Day 4: Grein to Pochlarn. 45kms

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After a later than usual breakfast and a skid off the bike by Neil, we had a flat out downhill ride of up to 45kph for 6km until we reached Grein again to cross the Danube on a small ferry with many other cyclists. If we had stayed on the north side we would have been on a main road with continuous traffic noise. Being later meant hitting the hot weather earlier which continues unabated at 35+ degrees.

Just down from Grein at Struden the river narrows between solid granite walls which causes eddies that created danger to ships in the past. It has been excavated to make navigating the river safer. There was supposed to be ruin at Freyenstein but we couldn’t see it. We had a nice long stretch of tree lined trail shared with many other cyclists until we came to Ybbs by which time it was starting to really heat up. If it had been cooler, across the river and way up on a hill is the Pilgrimage Church which would have been nice to visit.

We parked our bikes in the old square and wandered down a narrow street to find a shaded restaurant. We all had cold drinks and I had some chocolate cake. Nice, even if the other’s didn’t think so. It’s an attractive town like so many others but too hot to stay too long in so we headed back off down the road to eventually get to our destination at Pochlarn which is another small old town. By the time we arrived at the Mosen Hotel across from the railway station we were roasting and thoroughly saturated with sweat. We have a nice room but once again there is nothing to cool the air so we had cold showers and lay about for a bit. We then took our bikes into the town for a drink and a snack and a quick look at the centre of the town, but it’s just too hot to consider doing anything other than trying to find somewhere with a breeze and some shade. Back at the hotel we relaxed until evening when we gathered outside for drinks followed by dinner. The waiting staff were lovely. One girl didn't speak English which was unusual. The other one, a Chinese girl from Sweden and Austria was off to Dublin to have a week of language immersion. The ladies at the next door table were doing a long hike on the Jacobs Way trail. They fill in the gaps on the trail as time permits. One woman was 50ish and the other 74. Rather them than me hiking the 20 to 30km per day in this heat. Pretty amazing.

Our next couple of days are also shorter rides but high temperatures are still forecast.

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Photos

Arriving in Ybbs
One hot cyclist