Day 6 – Passau to Linz

We spent the night in Passau at the Hotel Wilder Mann, which also houses the Glass Museum.  Some fascinating pieces were distributed throughout the halls and in the dining room.  We got a fairly late start, which was ok since we were only going 60 miles to Linz.  Our every-5-mile-break regimen served us in good stead again today.  We stopped for strudel and coffee in Jochstein, just before crossing into Austria. The guidebook said that there were bike paths on both sides of the river, that both were completely flat, but that the one of the right was more paved, so we chose that option. They lied about the flat part. We stopped for lunch at a little place on the Donauschlinge, the place where the Danube does a double switchback. We passed a biker paused on the side of the road, and I did what  I always do when we see other bikers:  I said, “Howdy!”.  He was wearing headphones, so I didn’t think he heard me. At our next stop, he caught up to us and said, “Did you say ‘Howdy?'” Brad is from Springdale, Arkansas, and he has come to Europe several times for bike vacations, but this was his first time on the Danube. We all biked together the rest of the day, pausing to listen to a guy playing bagpipes, and then taking a longer stop just 7.5 miles from Linz when the weather finally carried through on its threats to rain. As we stopped to put on our rain gear, a wasp or bee or something stung me on my elbow; it didn’t swell, but it sure hurts whenever I touch it. We managed to make it to some shelter before the skies really opened up. After about an hour, it had let up enough to continue, and we cut through a forest path and then onto the main highway into Linz. We hit the jackpot with the Arcotel Nike Hotel: free wifi, great restaurant, and sauna…but we were too tired to indulge in the last one.