Day One on the River and then on the Bike

We left Passau in the evening and spent the night at Engelhartszell, Austria. From here we began a 40 km cycle trip for the day. We were briefed on the route but the trip is unguided so we do our own navigating with the intention of arriving in Aschach, Austria before the boat sails at 4:00 PM.

The bicycles we rented are fairly new and standard models for this part of Europe. They have 8 gears forward,  fairly wide tires and strangely, both a coaster brake and two hand brakes. The seats are very wide by road bike standards but both Sue and I found them comfortable. We are issued bright vests, a tire changing kit, bicycle lock and the lunch sandwich that we prepared after breakfast and off we go.

I have not mentioned our companions. There are 142 of us on the boat and about 110 are cyclists. They come from all over Europe and Sue and I are apparently the only Americans. There is one couple from Quebec, Canada and one from the UK but not many of us speak english. Most are retired or on holiday. This particular trip is a new one for the tour company who started this route last year. People on the boat are generally friendly although the Germans and Austrians seem more stern and uncommunicative with strangers (that would be us). We are assigned seats for dining and our table is made up of a Swiss couple, a Dutch couple, the UK couple and us. Truly a group of odd socks who chatter away mostly in halting english and probably understand about half of what each other is saying. We make good use of pantomime.

The ride today was thru a beautiful forest and on broad paved trails. Several hundred riders were also out today passing us or being passed in both directions. Happily the weather was good despite the cloudy skies and the threat of rain. We arrived safely in Aschach, Austria.