September 14, 2014
Winzer - Niederranna
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We ate breakfast with Hans, then dragged our feet a little. It was raining again. Hans, however, had it on his toes as soon as he was ready. He had a deadline. So did we, in a sense. We wanted to be back in London for our son's birthday on 30th September. Hopping the train to Regensburg had helped with that. We reluctantly set off in the rain. The next section of trail was a little rougher than we'd grown used to, on wet gravel paths and progress was slow at first.
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At Windorf, we were able to remove the rain gear and the weather stayed dry until Passau. We crossed the river into the city over a dry dock, the locks and a path built into the side of the imposing brick power station. I've made up an adjective for Passau centre, baroquissimo, although it's not at its finest under leaden skies. We made our way to the peninsular formed by the confluence of the Inn with the Danube, found a picnic spot under some trees overlooking the Inn and commenced eating. It rained again, at first the overhanging branches kept us dry, then as the rain grew heavy, they became a liability. We fled into the doorway of an empty house under renovation and were able to stay dry, if not comfortable. As a 12 year-old in my first year of learning German, looking at the map printed on the inside cover of my text book, I was fascinated by Passau, the idea of Passau, its frontier location and if I cared to speak it, its rhyme, Passau-an-der-Donau. Just at that moment, Tamanrasset seemed a better option.
Fed and watered [ha] and the rain now stopped, we pushed the bikes round the sharp end of the peninsular, recrossed the Danube and took up the cycle path again, at this point following the main road. I have read that the section of the Donauradweg between Passau and Vienna is the most heavily used cycle path in the world. First impressions; it's not hard to see why, even in the murk. We suffered another pulse of heavy rain, sheltered a while at a campsite by the river, then, having entered Austria, called it a day at the Gasthof Drechsler in picturesque, Niederanna.
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Here at the Gasthof Drechsler, there were heaps of bikes in the garage, I had to re-arrange a few to get ours in. A number of them were hire bikes, belonging to a tour company. I may be a bike snob, but I do own up to looking down my nose at healthy adult riders who use these companies. To me it's a cop out, a little uncertainty spices up the touring experience and poodling along a flat bike trail, carrying no gear, does little for your fitness. Above all, I'm no fan of group events of any variety, although I have nothing to say against the older person who might struggle against gravity with a loaded machine, I'm not far behind myself, in that respect.
The hotel was good, overlooking the river, with its own jetty for riverboat services and we had a large, clean and comfortable room [not overlooking the river]. We didn't try the restaurant. There was enough left over from the previous evening's purchases.
Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,144 km (710 miles)
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The disadvantages, of course, are their cost and weight, but overall, in a year or so, we may take the plunge.
3 years ago