Life's a Stitch

Sept 6th Linz to Saxen 59.1k (35.5 miles)

Another bad night of sleep, this time due to late night Diet Coke. I think the caffeine levels might be higher here. No breakfast included with our room so it was tea kettle eggs on bread w/mayo. 

Our first stop was a bike shop to buy padded seat covers. The rental bikes came with terribly uncomfortable seats and if I had thought about it, I would have brought my own. We also got some advice re handlebar adjustments.

There are times you’ll need to cross the river to get to your accommodation or to avoid riding along a busy road. Today’s bike ferry ride was a happy accident. We had crossed over a dam and rode through beautiful farmland, but must have missed a sign and ended up at a ferry crossing. We intended to return to that side by bridge today anyway so we paid the 5e and took the boat.

A short distance later we stopped at another campground for lunch and enjoyed the beautiful view.

The afternoon took us through forest and farm fields, it was my favourite day so far. Then we reached the turnoff for our hotel and had 1.9k through a small village, half of that on a real highway without a bike path, not my preference, but I survived.

We had dinner at the inn we chose and you can tell we were thirsty. We discovered a rule in Austria after we had been paying high amounts for bottled water. They have to serve you a free glass of water with each glass of wine to help people avoid dehydration from alcohol. Some places bring it automatically. And Germany has a law that there has to be a drink on the menu less expensive than beer so people aren’t drinking beer because it’s the cheapest drink available.

Our pension, the Kulturzentrum  Sturmmuhle, overlooked a creek with a little waterfall. That sound and the extremely comfortable bed lead to the best night’s sleep.