August 30th Stage 32 Passau to Au am Donau

August 30^th Stage 32  Passau to Au am Donau.  128 kms.

A long, interesting day of cycling maybe more difficult for Katherine in the “vehicule d’assistance” than it was for me. Our first meeting point was the bridge at Niederanna which required Katherine to take the south bank route and enter Austria almost immediately whilst I cycled the much more convenient north bank route passing through the border after the enormous barrage at Jochenstein.     The north bank route follows the main road on a good cycle track for 10 or so kilometres, then a minor road, finally crossing the insignificant border on a good track.  I decided to cross to the south side over the bridge at Niederanna which was probably a mistake, the Austrian road being busier than I had anticipated with hills and roadworks to boot. The north side route was clearly quieter with the attraction of the ferry crossing at Schlogen. Being determined, as I have already said, to cycle the whole way to the Black Sea, I eschewed all of the available river ferry possibilities today, and I think I made the right decision because the thirty or so kilometres on the south bank between Schlogen and Aschach (the famous Schlogen loop) were some of the most delightful touring kilometres imaginable. The river twists and turns on itself dramatically and the paved, traffic-free road hugs the shoreline. The views of the wooded hills of the opposite shore, the tiny villages clustered at the ends of the tributary valleys, and the occasional ruined castle is highly romantic. I could have gone on for ever and was a little disappointed to leave the pretty valley for the beginning of the open plains at Aschach, a town that has clearly seen better times when barge building was at its prime.

The next twenty or so kilometres towards Linz were pleasant enough along the track by the side of the river but just before Wilhering I thought I would switch to the north shore. Dipping down into pleasant birch woods I was soon at the Ottensheim ferry and pulled quickly across the river which is surprisingly narrow at this point. It was disconcerting, though, to ride through the suburbs towards the city of Linz, admittedly on a good cycle track but on the left side of the road and, therefore, into the streams of heavy, fast, rush-hour traffic coming towards me. I was glad when the city arrived and a wide promenade gave  impressive views of the imposing, almost austere buildings of Linz on the other side of the river. Once under the autoroute bridge the city showed perhaps its true face. First a lively fair-cum-market and then an immense area of  pleasing parkland in which people of all shapes and sizes were engaged in all manner of physical exercise.

I met Katherine at the camp site at Pleschingersee but we decided to keep going partly because tomorrow we will need to be in Melk in good time to visit the famous abbey, and Melk was still more than 100 kilometres away. I was feeling fit and it would perhaps be as well to knock off a few more kilometres before calling it a day. But the scenery was not conducive to energizing the spirits. Across the river was the most industrial scenery since Basle but, unfortunately perhaps, without the Swiss tidiness. I began to feel tired when a large powerfully built man, half my age, cruised past me on a mountain bike. I couldn’t resist tucking in behind him and for nearly ten kilometres we tore along the top of the unprepossessing levee. It was just what I needed to give me second wind and thanking my companion at Anwinder (where evidently his regular training run finished) I completed the last 15 kms in fine fettle. Katherine had found a lovely campsite at Au and we enjoyed large beer gazing out over the immense river under a gathering full moon to the hint of mountains in the far distance.

128 kms   Total from Schaffhausen 708 kms  Total from Galway 2614 kms