I felt much better today and got a train to Linz. After all, I had another deadline (grrrr) after three days laid up in Vienna. From there, I rode for 50 really nice kilometres in some beautiful Australian spring weather. What a change.
It was also my first day back being a solo traveller since Paris, and that’s nice for a change too.
Getting to Linz was interesting. As I went to put my bike on the train, the train guy said – bike spots are full, you can’t get on. He wasn’t going to let me squeeze the bike in anywhere, so there wasn’t much I could do.
Before the train left, I ran along the platform and found a carriage with a spare bike spot – total relief and in the nick of time. In doing the booking, I’d reserved a spot for me but not the bike. A fat lot of good that was – you could sit anywhere you liked in second class.
The train guy was surprised but didn’t make any other comment. It reminded me of a conversation with a cyclist and the train lady in Brennero.
Austria requires that you by a ticket for your bike – usually seven euros. In Brennero which is a border town, there isn’t a ticket office. The Trenitalia ticket machines will sell a ticket to Innsbruck but not a bike ticket. There’s just one, hard to find machine that sells them. Luckily, I found it.
So this german guy got on the train with his bike, approached the conductor and asked (in German) if he could buy a bike ticket from her as he couldn’t work out where to get one. She said – No, and if you don’t have the ticket, get off the train immediately. No help, no advice, no compassion. I know you can buy one from the conductor because I did it a few weeks ago.
Some of these Austrian train people seem very stuck in their ways – totally different to the Italians.
Getting out of Linz was pretty ugly. The bike route went through an industrial area which stopped at the Danube. I crossed the river and joined up with the bike path on the northern side. There were loads of people out enjoying the weather and using the fantastic bike infrastructure.
I was feeling pretty good and the 30kms of uphill riding after leaving the Danube, wasn’t an issue. It was pretty gentle with great vistas the whole way. I stopped and had lunch on a bench beside some kind of shrine as riders continued to go by.
Even the drivers were taking it easy. I stopped by the roadside in Reichenau and while stopped, I realised that I’d had enough for today. It was 3pm. I looked up and there was a sign to a Gasthof which was 200m away. Unfortunately it was up a really steep hill but it’s a great place.
I had grown more tired by the minute and realised that after three days of inactivity and being sick, 50kms is absolutely plenty.
I had a meal here. Let’s say it was greasy and stodgy but that’s ideal for this kind of lifestyle. Just don’t tell the cardiologist.
This place is part farm, part guesthouse and part restaurant and is run by lovely people. The cows out the back are the noisiest inhabitants.
