside so we gri!
lled them for more info. St. Stephen's cathedral was very impressive and holds the world's largest cathedral organ with 17,974 pipes. We even got to hear it being played. Incredible. From there we searched out a book store to find a map of cycle routes in the Czech Republic. We found one that will get us to Cesky Krumlov, where Peter said we could find all the maps we would need to bike the greenways to Prague. With that taken care of we shopped for food for tomorrow since no stores are open on Sunday, then strolled the city some more and made our way to an internet cafe to see if we could get more info on routes up to Prague. No luck. Back in camp John had some repairs to make to his bike due to another spectacular wipeout that bent his two biggest chain rings. So now he has matching road rash on both sides of his body. He had to take the chain rings off and hammer them back into shape (flat). He also found he was missing a screw on his pedal for his clips but another bike!
r in camp had a spare. A test ride around camp seems to indicate that
the repairs were successful. With all tht going on we didn't eat dinner until 8:30 P.M. and as we were finishing up the rains came again. So it was a mad dash to the tent. As we finish writing this the rain seems to have come to an end.
Kms 39.51
Time 2:12:21
Avg 17.9
Max 31.7
Total 1114.9
1 June 21007
Linz to Au
A perfect day -- almost!
The sky was as blue as can be as we said goodbye to our Seattle friends and headed for the Danube. It was an absolutely glorious morning. We did pretty well getting out of Linz which is a fairly big city. At one point we discovered the bikeway on the other side of the busy road and had to do the limbo with our bikes and ourselves under some railroad barricades and across some tracks to get there. But from there it was smooth sailing. We are amazed at the number of people we see cycling this bikeway. There are young and old and everything in between. There are the bikers clad in bright Spandex with fancy bikes and there are people wearing jeans riding very simple bikes. There are commuters, people just out for the day, overnighters staying indoors and campers loaded with gear. We've seen a number of large family groups with the kids hauling their share of the load. Last night there was a group of women at the campground that looked like it included grandma, mom and !
daughters. What a great family outing!
Today's route was again very flat. At one point we took a bit of a detour because of a big rowing competition that was happening on the river. This took us through some farmland for a short time and then back to the water. In Aschach we crossed over to the south side of the river and ate some lunch on a bench on the waterfront.
The river made a number of big turns today and made for some very pretty views with wooded hills on both sides. At one point we saw a swan with 7 fuzzy cygnets. The entire morning Marie commented on how the weather today was ideal, not too warm, not too cool with a gentle tailwind. However, as we rode we saw some clouds building ahead of us and with only 5 kms to go to get to our destination for the day, thunder rumbled and the rain began. We waited out a few heavy showers under some trees overhanging the road. We were able to get the last 5 kms to the ferry crossing in without any rain, but more came as we approached the ferry landing. There is a big hotel in Schlogen, so we parked under an overhang and headed into the restaurant for tea and coffee. Sitting in front of the large windows watching the showers come and go, we were looking at maps and began contemplating leaving the river and going to visit Prague. This morning we met some Aussies who had cycled from Pr!
ague and said they really enjoyed the whole Czech experience. The rain subsided so we went to the small store and bought some eggs tc cook up for dinner and took the ferry across the river to camp on a farm that our Seattle friends recommended. Some more rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance as we ate. After eating we ducked into the dining area for the people staying in rooms at the farm. There were two groups of people and they were all talking with the owners in German. Eventually we got in on the conversation and before we knew it we were both being served a shot of their homemade Schnaps because they all wanted to make sure we had a good time. We smiled and painfully swallowed the potent potion. We talked a little more with the cycling family from Munich, mother, father and 2 quite young daughters no older than 6 years. We were impressed. Tomorrow we enter Germany.
Kms 60.71
Time 3:27:56
Avg 17.5
Max 36.9
Total 1075.4
A perfect day -- almost!
The sky was as blue as can be as we said goodbye to our Seattle friends and headed for the Danube. It was an absolutely glorious morning. We did pretty well getting out of Linz which is a fairly big city. At one point we discovered the bikeway on the other side of the busy road and had to do the limbo with our bikes and ourselves under some railroad barricades and across some tracks to get there. But from there it was smooth sailing. We are amazed at the number of people we see cycling this bikeway. There are young and old and everything in between. There are the bikers clad in bright Spandex with fancy bikes and there are people wearing jeans riding very simple bikes. There are commuters, people just out for the day, overnighters staying indoors and campers loaded with gear. We've seen a number of large family groups with the kids hauling their share of the load. Last night there was a group of women at the campground that looked like it included grandma, mom and !
daughters. What a great family outing!
Today's route was again very flat. At one point we took a bit of a detour because of a big rowing competition that was happening on the river. This took us through some farmland for a short time and then back to the water. In Aschach we crossed over to the south side of the river and ate some lunch on a bench on the waterfront.
The river made a number of big turns today and made for some very pretty views with wooded hills on both sides. At one point we saw a swan with 7 fuzzy cygnets. The entire morning Marie commented on how the weather today was ideal, not too warm, not too cool with a gentle tailwind. However, as we rode we saw some clouds building ahead of us and with only 5 kms to go to get to our destination for the day, thunder rumbled and the rain began. We waited out a few heavy showers under some trees overhanging the road. We were able to get the last 5 kms to the ferry crossing in without any rain, but more came as we approached the ferry landing. There is a big hotel in Schlogen, so we parked under an overhang and headed into the restaurant for tea and coffee. Sitting in front of the large windows watching the showers come and go, we were looking at maps and began contemplating leaving the river and going to visit Prague. This morning we met some Aussies who had cycled from Pr!
ague and said they really enjoyed the whole Czech experience. The rain subsided so we went to the small store and bought some eggs tc cook up for dinner and took the ferry across the river to camp on a farm that our Seattle friends recommended. Some more rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance as we ate. After eating we ducked into the dining area for the people staying in rooms at the farm. There were two groups of people and they were all talking with the owners in German. Eventually we got in on the conversation and before we knew it we were both being served a shot of their homemade Schnaps because they all wanted to make sure we had a good time. We smiled and painfully swallowed the potent potion. We talked a little more with the cycling family from Munich, mother, father and 2 quite young daughters no older than 6 years. We were impressed. Tomorrow we enter Germany.
Kms 60.71
Time 3:27:56
Avg 17.5
Max 36.9
Total 1075.4
31 May 2007
An unplanned day off in Linz
With a little help including a partial escort by a man cycling to work, we were able to find an optometrist that could fix John's glasses but couldn't have them done until 4:00. So we got a tourist map of the city and spent this sunny, warmer day taking in the sites of Linz, Austria. Most of what we saw were spectacular churches with beautiful carved wood, stained glass windows and frescos. We even saw the church where the intestines of some saint are interred.
Marie was suffering pretty badly from a cold, so when the glasses were done we rode back to the campground to relax. It was full of tents tonight and next to us there was a group of 3 cyclists from Seattle. We enjoyed sharing stories with them for the rest of the night.
Kms 15.37
Time 1:16:16
Avg 12.0
Max 58.2
Total 1014.7
With a little help including a partial escort by a man cycling to work, we were able to find an optometrist that could fix John's glasses but couldn't have them done until 4:00. So we got a tourist map of the city and spent this sunny, warmer day taking in the sites of Linz, Austria. Most of what we saw were spectacular churches with beautiful carved wood, stained glass windows and frescos. We even saw the church where the intestines of some saint are interred.
Marie was suffering pretty badly from a cold, so when the glasses were done we rode back to the campground to relax. It was full of tents tonight and next to us there was a group of 3 cyclists from Seattle. We enjoyed sharing stories with them for the rest of the night.
Kms 15.37
Time 1:16:16
Avg 12.0
Max 58.2
Total 1014.7
30 May 2007
Grein to Linz
"Crack of noon Ron" day
It rained lightly most of the night and was still raining when we woke up at 7:30. So we rolled over and slept some more. When we awoke the rain was very light, so we ate breakfast and packed up to go. The church bells were chiming 12:00 as we were pulling out of the campground. We joked calling this a "crack of noon Ron" day in rememberance of our friend Ron that we rode with in 2001 down the west coast of the U.S. He always slept late and napped throughout the day but still made it into camp at the end of the day at the same time as us.
It rained on us lightly for just a little while but then stopped. Today again was very cool and the dampness added to the chill. We rode taking short breaks until we got to Mauthausen at about 3:00. There we decided to be like the Europeans and have a substantial lunch and a smaller dinner. Plus this would get us out of the cold wind for awhile. John had a plate of grilled sausages with french fries and Marie had some delicious dumplings stuffed with meat and some sauerkraut on the side. To top this off we went next door to the bakery and enjoyed a piece of Sachertorte.
Then it was back out into the cold for the last 25 kms. We lost our way a couple of times, but otherwise it was smooth sailing until the light rain began again with about 15 kms to go.
The campground was right next to the bikeway, so we pulled in and set up. John rode his bike about a km. into town to get us some groceries and took a little spill on his way back but only scraped his elbow and hip a bit. Then after his shower he was tightening the screw on his glasses so the lense wouldn't fall out and the frame broke. This was a serious problem and we spent most of the rest of the night thinking of ways to deal with it. Tomorrow will be interesting.
Kms 58.33
Time 3:42:32
Avg 15.7
Max 32.4
Total 999.3
"Crack of noon Ron" day
It rained lightly most of the night and was still raining when we woke up at 7:30. So we rolled over and slept some more. When we awoke the rain was very light, so we ate breakfast and packed up to go. The church bells were chiming 12:00 as we were pulling out of the campground. We joked calling this a "crack of noon Ron" day in rememberance of our friend Ron that we rode with in 2001 down the west coast of the U.S. He always slept late and napped throughout the day but still made it into camp at the end of the day at the same time as us.
It rained on us lightly for just a little while but then stopped. Today again was very cool and the dampness added to the chill. We rode taking short breaks until we got to Mauthausen at about 3:00. There we decided to be like the Europeans and have a substantial lunch and a smaller dinner. Plus this would get us out of the cold wind for awhile. John had a plate of grilled sausages with french fries and Marie had some delicious dumplings stuffed with meat and some sauerkraut on the side. To top this off we went next door to the bakery and enjoyed a piece of Sachertorte.
Then it was back out into the cold for the last 25 kms. We lost our way a couple of times, but otherwise it was smooth sailing until the light rain began again with about 15 kms to go.
The campground was right next to the bikeway, so we pulled in and set up. John rode his bike about a km. into town to get us some groceries and took a little spill on his way back but only scraped his elbow and hip a bit. Then after his shower he was tightening the screw on his glasses so the lense wouldn't fall out and the frame broke. This was a serious problem and we spent most of the rest of the night thinking of ways to deal with it. Tomorrow will be interesting.
Kms 58.33
Time 3:42:32
Avg 15.7
Max 32.4
Total 999.3
29 May 2007
Melk to Greis and the change.
Last night was a carbon copy of our stormy night at Lake Balaton. The wind began to blow in strong gusts and then the rain came. By morning the rain had stopped but the wind continued and again it was not in our favor.
We bundled up and took off along the river which unfortunately acted as a wind tunnel. The going was slow but then again we could be back home working. The sun tried to peak out from time to time but the clouds won out today. We saw that the temperature only reached 15 degrees celsius. We stayed on the south side of the river and enjoyed the views of all the small villages sitting on the river with the hills behind them. We decided to call it a day after 50 km's because it looked as if it might rain again. With the tent set up and us cleaned up we walked the cobblestone streets of town and bought food for dinner. We finally found gas for the stove so we cooked tonight. It takes quite a while to boil water so we may have to ditch the stove or keep it and a bit of food to cook in case of an emergency. They don't seem to have "just add water" pancake mix. I think we need to tell Krusteze to look into the European market. We write tonight in the warmth of the campground bar. Wha!
t happened to spring?
Kms 48.17
Time 3:01.07
Avg 15.9
Max 28.4
Total 941.0
Last night was a carbon copy of our stormy night at Lake Balaton. The wind began to blow in strong gusts and then the rain came. By morning the rain had stopped but the wind continued and again it was not in our favor.
We bundled up and took off along the river which unfortunately acted as a wind tunnel. The going was slow but then again we could be back home working. The sun tried to peak out from time to time but the clouds won out today. We saw that the temperature only reached 15 degrees celsius. We stayed on the south side of the river and enjoyed the views of all the small villages sitting on the river with the hills behind them. We decided to call it a day after 50 km's because it looked as if it might rain again. With the tent set up and us cleaned up we walked the cobblestone streets of town and bought food for dinner. We finally found gas for the stove so we cooked tonight. It takes quite a while to boil water so we may have to ditch the stove or keep it and a bit of food to cook in case of an emergency. They don't seem to have "just add water" pancake mix. I think we need to tell Krusteze to look into the European market. We write tonight in the warmth of the campground bar. Wha!
t happened to spring?
Kms 48.17
Time 3:01.07
Avg 15.9
Max 28.4
Total 941.0
28 May 2007
Zwentendorf to Melk
Another warm morning greeted us today. We were up a bit earlier than usual, had a banana for breakfast because no stores are open on account of the holiday. Our friends
from Munich were just stirring as we were heading out. The first 25 km's were rather bland passing through an industrial area. We stopped to have some breakfast at a restaraunt in Rohrendorf and had another learning experience. The scenery picked up as we moved along with views of castle ruins and quaint cities on the other side of the river. We stopped at a ferry crossing in Weissenkirchen for lunch which consisted of two leftover rolls from breakfast with liver sausage, a cookie to share and a banana a piece. Yes, our food supply has just about run out. We heard there was a pretty neat abbey to see in Melk so we continued on. A few km's before Melk we saw a sign for a strawberry stand, so we rode up the road and wanted to purchase just a couple of handfulls, maybe 20 berries, so we picked them out and then when we asked how much, the guy said no charge. After setting up camp we rode up to the abbey to have a look around. It is huge and sits on a hill overlooking Melk. One !
of the highlights of the abbey included the library with books going back to the 1300's with over 100,000 books in all. The other highlight was the church. Just amazing. On the way back to camp we toured the narrow cobblestone streets of the old town. Dinner in a restaraunt rounded out the day. As we write it seems a change in the weather might be coming through. It has been trying to rain for the last couple of days but nothing has come of it. Now there is a cold wind howling and Marie is sitting in the tent with her fleece jacket and rain jacket on and in her sleeping bag. As for rain it has just sprinkled so far.
Kms 68.51
Time 3:56:52
Avg 17.3
Max 47.3
Total 892.8
Another warm morning greeted us today. We were up a bit earlier than usual, had a banana for breakfast because no stores are open on account of the holiday. Our friends
from Munich were just stirring as we were heading out. The first 25 km's were rather bland passing through an industrial area. We stopped to have some breakfast at a restaraunt in Rohrendorf and had another learning experience. The scenery picked up as we moved along with views of castle ruins and quaint cities on the other side of the river. We stopped at a ferry crossing in Weissenkirchen for lunch which consisted of two leftover rolls from breakfast with liver sausage, a cookie to share and a banana a piece. Yes, our food supply has just about run out. We heard there was a pretty neat abbey to see in Melk so we continued on. A few km's before Melk we saw a sign for a strawberry stand, so we rode up the road and wanted to purchase just a couple of handfulls, maybe 20 berries, so we picked them out and then when we asked how much, the guy said no charge. After setting up camp we rode up to the abbey to have a look around. It is huge and sits on a hill overlooking Melk. One !
of the highlights of the abbey included the library with books going back to the 1300's with over 100,000 books in all. The other highlight was the church. Just amazing. On the way back to camp we toured the narrow cobblestone streets of the old town. Dinner in a restaraunt rounded out the day. As we write it seems a change in the weather might be coming through. It has been trying to rain for the last couple of days but nothing has come of it. Now there is a cold wind howling and Marie is sitting in the tent with her fleece jacket and rain jacket on and in her sleeping bag. As for rain it has just sprinkled so far.
Kms 68.51
Time 3:56:52
Avg 17.3
Max 47.3
Total 892.8
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