Into Austria

Note: Click on any photo to get a larger version.

Entering Austria
Entering Austria

We made it into Austria this morning, and noticed several differences right away. The river valley is closed in on both sides of the river, leaving little room for roads, bike paths and towns. The railroads have disappeared, and the bike path is nice and smoothly paved, with very little car traffic. We’ve noticed an increase in cycle tourists, and even heard a few voices speaking English this morning as they passed by in a large group. There was a cycle-specific information booth in Aschach that was manned by a really nice and helpful lady.

Since the path is now mostly available on both sides of the river, we are constantly faced with the decision, left or right bank? Luckily there are plenty of bridges and small ferries so we can switch back and forth frequently. Today, we took two ferries, one with our British friends Martin and Gail:

On the ferry with Martin and Gail
On the ferry with Martin and Gail

And one on a completely river-powered ferryboat. All the motion is generated by the river current pushing against the boat, which is held in place as it moves across the river by a cable and pulley system. Even the gates are powered by human strength!

River-powered ferry
River-powered ferry

Keeping with the regular theme of electric power production along the Danube, we saw 4 separate hydroelectric power plants today, 3 of them accompanied by huge locks for ships and barges to pass through. The fourth one was powered via huge pipelines coming down from somewhere way up the side of the valley.

A barge going upstream through the locks
A barge going upstream through the locks

Game Notes: we passed through Passau yesterday, which is in Thurn and Taxis, and also in Power Grid: Germany.

Trip: Central Europe 2010Tags: , , , , States/Countries: Austria, Germany

Map: The green marker shows the beginning of the route. Click on red markers to see a note or information about that spot. Hover over, tap, or highlight a section of the elevation profile to see where it is on the map. Elevation profile and maps are approximate.


3 Replies to “Into Austria”

  1. So I see by your map, you are in Ottensheim. What are the sights there? Are you staying in a gasthaus or are you roughing it?

    1. Ottensheim? Hmmm… I think we just spent the night there in a guest house… We haven’t been camping as much lately, as the weather has been a bit… shall we say damp? Not horrible, just a couple hours of rain in the morning.

      Anyway, we’re now in Vienna for a few days (will probably make a new post soon).

      Cheers!
      Jennifer

Comments are closed.