Day 12: 12. May 2013

[gw] After it rained almost the whole night, it turned out dry this morning. Because I have no time to let the tent dry off, I have to take the inner tent out and store it separately.

At 10am I started my climb to the highest point of my trip so far. It is again hard work and sometimes I can go only 50m and then have to rest.

After 2 hours I managed to reach the “continentale Wasserscheide” from where every river goes down. But not me. The way to Budweis is a up and down. Thankfully more down.

I pass the border to the Czech Republic and now even the sun is showing.

In front of a shop I met 3 Czechs and we take a picture together. They will follow my trip!

I have only 10km to Budweis and it starts to rain, even a little bit of hail. But I just keep on going and shortly before reaching the camping ground the rain stops.

The camping place is great. The shower and rest-rooms are new and they even have a kitchen. WLan is also free of charge and everything for under 7 €.

Day 10 & 11: – 10./11. May 2013

[gw] In the morning I got some scrambled eggs (Eierspeise) and a tea.

The sun was behind thick clouds but my plan was only to got to Freistadt. For the 17 km it took me more than 2 and a half hours.

I found a nice small camping ground in walking distance to the historic old town centre. They even had a good WLAN connection.

Just as I was finished setting up my tent, it started raining and did so till the next night.

I did my laundry, updated my blog, looked around the town and visited the museum and the castle.

I needed the time to rest and to regain some energy.

Freistadt, Austria

Day 10: 16,61 km   all: 364 km

Day 9: 9. May 2013

[gw] After a good night and a nice morning shower I started to disassemble the canoe.

To pack everything took almost 3 hours. Well I also talked to some of the club members who put a boat into the river.

Just after 12:00 pm I went to the train station. I was hoping to send my trailer via train to Budweis. Unfortunately this was not possible.

So I started my climb up to Freistadt.

The first few km were relatively flat and just as I left Linz at the first climb I had a flat tire at the rear wheel, again!

This time it was possible to change the tube without unloading the whole bike. But it was not possible to reassemble the tire and the trailer without unloading. So it took me over 30 min to get going again.

After everything was ok again the first very steep, but short (500-700m) climb started. I could only go 50 meters then had to rest and do the next 50 meters.

The next few km were hard but not that difficult. Then I took a shortcut where I mostly had to push the bike.

The hardest part was the 3,5 km 7% climb. It took me almost 1:30 hours. After that I was not willing to go on.

I looked for a house close to the road with a nice yard. I went there and asked if I could put my tent up for the night.

First they were a little bit sceptic, but when they saw my heavy load they even offered me their garden hut.

They were very friendly and the grandchildren 12 and 10 years were very interested in my story. I even got a good wine and something to eat.

In front of the hut I was sitting till late in the evening, did some computer work and drank my wine.

Day 9: 30,89 km    all: 348 km

Day 8: 8.May 2013

[gw] After David helped me load the canoe I was ready at 9.45 am to go down the Donau on the water.

It was very nice and easy to paddle down the river. The weather was getting better every hour and the sun was shining.

After about 1 hour I reached the powerplant “Aschach-Feldkirchen”. I parked my canoe at the side and walked up to the lock. I asked the lock-keeper if I could go with the next ship through to lock. That was no problem … I only had to wait about one hour for the next ship.

Behind the passenger ship “Stadt Linz” I was allowed to enter. The process took about 15 minutes to go down about 20 meters.

 

Good that I had a life west with me, otherwise I wouldn’t have been allowed to go through.

Behind the lock I made a landfall and went shopping.

The river was pretty fast (5-6 km/h) and so I let the canoe float for a while.

In the afternoon there was another lock. This time I had to wait only 30 mins. for the next passage.

I was getting close to Linz and I could not find a camping place close to the river. But I found a motor yacht harbour on my GPS.

Finally at 8 pm I reached the harbour and was allowed to stay there. For 10€ I got a key to the shower room and had the place to myself. Behind the clubhouse was a small area ideal for my tent.

This was a wonderful day on the river. Now I know why I am dragging that heavy trailer along with me.

Day 8: 38.9 km  canoe    all: 316

Day 7: 7. May 2013

[gw] About 10 am David and I started to cycle alongside the river Donau towards Austria.

Soon we meat Dave & Michelle with their Japanese friends. They have been travelling for two years around the world. Check out their webside:

Shortly after meeting them we faced our first real obstacle. Because someone told us that we had to take the ferry to the other side of the river and no bridge was in between, the only way was to cross at a dam.

We had to unload the bikes, carry everything up the stairs, reassemble, cross the dam, unload again and carry everything down the stairs. Thanks to David´s help we managed to do so in about 30 minutes.

As we went on we came across another bridge, which would have been much easier to cross.

After some ups and downs, we reached a nice camping ground along the river. Across the river was a nice castle on the hill.

We set up our camp and David decided to cycle to the next town to find a supermarket. In his absence I set up the folding canoe.

When he was back we took the canoe, crossed the river and walked up to the castle. The castle was too far so we went back, crossed the river again and made dinner. Not long after we had eaten we went to bed.

Day 7: 41,46 km  all: 277 km