Waking in Slovakia, we decided not to bother cycling into Bratislava, instead we plan to backtrack and cross into Austria up north. A snapped tent pole and a flat tyre later, and we’re over the border and into Austria. Finally, success! We meandered along through rolling hills and open farmland towards Vienna, running into more and more lycra-clad families out for a Saturday cycle.
That afternoon we reached Vienna, where we had a mediocre Wiener Schnitzel and some Apfel Strudel, and failed to find any open bike stores. There were however lots of large and impressive buildings. A city to be explored another day though, we cycled out of town along the Danube to find camping.
The next morning we realised that as we didn’t find any inner tube patches yesterday, and we had no good spare tubes, so if either of us flatted before we could find a bike shop we’d have to test the theory that inner tubes can be used to patch other inner tubes. Of course I got a flat within 5 minutes of cycling away from camp. Luckily the inner tube patch idea works pretty well (just cut out a circle from a no-good tube, glue it on as per a normal patch, works a treat), and we didn’t have to beg patches from passing cyclists.
The next few days were spent cycling along the Danube – flowing wide and fast, it’s more of a green than blue. The cycle path is good though, and it’s obviously a popular tour, there are hoards of cyclists following the river, and the average age seemed to be about three decades older than us. All along there were cafes, and lovely scenery – especially after Krems and Melk, where the land beside the river started to rise up and become hilly and picturesque. We cycled past wineries clinging to terraced hillsides, orchards of stone fruit, huge cliffs, castles, churches and jungle-like forest. It was the best scenery cycling we’d been through since Norway. Although unlike our last week in the Czech Republic, there was a bit of a shortage of wildlife. High-water marks on buildings acted as reminders of the tendency of the river to flood, and we’d often be cycling along the bike path, realising that the river was much higher than the land on the other side of us.
We spent our evenings camped by the river and watching the sun set over the Danube (while listening to the sweet music of trees trying to drop pears or acorns on us). There were no spectacular river sunrises though, as it was foggy every single morning, often until noon. The mornings were beginning to get a lot colder at this point too – damp and clammy, they didn’t do much for early morning enthusiasm.
After a couple of days cycling we reached Linz, another nice little Austrian city, with some super tasty icecream (there were probably some relevant architectural and historical points as well, but for some reason the food is always more memorable). It’s there that we finally managed to find a new front tyre for Alex, and get the first bike shop opinion of Alex’s chain/cluster/chain rings – they’re thoroughly worn out.
The following morning we found another bike shop where the mechanic confirms this verdict: “Kaput!†So we headed on to Passau where we hoped the bike stores would have the necessary replacement parts. A few hours later I snapped my gear cable, and so we hobbled into Passau and found a fantastic little bike shop just across the river by the roundabout (Fahrrad Klinik). Thankfully they had the parts we needed (gear cable, front tyre, chain, chain rings, cluster, bottom bracket), and were very helpful, lending us the tools we didn’t have. So we set up on the roundabout in the middle of Passau and spent an hour or two getting ourselves covered in dirt and grease, and our bikes in full working order again.
After our pleasant afternoon in Passau, we parted ways with the Danube and left town along the River Inn, which we were planning to follow at least part of the way towards Munich. The Inn forms the border between Germany and Austria at this point, so we did a lot of crossing back and forth from country to country as we cycled west – although the best cycling infrastructure was definitely found in Austria.
At one point we ended up doing an inadvertent Papal pilgrimage as we followed the Benediktweg through Marktl (where I resisted buying Vatikan Brot or Benedikt Torte) and various other sites of importance to the life of the young Pope Benedikt. In general though, this section of the Inn proved to be far less scenic than the Danube, and the bike path spent much of its time traveling only vaguely near the river, and on gravel and mud, and over un-scenic hills.
At our closest point to Munich, we suddenly realised that we should probably make use of the good weather while we had it – the Alps were beckoning. So we turned from our course and dropped down south, trying to follow the Salzach River, but ending by the Waginger See (441m a.s.l.) where we fell asleep listening to the clanging of cow bells.
Distance cycled: 604km
Average cycled per day: 93km
Rest days: None
Flagginess: Low
Sleeping arrangements: Campgrounds
Days of rain: 0/7 (wooo! the sunny spell begins)
Public toilets: Available
Bike friendliness: Riverside bike trails were great
Free wifi availability: Bad
3 replies on “Cycling: Austria and Bavaria by river (19 – 25 Sept 2009)”
it looks gorgeous, the ride along the danube… and yay to sunny days throughout the week!
I just love the last picture!
thank you for sharing your great adventure!
Glad you’re enjoying it :) The Danube was really lovely, and the sunny weather was so nice after all the rain we got earlier! Living indoors all the time you really lose touch with the weather, as it’s so easy to avoid, but out on the road all the time it completely ruled our lives.