Day 35 - Neßlbach to Wesenufer

72.8 km - Total so far 1,968.40 km - Route pedalled.      Relive Video (with pictures)

Video of the day: Europe Day 33 (Bad Abbach to Straubing)

Video of the day: Europe Day 34 (Straubing to Neßlbach)

Video of the day: Europe Day 35 (Neßlbach to Wesenufer)

We are safe and secure in Wesenufer, Austria at Pension Feiken.

We had a lovely séjour at the campground. Even for a small campground, they had facilities rarely seen in Canada. In addition to the sanitary block, they had a food preparation area with three sinks, a small kitchen with table and a nice patio area. They also had a space with two cots for cyclists that arrive during a rain storm. A fellow camper told us they had planned a two day stay and were now on day 5.

We also had a cyclist neighbour, David who is Spanish, that we first met at the hostel a few days ago. He left before we did this morning.

Hélène walked to the bakery and came back with the amount of food we normally would have for breakfast. Because we had a very small supper, we both felt famished by about 10:30.

We saw a good bit of the Danube before lunch and it got a lot more exciting as we neared Passau. 

Passau is where it all seems to start for the Passau to Vienne tourist corridor. We saw loads of river boats and from my readings, a lot of organized bike tours start here as well. We stopped to say a quick hello to David who had just completed a visit of the cathedral.

Hungry, we decided that an early lunch was necessary. Once the bikes parked, we tried to mix in with the river cruiser crowd and sat for lunch.

As I write this, we can hear the town band rehearsing for May 1st celebrations. Loud applause can be heard!

At lunch, we could hear quite a bit of English spoken and I believe the speakers were American. Unfortunately, I was not wearing my ‘Canada is not for sale!’ shirt. 

Riding in Passau was challenging particularly on those old stone pavers but the route took us to some pretty exciting twists and turns. See video!

We love  riding in Austria with many of the same infrastructure and driving regulations we have found so far in Europe. We have have experienced two new features that increase cyclists safety: 

Road sign: Outside of urban areas, a road sign warns drivers of a ‘cyclist crossing 100 m ahead’.  

Crossing area: At the cyclist crossing site, the bicycle path widens on the right. This enables you to make a sweeping right turn and then a quick left. This puts you perpendicular to the road but some distance away so you can see left and right. The beauty of this is that you can maintain momentum and if the road is clear, you easily pedal through the crossing. Otherwise you stop with the foot down.

As we neared our destination for the day, we once again ran into David who was coming from the direction we were heading to. Turns out that he cycled the Danube on the other bank. David, que tinguis un viatge segur, molt vent de cua i sense pluja. (Google Translate).

All and all it was a really fun day and we are starting to think that the Danube is a much superior cycling destination to the Rhine. 

That’s all from Wesenufer.

Taken from our room patio