nbjtours

Day six

Linz, Austria

95 miles 2133ft climbed

Today we moved from the Tyrol to the Danube basin and the landscape changed significantly over the journey. However the one thing that we enjoyed and took advantage of during every stage was a lake. Very different lakes but ones that made the ride special. The other thing to note is that today we hit 500 miles completed after six days riding.

Leaving the campsite in Salzburg the initial destination was the area known as the Salzkammergut ( the Austrian equivalent of our Lake District) as ever we started immediately on cycle paths which wound their way up out of Salzburg, climbing gradually for 9 miles. As we left early we had to take care as coming the other way at high speed were numerous locals on their way into town to start work.

After out climb we entered a pretty Green valley where there was little activity apart from the farmers cutting their grass.

Moving on from the valley we approached Mondsee but first saw a bunch of climbers at St Loritz preparing to go up.

Mondsee was very pretty and we ran round part before disappearing into a long cyclist only tunnel – cars had a separate one.

As we moved on from Mondsee we came to the larger Attersee where we had hoped to rendezvous with the camper. However Nigel got moved on or was asked to pay so we ended up having to cycle the 15 mile length of this lake before we were allowed to have our coffee and pastry stop. It even included a few sharpish hills so a Karen flapjack stop was added to the programme.

We also enjoyed watching the grass collecting device as below!!

After leaving Attersee we left the mountains and lake and started to transition towards the Danube basin. The landscape changed and we picked up the river Ager which then merged with the Traun.

Whilst the majority of this stage was on cycle paths they were unusually nearly all gravel. It may have been something to do with the fact we went round over and beside several gravel lakes not unlike our Barden Lake back in Kent. We did see one large terrapin and many fish in several.

The gravel was mostly great except for a couple of stretches where it had been laid too thickly and challenged grip and stability. The many other as usual electric bike users grinned at our instability.

Nigel was pleased with his lunch stop which was just off the cycle path but the bunting of our drying washing was plain for us to see !

Lunch was merely frankfurters and scrambled egg and by now we kept out of the sun. The good thing about the extra long first leg meant that we only had 26 miles left as leg three to the next campsite.

This leg was almost entirely along the river on tarmac paths and Nick powered us along for several kilometres luckily mostly shaded from the sun.

Nearly there I actually had programmed in the wrong campsite so a quick lap of the wrong site before moving on to the site I’d booked which is far superior, as it boasts a swimming lake with water skiing the lot.

After the efforts of the day the three N’s , Nick, Nigel & Neil had a very refreshing swim before our very welcome beef stew

The cards have been as keenly contested as usual but this year Nick’s beginners luck appears to have vanished. Undefeated last year, Chris changed the game and he has lost every night so far!

Nick has just cried “it’s almost nine o’clock, time for bed. “ As Everyone is exhausted after another great day, the cards stop and we all disappear off to bed to recharge the batteries for the next day.