The day dawned! Bleak, blustery and rain. I had not ridden for a day or two and was having withdrawal symptoms. So I set out, calling in to the bike shop in Passau to improve wet weather gear : long trousers and shoe covers. I was otherwise well protected from the waist up.

The day turned out to be reminiscent of my Irish adventures last year, in terms of the weather. For today it alternated between cold biting rain then bright bursts of sunshine! Appropriately clothed I was almost sweating at times. During the day I guess there were about 10 other adults riding the same trail, a couple of Spanish guys and a high proportion of “older” people – some I venture older than I. It was all rather fun, in a masochistic way. There were some mitigating circumstances against the scudding clouds and rain. The profile was flat and the prevailing breeze was a modest tail wind.

The cycle path which is well developed on both sides of the river follows the old tow road for the barges. About two or three times one must crisscross the river by ferry.

Today, literally 4 days before I reach the end of my cycle trip in Vienna, I had a back tyre puncture. It was a snake bite pincher puncture. In retrospect I can recall the sharp rut over which I rode. But what was surprising was that it took several kilometres of further riding before it suddenly became obvious. I was by then riding a leafy moist track in the forest by the Danube. I swore and blasphemed and bugger me if almost instantly the sun came out and around the bend I rode up to a riverside cafe in the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly the tyre which is as new as the bike, slipped off the rim easily and I had it all sorted within 15 minutes.

God smiled on me that day, for the roadside cafe was also one of the many ferry points. There was a large shed and a jovial weather beaten ferryman! When he saw my predicament, he offered to pump up the tyre. I wheeled the cycle into his shed and he turned on a large portable air compressor. When I realized that the hose had no pressure gauge and that he was simply going to judge the pressure by “feel”, I diplomatically did my best to indicate a mild degree of apprehension, lest he over inflate it. When he understood, he laughed as much as to say “look mate, this is the Danube Cycle Path hundreds of blokes ride past every day in summer this is not the first time I’ve pumped up a bike tyre!” I still asked him nicely “not so hard”!

At the next sizable town called Aschach, there was an enticing bakery and would you believe, right next door a bike shop. As god is my witness, it had an air hose for cyclists to check their pressures! These series of fortuitous finds after an isolated puncture and taking the lord’s name in vain, can only mean one thing – there is a God or now that I think it through, perhaps I really mean there is NO god?

I had a coffee and almond croissant then meandered into the cycle shop to buy a replacement tube. The attentive young man in overalls (on my fetish scale overalls are just a smidgen below Lederhosen), sized up my wheel rims and then helped me check the pressure in my tyres. The need for this was that whilst the hose had a reassuring pressure gauge, I could not seem to get an accurate reading! The young man laughed and explained that the gauge was “kaput”! Like the ferryman he simply pumped it up as “much as he could”! Again he relied on “feel”. Given his youthful overalls, I did not once question his technique, indeed asked him to check the front tyre and seriously contemplated buying a dozen replacement tubes!

By about 3 pm the sky cleared yet again and the sun burst forth. By this time Linz was less than 10 km away. Readers may recall that I had cycled to Linz from Prague a week or so before, so I decided to ride through and here I am at Steyregg.

The consequence is that I have ridden about 110 km in total today, the longest of any day despite the fluctuating weather! Started out at about 9.30 am and arrived at Steyregg about 4.30 pm.

It’s early to bed!

The dinning room at the Pension Virus. It will well and truely wake you up at breakfast!

Wet weather gear and 110 km’

Two ferry rides

This small rock in the middle of the Danube has some sort of place in the story of the Nibelungen, the basis for the Wagner opera cycle. “Der Ring des Nibelungen”.

The path was basically flat and excellent Tarmac following or utilizing the old tow road,

Travelled to Passsu by train, in fact three. It was painlessly efficient. Passsu is an interesting city on the border between Germany and Austria. It would have been more enjoyable to explore if the sun had been shinning! It’s ancient history includes yet another Baroque cathedral with, it is claimed, the world’s biggest pipe organ, in a church that is. It is also a university town.

The city sits at the confluence of 3 rivers. Strange but true, 12 months ago I was at the confluence of 3 rivers and 3 countries, in South America.

Passau also has a significant history in relation to the Second World War.

From 1892 until 1894, Adolf Hitler and his family lived in Passau. The city archives mention Hitler being in Passau on four different occasions in the 1920s for speeches. On November 3, 1902 Heinrich Himmler and his family arrived from Munich. Himmler maintained contact with locals until May 1945.

It was the site of a post World War II American sector displaced persons camp. Even now there are some sights pertaining to World War II in the city of Passau. I am not sure where these are! They are not in the usual tourist handouts.

On the 2nd of June 2013 the old town suffered from severe flooding as a result of several days of rain and its location at the confluence of three rivers – Danube, Inn and Ilz. I suspect more so than the towns along the Elbe, about which I wrote in the first few weeks if my ride.

This is a cycle friendly train!

St Stephens Cathedral Passau – the largest cathedral organ in all of Christendom! It has 17974 pipes, 4 carillons and 233 stops. I am not learning to play the organ, but all I want to know is how on earth can one “pull out all the stops”, without a significant intermission?

The interior of St Stephen’s Cathedral.

The exterior of the Cathedral.

The very ornate baroque staircase of the Bishop’s Residence!

The Bishop had a miniature organ in the library, he played with it regularly but abstained on Sundays.

The accuracy of the weather bureau in Austria is equal to that of Australia. Today dawned cool and sunny! I had pre booked my bus and train. Bugger, I could have had a delightful cycle trip. Anyway Hallstatt is a tourist hub by virtue of its age and awesome location.

The Austrian tourism authority claims (and we are dealing here with an “authority”) that Hallstatt is the oldest village in Austria and the most photographed! So why would I bother to try and repeat history? Cause I have an iPhone 5, that’s why!

It was established when highly pure salt was discovered deep below the mountains, the sediment of subterranean salt lakes. The tourist brochure also describes a “prehistoric” ( the first millenium BC ) mummified salt miner, discovered in pristine condition and preserved. Conceptually, next time you use gourmet pickled lemons, examine the lemon skin.

The train trip and the ferry across the lake to the village is the highlight. Once again quaint alpine houses are built in a small bay and migrate up the mountain side. The water on the lake is a pale sulphurous green gray and clear as a bell.

There are two churches – a Protestant and Catholic. There is a Charnel House – explanation- the Latin for flesh is “caro”, the Latin to eat is “vorare”. Hence a carnivore is a meat eater. A Charnal House is used to store bones! Such bones have been buried and then after an appropriate time, years, exhumed. The flesh has gone, the body decomposed. Hence “Charnal”. This custom was used extensively when burial ground was limited and boy was it limited in Hallstatt. So one was buried, then after 15 years, the skull and long bones removed and placed in the Charnal House. A new body could be buried in the same grave site.

I hasten to explain, after this brief foray into etymology, that the term “carnal knowledge” does NOT describe your local butcher, it’s more likely to be the milkman.
.
Strangely the most attractive picture book scene as far as I was concerned, was a fairy tale looking white castle on the lake’s edge opposite to Hallstatt! The woman in the ferry ticket office said it was a “small private castle”. I asked if it was for sale? I shall discuss with my financial planner. It would be an awesome base for group cycle trips in the Salzkammergut region.

Once at the village things take a turn for the worse! The little esplanade around the village, nestled into the mountains is a tourist strip. You can imagine I am sure!

So after all that, what would I suggest to the Austrian Tourist Bureau? Come to Hallstatt, definitely! But only if in perfect weather. Of course a winter dusting of powdery snow on a crisp sunny day is more than acceptable. In any event, one should cycle in and ferry/train out. There should be no other option.

The delightful fairy tale looking castle across from Hallstatt.

When I said that Gmunden was rather touristy and commercialized, filled mainly with local tourists and self funded Austrian retirees, I had yet to cycle into St Wolfgang!

Try to visualize a syrupy, sweet combination of “The Sound of Music”, “Hansel & Gretel” and “The Wizard of Oz” – all on steroids, the place marketed by Walt Disney – that is St Wolfgang.

The buildings are gingerbread and chocolate boxes all rolled into one. The town is squeaky clean and obviously on the international tourist map. It’s claim to fame is that the operetta “The White Horse Inn” is set in St Wolfgang. Here is an edited transcript of the Wiki page:

Sometimes classified as an operetta, the show enjoyed huge successes both on Broadway and in the West End (651 performances at the Coliseum starting 8 April 1931) and was filmed several times. In a way similar to The Sound of Music the play and its film versions have contributed to the saccharine image of Austria as an alpine idyll.

I could not have put it better myself.

Cycling today was around Lake Mondsee, cool and overcast with misty rain for the last 2 hours.

The White Horse!!! I have no idea if its the original.

I have no idea why, but the place was over run with Fiats. Like so many Christmas beetles noisily scampering about!

Several pics of the moist ride of the circle around Mondsee, with a ride of a few kilometres through this tunnel. It was obviously previously a single lane thoroughfare for motorized traffic.

The awesome panorama of the alps from the top of the mountains above St Gilgen. One can trek there or catch the cable car.

Besides my presence, there are additional indications that this establishment attracts only the best. As evidenced by the black and white photographs adorning the walls, the author Thomas Mann and the Duke of Windsor both stayed here, at different times. The Duke is pictured sitting on a stone wall with his inevitable pipe. The room in which he stayed, now called The Windsor Suite, is still available to book and contains, as the young receptionist breathlessly explained, the original furniture!

The Duke, I am led to believe also was attracted to lederhosen. His relationship with Mrs Simpson, Errol Flynn and Lord Mountbatten, confirm that he did not know whether he should be King or Queen. Psychologists have written volumes on this aspect of his personal life and there is consensus at least that he was ambidextrous: he could use a whip in either hand.

The Duke made many visits to Hallstatt, about 30 km away, where in a serene castle by lake’s edge there was a major Hitler Youth Camp in the late 1930s. One can only surmise he, the Duke, was in lederhosen heaven.

The sauna was another welcome retreat today after my round trip to Mondsee.

There is a sign which states “The sauna will automatically be switched on by bad weather conditions.” I have spent dinner trying to interpret this. For what it is worth, I thought the weather was pretty bad today, but the sauna was not working when I arrived in my bath robe! Perhaps it has to snow?

The weather forecast for the rest of the week looks bleak at least around the upper Austria region. I will train it to Hallstatt tomorrow. I rode 71 km today so I can have a lay day…. If only!

A subtle reminder that Norwood Pool opens soon after I return!

Early morning St Wolfgang

I am sitting having “high tea” at the Landhaus zu Appesbach. I don’t know where to begin! Those of us who are mutual friends of Dr Michelle Kiley, will immediately understand my comment that she would approve, unreservedly!

Just as I found an unexpected delight in an hotel with a renowned Austrian chef/cook in Gmunden, so using Booking.com I decided on this establishment based on location and “best price for 3 nights”! Well again it’s a very unexpected but welcomed boutique hotel .

The word “boutique” should say it all!

A condensed version of its web site is as follows:

“This private country estate is located directly on the shore of Lake Wolfgang, a 10-minute walk from the centre of Sankt Wolfgang. Landhaus zu Appesbach features a gourmet restaurant, a private beach, and a large garden with English-style lawns.

Built in 1912, Landhaus zu Appesbach offers classic-style rooms with luxury interiors. Most have lake views.”

Mine doesn’t but who cares!

I remember that on my last cycle day on Ireland on the Ring of Kerry, it was a dismal wet,windy, cold day and so I was in heaven when I cycled up, freezing to death, to a “boutique” hotel that had the ambience of the Manor House! I was met by the Irish equivalent of “Deidre” and Devonshire tea! There was a Master and a couple of Labradors too I recall.

Today was also overcast and drizzling rain, despite wet weather gear, I did feel the cold a little – that burning tingling feeling in the extremities! But it’s better to keep cycling as the physical effort burns the calories and helps with warmth. Constant irritations were my shoes and socks were drenched and my spectacles were constantly fogged up and covered in rain drops…. Life gets tedious, don’t it? Well its not sitting in a BMW with windscreen wipers and the AC on auto.

Anyway, the sense of déjà vue was immediate when, dripping and bedraggled I clipped my way in cleats to reception. The young female receptionist, immediately stated she would switch on the sauna and that after I may care to join other guests for “coffee and cake” in the drawing room”! Yes please! I looked around for some Lederhosen, but none in sight.

I have reserved a table tonight at the restaurant….. My financial planner tells me I have made thousands of dollars profit the day after Abbott was elected. And I did not even vote for the bastard!

Setting out from Gmunden with the lake always on my left.

The lake is still on my left!

Another unique and amazing ride. This is obviously an “old highway” now dedicated for cyclists. It has the same sense of the old freeway ride in Adelaide.

Wet weather gear, still did not prevent my clothes from getting moist! I may walk into St Wolfgang and check out Lederhosen.

The room at the hotel in St Wolfgang. One knows its boutique when there are soft fluffy bathrobes and slippers! Actually it reminded me a little of the Hotel Victoria in Meiringen, Switzerland.

The Landhaus zu Appesbach. And yes that is a Jaguar stationwagon parked out front. I told you it was another Manor Born!

The view from my balcony

A panorama shot so may turn out funny – from the hotel “beach”!

It’s been a relaxing 2 days. As it happens the hotel – the Landhotel is, as I described yesterday, a delightful establishment. It is a true hotel, not a bed and breakfast or variation there of. Moreover it is not part of a chain but family owned. Father, Mother and son – who is dressed in lederhosen! (Why does leather turn me on so?)

Moreover Ingrid Permkopf, the mother is I suspect Austria’s answer to Maggie Beer! She has published a series of books on cooking that rival the Woman’s Weekly! I only found this out today

Having decided to have a fling and eat at their restaurant last night, a reward for the 80 km ride, I was treated to a totally unexpected gourmet dining experience! I had “spinach dumplings”! Sounds ordinary but they were anything but.

Besides the food, there are a couple of criteria that mark an eatery as a cut above the rest to my mind: orders are taken rapidly, the food appears efficiently, is well presented and comes on heated plates! Well the Landhotel and Mrs Permkopf win hands down. Peter Permkopf, in his lederhosen also wins in the legs department.

Not surprisingly I ate in for the second night and on the recommendation of a buxom, bodice filling wench dressed in Austrian costume (think Julie Andrews in curtains) I had fresh grilled fish from the lake with steamed vegetables and truffled infused rice.

A pianist was playing – a medley of opera tunes.

It’s definitely the place for older Austrians from Linz (self funded retirees) to spend the weekend. The place is booked out, the car park filled with BMW, Audi and a few Skoda.

Gmunden has a castle/palace it’s claim to fame is it completely occupies a small island in the lake. There is of course a church, as always built on the high ground. I cycled a bit, took a ferry and practiced the Recorder as well as uploading my Garmin rides to date. So half indoors and half outside – weather permitting.

Tomorrow I cycle to Strobel where I plan to be based for 3 days and to make day trips unencumbered by panniers.

The 3 pics above are of the Seeschloss Ort , the castle on an island in the lake.

Street view with the church spire

A few pics from the boat trip – ferries cross the lake

Modesty prevents me claimimg expertise in navigation and orientation but if getting disarmingly disorientated is a rude teacher, then I am surely a possible pedagogue? In short as Mr Micawber might say, “I shall give my two penneth worth.

I have an iPhone 5 – incidentally as of yesterday, superseded, and a Garmin 500. That’s it! The Garmin does not navigate, but simply serves to give instant data on speed and distance. Helps with distances between 2 points, although of course Google Maps does the same and is more visual.

It provides retrospective data of where I travelled and hence how, when and where I ended up in the middle of a Sherwood Forest.

The battery life of the iPhone is notoriously dreadful. One must carrying an external power pack sufficient to provide enough juice for TWO full recharges. This is imperative if one uses the iPhone to navigate as the location services chew up the power, big time!

Of course I could do away with the Garmin altogether and use an app such as Strava as well as Google maps. Incidentally Google Maps wins over the Apple Maps, not the least reason of which is that the former has a Cycle option!

All my blogs have been created with one finger typing using the simple “notes” app on the iPhone and backed up to the “cloud”.

SIM cards.

Remove your Australian SIM card as soon as your Emirates Airbus leaves Australian soil. I suggest you tape it somewhere safe for the duration – in my case to my inner thigh.

Buy a local SIM card for each country. I usually specify that I mainly want it for “data” – if that provokes a blank or startled response, do a quick Google translate check on the word “data” in the local language, then try explaining its mostly for “Internet”! This sets things straight especially if “data” has lewd connotations in Czech.

I purchased a Czech SIM card with 1GB data valid a month for 600 Kr and in Austria a card with 2GB in a month for Euro 25. Simple! I will always use a free WiFi, if available naturally!

Breaking news! The EU are proposing that roaming charges be abolished across the EU…

Wardrobe.

A pair of walking shoes are mandatory. One can’t do with only one pair of SPD recessed cleat shoes as your universal footwear.

For a cycle holiday, only one or two pairs of underpants required – for formal occasions. The rest of the time I wear NICS and wash then out each night….well OK every second night! They dry quickly usually. I have two pairs.

Pack worn out clothes and once holiday is past half way mark, discard dirty clothes rather than wash! I am up to discarding!

That is the question. I was pleasantly surprised by this billboard just outside Gmunden. Those of you who have been faithfully reading my blogs, will recall the delight I had in immersing myself in the remarkable baroque classical music and choral culture in Prague. The civic fathers have embraced the great tradition of Bach and Beethoven and it provides uplifting experiences for the millions of local and international tourists. This billboard seems to indicate that the tradition continues in Salzburg.

I do claim a modest and moderate knowledge of classical music and I am sure almost every one can recognise Beethoven’s Third Symphony – the Erotic, but for the life of me I have no idea who composed the Erotic Mass. Salzburg of course was Mozart’ stamping ground, but even Google can’t confirm it.

Today was a very satisfying autumnal day! Like a new seasons Granny Smith apple – beautifully proportioned, green skin, moist white flesh with a crunchy zing to the taste and a slightly tart finish on the palate! What provoked that analogy is that all along the country roads that I traverse apple and pear trees form a pungent avenue of ripening fruit.

The cycle path R4, from Linz to Gmunden , I have discovered, is part of the European Camino Trail! I am back on the way of St James. It was but 12 months ago I was on my spanish cycle pilgrimage. Praise the Lord! I suspected this when I began to see the universal blue and yellow nautilus emblem along with the R4 signs.

For most of the day along the R4 I seemed to cycle between fields of ripe corn on one side and sunflowers or cows on the other. By about 1 pm the austrian alps also become more obvious in the distance. Disturbed two deer in the forest. As I was startled by motor vehicles on my cycle path, so the deer were startled by a cyclist in their deer park!

For the cycle tragics, lets get the stats of the day out of the way:

4 hours 40 minutes in the saddle for a distance of 81.71 km, which
averages out at 17.5km/hr. total ascent 600m, total descent 414.

Never, well hardly ever, did I feel under duress and the glorious part was my perception that I was always gently climbing and despite the extra load, and again, hardly ever needed to engage the lowest gears.

A comment on the bike, it is a delight to ride but a Tiagra group set is definitely not Ultegra! They do not take kindly to dropping gears under stress and complain noisily and long, ultimately spitting the dummy and dropping the chain. Has happened once to me, once bitten twice shy. So “anticipation” is my second name.

Gmunden is about 60 Km by main road from Linz. It sits at one end of Lake Traunsee. It has that general look and feel of Victor Harbor as a holiday and naughty weekend retreat for randy South Australians in the 1930s , but on a grander scale. The Landhotel by the edge of the water, has that same nostalgic feel of days gone by. “No vacancies” on weekends routinely.

Here I shall stay for 2 nights surrounded by tall blonde young men in Lederhosen.

On second thoughts I may stay the whole week.

Excellent signage although at some intersections and In the towns, the signage was inconspicuous. I am following R4.

For most if the day along the R4 I seemed to cycle between fields of ripe corn on one side and sunflowers or cows on the other. By about 1 pm the alps also become more obvious in the distance

Just an ornate building! In Lambach.

Another “Schloss” outside Lambach.

Late lunch on the way to Gmunden. The beer is fantastic. A touch of lime! I could almost become addicted to it!

8 km from Gmunden. What a sight it was about 17.30 hours a little crisp but I could have cycled for another 2 hours if that view stayed with me all that time!

View from my room at the Landhotel, Gmunden.