Danube - Linz to Grein

Shorter day today (and cooler!), 39 miles from Linz to Grein.  Linz was SO much easier to get out of than it was to get into!  And the weather was so much cooler, even if it was a bit rainy. Had a charcuterie breakfast at the flat, with several Italian coffee pot espressos (with diet cokes for Liz) before heading out to Mauthasen for second breakfast and then Grein for our overnight.  We rode all along paved cycle paths today and if you envision what it would be like pedalling along the Danube, today would have been it - smooth trail, a bit of descent, along the river, forest or fields.  Except for the odd rain shower, it was that vision.  

We did hear cuckoos as we went, but they are impossible to see in the trees.  

Crossed the river twice, no ferries, just bridges with cycle lanes.  Coffee stop at 15 miles, conveniently timed so that we were inside having coffee and eating a snack when the pouring rain hit!

The trails were windy and quiet today, few people were out on a Monday and few pictures were taken because it was raining. Unfortunately, also, few places were open on a Monday so it was a bit tricky to find an open coffee shop, restaurant, bank or grocery store today!

Made our way into Grein, interesting coming over the busy car bridge. Will be nicer to leave by ferry tomorrow.  Hotel Garni Goldenes is very nice and set in the centre of town, steps from everything. Dinner was at the Hotel Gasthof where they have many beers and much pork! They also have locals playing the accordion and Austrian music on a Monday. 

Liz had her first encounter with white asparagus - who knew that was a thing?!  50ish miles tomorrow to Krems!

Comments:

1. Stephen HodgsonJune 16, 2025 at 7:56 PM

   Hello it’s me again… day 2 of Austria. I like this place, good food, beer and cycling. The town we are in tonight is just big enough to have what you need but small enough to be “cute”. Tonight there were a couple of guys with accordions in the restaurant playing traditional Austrian music (or at least it sounded like that to me) could have turned into a party but there is pedalling to be done tomorrow. Company it’s good too 😁. Liz (gadget gal) has brought along a camera mounted on the handle bars of her bike which takes 360 degree video, it gets rid of the wind noise (but not the noise of me singing 😳) and the vibrations from the road and seems to have powerful editing software. In short it’s an impressive bit of kit and hopefully there will be some video clips real soon. Need to add that to the spec for the ideal touring tandem 🤔.
   Whilst it did rain today because the miles were quite low we could afford the time to “hide” from it for all but maybe 30 mins in a cafe, copious amounts of coffee made it feel like I was always one bathroom stop behind the plan all day. They did a pretty decent “ bratwurst butty” 😁.
   Two more days (just over 100 miles) to Vienna and another rest day, looking forward to it, they do great coffee and cake in Vienna and a decent but rather tricky to dance Waltz. 
2. 
   BrianJune 17, 2025 at 5:28 PM

   Ugh, I hate biking in the rain. Hat's off to you for getting out there...I would have called in a zero-day! ;-) Cool the centerpiece on the table was a bike. 🚴‍♂️