2013-09-19

Cycling the Danube - Passau, Germany

Passau, Germany

Tuesday 23rd July 2013

We were on our way to Passau, by about 10.30 am. (Lauren delayed by a few horsey things with Gary) It was a 382 km trip via Prague, and would probably take 5 hours.

We were excited to be on the road and it sort of felt like Phase 2 of our European experience. We decided to take the route through Czech Republic as it looked more scenic than the Auto Bahn through Germany. Which it did turn out to be! The mountains in Czech were lovely, everything so green!

We stopped for lunch along the way in a beautiful log roadside restaurant, where the waiters were dressed in national costumes. Attention! Currency change...anyone got any Korunas?
We did the "drop a pin"" technique on the menu (no English) and none of us were disappointed.The day's temperature was sooo hot that, after our lunch, we all walked through the sprinklers before getting back into the car! Did I mention that our VW does not have air-con? It is a bugger!

We also needed to by a vignette (sticker for the windscreen to cover toll roads this one was 15korunas for 10 days) With the toll all organized and the travelers all fed , we were on the road again into the corner of Germany to Passau.

Tom Tom did a mighty job with directions...until about 5 km out when poor Lauren, who was driving, found herself at a dead end, on a main highway road blocked off with big barriers. Tom Tom did not know this and was telling us to drive straight ahead through the barriers.With nowhere to go, we were stopped dead on the highway nose up to the barrier, every passenger with a conflicting suggestion! Then out of nowhere a lovely "angel" appeared in a black car, she pulls up right beside us as calls out "Passau? Passau?" We gesture a loud "Yes Please!" and she gestures "Follow me".

And we did.. weaving though backstreets and side streets , over bridges and through tunnels... until Tom Tom could recalibrate and get his bearings just as our Angel waved us on into Passau's main drag! Then she disappeared into the sunset! It was truly a miracle!

We eventually found our way to our Hotel Innsento, where it turned out our 2 rooms were not suitable, so they upgraded us to an apartment Suite. All's well that ends well... so a good night sleep was in order for our big Cycling adventure in the morning.

Wednesday 24th July

It was already over 30 deg and only 9am, so we knew we were in for a big day! Trying to drive and park the car in Passau was stressful. Poor Gregg was the first driver! The streets were narrow and many one-way, not to mention the trams!! We hit the gutter ******* one turn where we all "leveled up" on stress! We finally found a park near the city centre, and the parking meter was broken, so we ignored that, and the young ones went on foot to sus out bike hire, while Will and I chilled out at the shops and had an ice cream and a WC stop. It costs 50c at least, in most countries in Europe to use the public toilets so we have an emergency coin jar in the car for parking meters and toilet stops!!

Plan A was to take 7 days to get to Venice (289km) ,hire 3 bikes and one trailer to pull Will along, and someone would drive the car and our bags to the next hotel. We could take turns driving. It seemed like a good plan.Getting the bikes turned out to be a little challenging. Summer holidays and very busy, meant we were not able to hire bikes that could be returned from Venice, (Plan A foiled). The only bikes we could find to hire were available for 3 days and had to be back to Passau by Friday at 6pm. Plan B turned out to be a blessing as I would never had made 300km in this 35 deg heat, who was I kidding!

It was noon before we had the bikes and were ready to roll. The temperature was hitting 35 deg and I was beginning to wonder if we were crazy! Day one Gregg was the driver, Haydn was to tow Will in the trailer/chariot, and Lauren and I had a bike each. We purchased the Danube cycling book which has everything in it from detailed maps to attractions and even hotels along the way it was well worth the 15 Euros. I did not want to be this hot AND LOST.

We had pre-booked a Private Zimmer (guest house) at Wesenufer, which was about 35 Km along the trail. Gregg went on ahead (only a 40 min drive for him), and we set off over the bridge out of Passau and along the cycle path.

It was a lovely sight, the massive palace on the hill and the peninsular where the 3 rivers meet at Passau,The Ilz,(black water) the Danube,(blue water) and the Inn Rivers(green water) merge and each have a distinctive colour that you can actually see merging together in the water!

Once we were out of the busy city hub I was able to relax a bit more on my push bike and get into the rhythm of things.

The cycle path is slightly down hill going from Passau, Germany to Vienna, Austria, so I was happy about that. The Danube is the only River in Europe that flows west to east… I didn't know that!
The Danube is a river in Central Europe, the European Union's longest and the continent's second longest (after the Volga).Classified as an international waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen--which is in the Black Forest of Germany--at the confluence of the rivers Brigach and Breg. The Danube then flows southeast for 2,872 km (1,785 mi), passing through four Central European capitals before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.Once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, the river passes through or touches the borders of ten countries: Romania (29.0% of basin area), Hungary (11.6%), Serbia (10.2%), Austria (10.0%), Germany (7.0%), Bulgaria (5.9%), Slovakia (5.9%), Croatia (4.4%), Ukraine (3.8%), and Moldova (1.6%).[1] Its drainage basin extends into nine more.

We had a fun day, cruising though villages, and right along the river side with many chances for pics, (of which I did take many), which meant I kept stopping and then having to peddle hard to catch up to the young ones! It was truly beautiful and I remembered to be very intentional to savor the moment and breathe in the atmosphere!

We had our first stop about 15km in at Obernzell,where Lauren ducked into a store and
brought us some ice cold grapes and water to keep us going. I did notice a public swimming pool to my left…I was so tempted to jump in clothes and all!

We treddled along the shady avenues of trees and then we got a call from Gregg saying our accommodation is booked for the following night, and not tonight! Haydn took the call and diplomatically left the problem with Gregg! We still had 25 km to ride!

We rode into Wesenufer about 4pm wondering where Gregg might be. Thank God for mobile phones! Gregg had found us another Guest House,Pension Schulz, where we were able to stow the bikes overnight in the garage. We had 2 rooms, comfortable, and very tastefully appointed.

Gregg had a bad day. After searching out accommodation gone wrong, he discovered that our VW had a flat tyre R front. (Could it have been our hit on the gutter in Passau this morning?) So after changing the tyre, in the heat,the next problem was where were we going to source a new one?

The people at the pub on the river "Neptunes Bar", had been very helpful to Gregg through the day with access to Free WiFi and help with the tyre, so we decided to go there for dinner, The meal was awesome! Even the vegetarian of our group was well catered for! We had a table outdoors with Danube River views. Our waitress was a lovely girl with a very pretty smile, and as she spoke English, was very helpful with the menu. I played it up a bit with Haydn to get her phone number, and we all had a few laughs.

Thursday 25th July

After a terrific brekky at our Guest House, Pension Shultz, we were on our bikes again. Gregg had directions to a tyre place not far away so he would get the tyre fixed and then meet us up for lunch along the trail.

We decided to take the south bank trail to Schlogen Bend for our ride today. It was only about 6km. Haydn and Will teamed up again with the chariot and Lauren & I were on our bikes. It had been a very misty morning when I went for a walk early, and the fog was so thick I couldn't see the other side of the river. It made for some nice pics though. By the time we got to Schlogen Bend the day had cleared and was getting hot! There was a lovely park near the hotel there on the bend so Will got out and stretched his legs climbing ropes and riding the flying fox!

After some more pics we were back in the seat and off to the next village,Inzell, to find a place for lunch. Gregg caught us up along this road, (with two new front tyres @ 176 Euro) and we all stopped at a farmhouse where they served food. It was a lovely setting, some pasture fields, huge trees and the riverside tables under a canopy of grape vines.. We did the pin drop menu technique as no one spoke English. Dark bread with some sort of cheese spread and tomato slices.Mmmmm not bad. There were some animals on the farm too so Will searched out every one for a pat!

After our lunch we decided Will had had enough sun, so Lauren took him back to our second hotel in Wesenufer to have a cold shower and a rest. We managed to jam the chariot in the back of the VW , which then left only the 3 bikes to get home. Gregg, Haydn and I did the 20 km back to Wesenufer, via the climb to the lookout above Schlogen Bend. I really wanted that panoramic shot of the unusual way the river takes a 180 deg turn on itself .

We asked at the restaurant where the lookout trail was, we were able to leave our bikes there, and start our climb up the hill. It was steep, but we managed to crawl our way to a level where there was more of a walking trail. We did find a precarious rock where we were able to capture the picture I was after! They boys then wanted to continue upward to the summit! Well, I was nearly there, so we did make our way to what we thought was the summit. It turned out there was another small village up there…and a corn field! We sang songs from the sound of Music and then began our decent. It was very beautiful but my thighs were screaming! We stopped at the restaurant for a snack and a cold drink, to gather ourselves,where we discovered that we had walked the fire trail, and not the well formed tourist walk!!

When we got back on the bikes we decided to ride to Wesenufer on the northern bank of the Danube, so for 2 euro we crossed over on a barge with our bikes to the flatter cycle path home!

Boy was I was glad to get into a cool shower that night. We had another lovely room overlooking the river with views of a castle perched high on the ridge on the other side! We decided to eat at the Neptune Bar again… great food…also that nice waitress!

As it turns out her name was Edith, a Food technology Student from the area, studying in Vienna, working at Neptune's on her summer break. Gregg Lauren & Will went on to bed after our meal ,and Haydn & I stayed to chat to Edith. We did get some great leads on where to go next as Haydn really wants to see snow...in Summer! We had a fun night and I stayed up real late!!

What a beautiful way to see the countryside and meet the people! Next time I might make it spring or autumn..not quite so HOT!

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