Passau to Mauthausen
Passau, looking down the river Inn to where it joins the river Danau
Passau is a neat city, one I'd like to return to for a longer visit.
Actually, I have already returned to it once. After a good breakfast at the
Rotel Inn, I finished my previous days ride report, packed up my stuff, got
food from the dining room for my days ride - it was Sunday and most sources
of food along the way would be closed - checked out and headed across town
to the Austrian side of the Danube. Then, as I rode out of town, I noticed
that my Avocet Vertec watch and altimiter was missing. A frantic search of
the bike was followed by a quick trip back to the Rotel Inn where I found my
Vertec behind the door of my room. Whew!
The start of the Radweg on the south bank of the Danau!
The narrow path in Passau
After getting out of town for the second time, I stopped to tighten my
handlebars. I had noticed the night before that they rotated when I hit a
big dip. I also noticed my hands were getting sore. I hadn't set the bars up
properly at the airport. I find proper bar setup really important for riding
comfort. Of course, it took me several years of riding with a bad setup to
realize how important it was to do it right!
I guess I'm in Austria
There really are open borders over here!
There were a lot of slow tourists on the path so I'm riding in the road
The first 30 km east of Passau are really quite beautiful. The
river valley is narrow with steep, forested sides. There were lots of bikes
on the path and lots of bikes on the top or back of cars on the road. I hate
to think how crowded this stretch of road/path is in high season!
These
folks stayed ahead of me on the first real hill of todays ride
Now that
is an upright riding position!
Before the end of this
section, the separate path ends and the Danau Radweg is on the road. I'm not
sure where it leaves the road since, although I saw a sign that said three
km, I didn't see the path. I kept riding on B130 which goes straight where
the river bends. Since the the sides are steep, B130 had a good climb where
the radweg still runs along the river. I enjoyed the climb - mostly -
It was about 200 meters vertical at a slope from 2% or 3% for much of the
climb to 10% or more near the top. It follows a creek most of the way up. I
really like climbs that do that!
The
river near Wihering
And an interesting castle across the river
After
a great downhill, B130 went through a flat section of farms and small towns.
The Danau Radweg comes back onto the road before Eferding, and, at Eferding
it switches to B129 which goes to Linz. After Wihering, B129 runs right
along the river and the view is quite pretty. I "raced" a police boat
downriver to Linz. It was pretty close to a tie, but only because I stopped
to take picture!
Linz is
a big town with lots of industry, located at a bend in the river
Since I needed several things - a plug adapter or a new
plug for my computers power supply, a compass, and several other things - I
considered staying in Linz. I decided it was just too big and that, although
it was fine riding on a Sunday afternoon, I didn't want to ride there on
Monday. Mauthasen was 20 mile away and a much nicer size, so I looked at my
computer mapping software to find a route through Linz to Mauthausen.
Because Linz is on a bend in the river, the best route was to ride through
town and get on B3, which goes to Mauthausen, on the southwest edge of Linz.
I looked for a route, then continued riding north until it felt like the
right place to turn. I lucked out, since I ended up turning onto
Franckstrasse which eventually becomes B3. I did stop at a service
station/store to check with the locals and, after getting the Austrian
version on "I get on the interstate to go there," managed to confirm my
routing. After I crossed the river on B3, I saw the radweg running along the
edge and rode down and along it.
The
path going south from Linz with Dam
This was a great
section of radweg, with lots of riders, runners and rollerbladers. I really
enjoyed it till I reached the dam about 10 km down stream. I rode over the
dam and down the radweg on the other side. It didn't feel right because it
headed off away from the river and then tee'd without any sign to tell me
which was the right path. I rode back over the dam - note the dams are
interesting because they have to have locks for the large ships that travel
up and down this river - and tried the path on the north side. That one
changed to soft gravel/sand that I couldn't ride. So I headed back up river,
and took the path heading away from the river. It intersected B3 not far
from the river and B3 is apparently the Danau Radweg in this section. Next
time I try to ride this thing, I'm gonna get a map of the radweg!
B3 heading for Mauthausen
When I reached Mauthausen, I rode through town looking for a place to stay. I saw some "Zimmer" signs, but no places. At the far end of town, I turned back and stopped the first person I saw to ask for help. As usual , the response was overwhelming. The woman I asked didn't speak English, so she called to some folks at a nearby house and, eventually, I had four people, none of whom spoke much English, helping me. One of them, ended up riding back into town to show me the best place to stay. It is a really nice Gasthof, called Zur Traube, right on the main road. A great place for 35 Euros including a good breakfast.
At breakfast the next morning, I was seated with an Austrian man who knew
some English. We had a good visit, which, when I heard guests at the next
table speaking English, ended up as a foursome. The other men were cyclists
from Boston. They were near the end of their two week tour and told me that
I was the first English speaking cyclist they had met on this trip. After
breakfast, I asked my hostess how to get to the Mauthausen Concentration
Camp. I have created another web page describing my reactions to that visit.
One street over from the main drag in Mauthausen