Friday, June 13, 2014

Day 35: to Engelhartzell, Austria (95; 2214)

Last night ended with companionable watching of the World Cup opening match, and today I rode on with these same three companions, Boris, Henry and Danielle. V nice to have company to chat to though they do ride quite fast (Horace clocked 45 kph on the downhill from the campsite, and I was going the slowest!).

Today was perfect cycling conditions, including a reasonable tailwind. We made it to Passau mid afternoon. Passau is a big tourist destination and the start of the heavy cycle traffic on the classic holiday route - though I haven't seen noticeably more yet. The river Danube meets it's bigger sister, the Inn there, and there is a startling effect where the two rivers meet: the Danube is dark and the Inn light brown so you get strange swirls until it mixes fully. From then on the southern bank is Austria and the northern one Germany.

In the midst of a 'which campsite' debate we crossed by ferry and so I hit my 8th country of the trip! Hello Austria.

The final campsite (all others had been rejected for not showing football) is slightly mad. Coming towards it the road was closed - in essence so the region's firefighters could park on it while they all take part in some kind of river races, happening immediately in front of the campsite. The races seem to consist of upstream punting, which looks quite a lot like hard work! The campsite also has big outdoor swimming baths in the middle of it - and the space for tents is a narrow strip with a hardcore base. Since my tent can't stand without tent pegs this wasn't really working for me. However I've been allowed to move to the end of the children's play area which is a rather select spot and decidedly softer!

Early morning swimming, here I come.

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