day 22 June 24th

Day 22, June 24^th

As Graeme mentioned yesterday we did decide to take the boat from Passau to Linz so after breakfast we set off down to the pier.

Passau

The boat was one of those cruise varieties, all very nicely decked out but Graeme and I were initially unsure of where we fitted? There were a number of tourist groups and they had booked for a lunch or so cruise so from the moment of departure they sat all on nicely set tables and did not do much else then eat and drink the whole way to Linz (people drinking beer and wine at 9.30am, a tad early for me!!)!

The cycling tourists sat predominantly outside, ordered their coffee, drinks and foods and generally enjoyed the scenery. And the scenery was fantastic: beautiful rolling hills which were often forested with tees coming down all the way to the river, small picturesque townships, farmyards and a number of castles, all very pleasant. We struck up a conversation with an English couple who with a group of friends were cycling to Vienna but as they were beginners they decided to only cycle 40km for the first day. The boat stopped at Linz at 2pm and our intention was to have a look around Linz before cycling to a nearby town to sleep for the night. But, we found the city too overwhelming, there were sooo many people out shopping that it became hard work to look around whilst pushing a loaded bicycle amongst all those shoppers. So we found the “rad way” and cycled direction Vienna.

The first 10-18km was mainly along the river, we were going very well as we had the wind in our backs! Just before Mauthausen we went inland as I particularly wanted to visit the Mauthausen concentration camps from WWII. It is unbelievable that in this quiet and picturesque landscape such horrors took place. Apparently, between 1938 and 1945 about 123,000 people were murdered in this concentration camp.

 When we left the camp (high on top of a hill, stunning views), it started to rain, big drops at first but it soon became a heavy shower so time for us to call it quits for the day and to look for accommodation. Not so easy as a number of place along the way were fully booked so it took us awhile and an extra 8km cycling before we found a place at the Inn (guesthouse) but we have nicely settled in for the night and also enjoyed a good dinner (I had some fish and vegies and Graeme enjoyed a vegie burger and vegies). Most meals along the way we have enjoyed, except the German noodles with roasted onions, edible but not my favourites. Although we leisured some 98km away travelling by boat we still managed some extra 43km after we left the boat!