We started our day with an interesting discussion with other cycle tourists at the youth hostel breakfast. One was a German psychiatrist from Cologne and the other, from Berne in Switzerland, was on an open ended tour – going to Istanbul, then maybe further.

It was a cooler day again today, slightly overcast, so perfect conditions. Even so, we saw another snake warming itself on the cycle path – this one a little smaller then previously.

We started out on the north bank of the river and the ride out from Linz to Ottensheim had long stretches with the road into town between the cycle path and the river. We are becoming spoilt, so even though this is an excellent cycle path and totally separated from the traffic, our enjoyment really started when the cycle path went directly onto the river at around Ottensheim.

We back-tracked a little to cross to the south bank at the Ottensheim Wilhering power generator so that we could visit Erferding. This is because I read in the tourist brochure that “its’ main square is counted as one of the most beautiful in Upper Austria, as the houses haven’t really been altered since the middle ages”.

Anyway, we followed a detour off the river to visit this town, which was a big disappointment, seeming to be nothing special compared to all the other towns we are seeing.

We lost the cycle path trying to hunt fantastic old towns, and did a detour through some of the outskirts of the town and industrial areas before finally getting back to the river. We did find a nice cheap kebab shop though. There was a drive through cigarette shop right next to the kebab shop – the first time we have seen such a thing (photo below). This probably added about 20km to the day – so no more tourist brochure detours from now on!

The following town, Aschach, was even prettier, just from the river bank. We stopped for a quick ice cream.

Next up were some bends in the river, called the Schlogener Schlinge, most of it part of a nature reserve. The river narrows and the sides steepen. It does a full S bend at one point. You ride along a bike path with the river on one side and a forest on the other for most of the time. The banks are at more than a 45 degree inclination at various points. There are cycle paths on both sides of the river. There are also castles visible every now and then up on the top banks and one or two small towns, such as Inzel. The whole section lasts about 20km. It was getting hotter at this point and there were lots of flying insects in the air too.

   

 

   

  

There is a camp site, hotel and yacht basin at Schlogen at the end of the bends.

  

There is a bit of a hill climb just after Schlogen (we were on the wrong bank as it seemed flat on the other side) – up and down about three times until Wesenufer, where we crossed to the north bank along another power generator. A huge barge was going into the lock of the generator as we were crossing.

We stayed on the north bank until Engelhartszell – passing through a few small towns which seemed pretty dead. We wanted to stay at Engelhartszell so we crossed to the town on the south bank using a pedestrian/bicycle ferry. We had to ring a bell to summon it to our side of the river. It took us and another cycling couple over.

         

         

 

The tourist information office was closed but there were brochures available outside outlining accommodation in town. The first place we tried was about 100m away and directly on the river. It is in a 400 year old house, with thick walls and a very friendly proprietress. Also good value. Only downside is no wifi, but we decided we could live without it for the evening. The house used to be a farrier shop, which shod the horses that pulled barges along the river. There is a museum in the house with a forge that is hundred’s of years old.

We had a picnic on the river and enjoyed looking at the tourist and commercial ships go by.

We then had some special beer from the nearby Trappist monastery. The monastery is struggling, but its beer is famous. It contains honey as well as hops and malt and is beautiful – kind of like drinking a liqueur. Obviously a change of the corporate mission statement is required.