After squandering two days of hot sunny weather in smokey Linz net cafes, the rain started as soon as I was back on the road.
My first mission was to decide where to go next and then find a good map. After a short browse of the bookshop I found a nice booklet for the Taurnradweg from Passau to Salzberg to some other village I forgot the name of. Then I checked out the flea markets in the main square, which seemed to be mostly the contents of various dead persons’ estates. It started drizzling and so the sellers put out their cigarettes and started folding up their tables and packing away the junk.
Despite the clouds and drizzle I left Linz in a good mood, because I knew where I was to go for the next 500km or so. Just out of Linz the cycle way was next to a main road, so not very peaceful, but then it dipped under the road, over a railway line, and into a forest. This was quite a pleasant stretch, just next to the river with the trees and the hills which mostly didn’t have buildings on them.
At some point I crossed into Germany. I only realised this because the number plates on cars said “D” instead of “A”. This section was a pretty boring slog to Passau. Passau is a beautiful town built that lies on the convergence of the Inns and Outes rivers which form the Donau. I crossed the bridge into town, about to have a look around, but thought twice about this due to the storm clouds overhead.
Rushed into camping and set up tent. Met a girl from Vancouver who was cycling from Bavaria to Budapest. She was pulling more than 100km every day and wanted to finish her tour in the next 10 days, and I think she will. The storm showed up and it bucketed. Went with Dani to the supermarket in the pouring rain. Later it cleared up and we had a look at the old town.
<li><a href="http://rodney.id.au/v/tour2008/07/12/">View all images for today</a></li>Dep 8:30, arr 4:00, dst 109km.
