Sunday, June 23, 2013

Day 1 of Cycling - Linz to Wallsee

The forecast had predicated showers, but we woke up to a perfect blue sky. We took another walk down the main street, Land Strabe, to get to shop to pick up our bikes. The street was worth another picture.



After some challenges trying to find the bike shop and then trying to find the trail, we got started.



There are paths on both sides of the river, so selecting the best side for each section requires some study of the guide book.



We started out on the north side, but crossed over a hydro dam to get to the south side because it looked like there would be fewer villages to travel through.



That turned out to be a mistake, sort of. It turned out that part of the trail was closed. We stopped at the key intersection and tried to listen to an Austria women explain the detour to an English family. She went off back the way we had come. We started off with the family. While we were all stopped at the next intersection trying to decide which way to turn, the same Austrian women came riding back and said "Come. I will show you". She proceeded to lead us over a maze of country roads and through back streets of a town for about 8 kms out of her way until she lead us back on the trail.

As she was saying good bye, she stopped another rider and spoke to him in german. Then she turned to us and said "he goes to Mauthausen, you follow him". This got us through another difficult (i.e. easy to get lost) section of the trail.

We had lunch with the English family who were by now our best friends. Shortly after lunch, they took a side trail to the village where they were staying and we travelled on alone. A few minutes later we encountered another detour. This one we managed to navigate on our own.

Generally the trail is in great shape considering the flooding that just happened. This picture taken several hundred meters from the river shows the mark of the floodwater.




After a long hot day, we arrived in the village where our inn is located. The guidebook said the inn is located in the village main square. The map indicates that the main square is on top of the big hill. We climbed the hill and found the inn. A cold beverage was called for.








The village square is quite nice and the village comes with its own castle which is still privately own by descendants of the Hapsburgs.


Tomorrow rain and temperatures in the mid teens are forecast. That may not be as much fun. We will see.

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