Danube Cycle Trail 4

Today to Maria Taferl, or more precisely Marbach, was about 58 km. A bit cooler today, especially in the morning. Lucky I changed to my long sleeve cycling shirt, as my arms were getting burnt. It was also a lot more windy today. Had a slight problem getting to the trail from Perg, which is off the trail, and not as well signed. I always factor in some "getting lost time" into my trips anyway. I just expect it to happen now. Today a lot of the trail went through villages, seem to be more right on the water here and also more flood protection as well, see the pictures. The countryside is also a lot more hilly. Used one little ferry from Grein today and another power station dam bridge to cross - in the pictures you can see the locks the ships use. Saw another squirrel today - a brown one which was far more alert.

You can tell who the day cyclists are - they tear ahead at a frantic pace, then you pass them when they are tired and you never see them again.

Staying in Maria Taferl - that's the picture with the church on the hill. I didn't have the pleasure of cycling up as the hotel has a complimentary van that picks you up in Marbach, which is on the river. But we get to ride down tomorrow via  a less steep way. Should be fun if the brakes are any good. There are some fantastic views of the Danube from up here as you will see from the pictures below. Hotel is quite good and overlooks the Danube. However, I am on the street side of the hotel so rather than views I get the sounds of cars tooting as they leave the church following a wedding and people conducting conferences in front of the hotel.

Came across quite a few former Yugoslav compatriots living in Austria on this trip. There was the Croatian woman living in Austria who was in my train carriage. Then there was the Serbians that ran the bike rental place in Passau, and today the van driver was a Kosovo Albanian who has lived in Austria for 30 years. He spoke in Serbo-Croatian and I in Slovenian as they are similar enough to carry on a conversation. Certainly better than in my non-existent German and his mon-existent English. He was very friendly and we had a good conversation. Thankfully, he explained to the German speakers in the van what we were on about.