Day 35 - Dienstag 14 Mai 2013

From - Passau
To - Linz
Distance - 106km
Time - 5 hours
Total - 2612km

There was a late new room mate who arrived at 10pm. He was a German cyclist from Ulm, a little older than me. he spoke good English and we had a good chat before lights out. He was starting his four day cycle trip and was going the same way as me. he was called Ewald, which is an old German name.

Way a difference the sun makes. The morning was bright and sunny and I fought may way through the dining room full of school children who were all around 11 years old. Ewald and I set off together and went down into Passau for a couple of things before setting off on the route. He was going further on than Linz but we stuck together till we reached my destination. It was not long before we waltzed across the border into Austria, not that you would have noticed it. I know we were on a cycle path and they cant have a border crossing on cycle paths but a sign would have been nice. i was prepared to wave my passport in the air just to make everything official!

Ewald was a really friendly guy. He chatted about all sorts of topics including the EU and Hitler and family. He was committed to the EU and wanted greater integration. We kept up a quick pace and hardly stopped till lunchtime. With the exception of a brief ferry ride across the river. At lunch we popped into a Spar shop in the only notable town of the route, Aschach. Spar don't seem to be represented in Germany (well I didn't see any) but they must be in Austria because I've already seen two and it reminded me of Grange Spar shop back home. The flies were out in force again and I think it's about time we had some 'goal/mouth' technology to sort this out. I had a couple straight in but one in off the post and I dispute the ones that I can quickly spit out!!

I wondered if I would notice much difference between Austria and Germany, Ewald said there was a difference but I haven't noticed it yet except the letter A on the car registration plates.

On our arrival in Linz we said our goodbyes and I headed for the Tourist Information, quickly followed by the ice cream shop. I sat in the lovely warm sun in Linz main square. If the seat had been more comfortable I could have fallen asleep. I dragged myself up to have a look around the city centre and of course pop into a few churches. I am getting church overload! There seems to be a lot of culture and art in the city but the culture is totally wasted on me.

I went to find the hotel, which of course was up a substantial hill but I made myself cycle up without getting off. I wasn't far wrong with my guess that it was going to be a bit grotty at a price of 20 euros. No wifi of course. I won't go into too much detail about the condition of the room but I will survive. I have put my cycle in the garage and they have trusted me with the key as there are no staff on the premises when I get up! although a cleaner starts at 8am and should hand over the keys to them. i wonder what e cleaner actually does because i havent seen much evidence of the cleaning.

My mind started to turn to the next days. I booked a hostel at Melk and then it will be on to Vienna. I grabbed something to eat in the hotel restaurant, nothing exciting just chicken and French fries with a salad. Then I went for a walk with my iPad to find a sunny spot to write this blog. I didn't have to go far. There was a small piece of woodland overlooking a valley (on the opposite side of the hill to Linz) and a nice bench with a view across to the Alps. Stunning.

Well, the sun is almost down and that means the blog must come to an end. I'm looking forward to getting back to that room.... not! However, I will sleep because I need it and I have over 100km to do again for the next two days.

Photo 1, Ewald of Ullm.
Photo 2, The little ferry crossing the Danube.
Photo 3, Main Square in Linz.
Photo 4, The old Cathedral.
Photo 5, One of the streets going down to the Parliament building.
Photo 6, The Parliament Building.
Photo 7, A nice piece of electrical work in my hotel room.
Photo 8, View across to the Alps.