Day Ten - Don’t pay the ferry man.

Well in fact “do” pay him otherwise you are scuppered on the wrong side of the Danube and no good can come of that. Also don’t just pay him once pay him several times …which of course we did.

Given our misplaced optimism at the beginning of yesterday where we imagined the worst was over but which ended up being the most brutal, cruel and quite frankly harrowing day on a bike I have ever experienced, l consciously try to empty my head of absolutely any thoughts about what day 10 might bring…..but surely it must be easier?

It begins in the now usual almost habitual pre 5am wake up and preparing for the day before heading off around 630. We are still “busking” at this point when it comes to planned campsites but are hoping to make it 75 miles further south east down the Danube just beyond Linz.

Turns out this is the most beautiful, and peaceful part of our adventure so far (if you do ever consider a Danube visit then Passau to Linz is where it’s at!).

Our first ferry or “radfahre” if your are a local (auto correct tried to tell me I wanted to say radish…I didn’t!) is at the “Loop of Schlogen” where we are waved at, somewhat passive aggressively by a man who says “get in the boat” with a deep guttural German voice. Marc and I both exchange a fleeting glance which non verbally says “what’s this all about, are we being trafficked, I bet I am worth more than you are” and we get on. Turns out he was very helpfully preventing us from cycling 2km up a dead end to have to then come back cap in end and say “Herr Ferryman please can we get in your boat.

Even I feel like I might be rambling today so let me get on with it. We followed the Euro Velo 6 route all the way along the Danube for the entire day. For the most part it is well sign posted, bar a couple of very minor indiscretions which of course Fernando Hernandez de Monte Cristo Alan Magellan had no part in, oh and it is flat. Most critically it is around 30 degrees today which is still a lot to be cycling any kind of distance in but it oh so much better than the previous four days.

Our second ferry experince comes just as we arrive north of Linz where the deep gorges of the Danube open up again into wider valleys. This ferry is the source of great consternation for us though because rather than the somewhat “hard close” sales tactics of the first one, this one doesn’t seem to want our business at all. This ferry is seemingly cut adrift in the middle of the river and floating aimlessly …..I kid you not it takes 5 mins and a v heated to debate before Marc and I agree that it is actually even moving and consequently viable as a potential ferry. Turns out the ferry has no engine and relies on the current of the Danube to create “thrust”…..it’s something to do wih physics apparently. Regardless of the fact that the river is doing most of the work we pay the ferry man 10 euros….I know!!!

Once we have cleared Linz we head into the final 20 miles and as usual legs get tired, energy drops, miles feel like millenniums and we get slower and slower and slower until we eventually drag our selves into Camping Ausee Pachtgründe which seems perfect for our needs….camping pitches, hot showers, food and beer.