Danube Bike Tour Day 18: Passau, Germany to Aschach, Austria
Posted by Cassie, November 26th, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Distance: 71km
Today, the weather was similar to yesterday. It was cloudy and cold with periods of rain, but we were nice and warm as long as we were biking. We had a nice tailwind, so we rode along at a good pace. The first part of the ride out of Passau was not very nice. We were riding along a bike path next to a busy road. Once we left the road, the bike route became much nicer. The ride was very pretty with the mountains rising up from the river. This was one of my favorite sections of the Danube bike route, and we didn’t ride by a single cornfield today. 🙂 As we rode into Obernzell, we were surprised to see a house with American and Confederate flags with old cannons in the yard. It was like we were suddenly transported to the South.
Today, we left Germany and entered Austria. There was no sign at the border crossing, so we didn’t realize we had entered Austria until we passed a Danube bike route sign and saw that it was different from the signs in Germany.
We made it to Austria!
When the weather cleared up, we stopped for lunch at Au at a park next to the river. However, just as we were about to eat, dark clouds rolled in, and it began to rain. We ate quickly and started riding again since there was no shelter nearby. When we reached the ferry crossing, it was raining steadily, but fortunately, there was a covered waiting area for the ferry. It was still raining when we got off the ferry at Schlogen, so we waiting under cover until the rain passed. Fortunately, the rain passed quickly, and afterwards, it was beautiful and sunny for the rest of the day. Schlogen was where the Danube does a loop around granite ridge. We hiked to the overlook, and we were fortunate that the rain had cleared because it was an amazing sight. The view was exactly like the poster on the wall of the ferry boat. They also have a webcam at the overlook.
Schlogen Loop
We decided to stay at a pension once we reached Aschach because it was too cold for camping. We saw a sign for a place on the way into Aschach, and it was a penson/pizzeria. However, when we got to the pension, the sign said to go into the pizzeria to get a room, but the pizzeria was closed on Tuesdays. However, we saw a sign on the buzzer that we believed said to press one of the buttons for the pension. We tried it, and fortunately a woman answered. She let us in, and we got a room for the night. The room was incredibly nice! We had a couch, a TV, and our own bathroom. After camping and staying in hostels, this felt like the ultimate luxury. We were watching TV, and we saw the weather on CNN International. We found out that the weather we were having was not typical. An Artic front had moved into Europe, so the entire region was experiencing early winter weather. Temperatures in Germany/Austria were 9 degrees Celsius below the average. Although it was not fun to be riding the in cold, we were reassured that this was unusual weather and that it should return to normal at some point.
Relaxing on the couch at our room!
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