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Published: September 10th 2018
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The day started with a bun fight at breakfast time. This location is obviously a favourite with the oldies as the place was full of them. By the look of them they are there for the buffet dinner and breakfast as what they lack in body power they make up for in eating! It wasn't a good place to put cyclists as it's out of town, there is nowhere to go and the directions were hopeless. So, that set us up for a real good start. How to get back to the bike trail? We got back to town in reverse but from there it all turned bad and we couldn't find the cycle trail. We asked for directions and were soon off again but still managed to turn too early near the river. We eventually had to carry our bikes up steps to get back onto the correct path on the stop bank. We met up again with our party of Canadian cyclists on the same route and found they too had the same problem. Thank goodness. It wasn't just us!
Anyway, back to business. It was another Baby Bear day - nice day, nice temperature, no wind. Just
The Dom clock tower
This fascinating alleyway has wonderful big doors all along it and is dominated by the Dom clock tower above right! We spent the first 15kms or so cruising along the stop bank by the river in an almost straight line. It wasn't particularly interesting but there was a view over the river. At the end of the river section we went inland for some kilometers through villages but nothing open this being a Sunday. We arrived across the river from Scharding but gave it a miss as we'd visited before. Further down the river we came to a huge gathering of people at Neuhaus. There were swimmers in the river and lot's of cheering going on. Then we heard a brass band and saw a marquee so thought it was worth crossing over the river to investigate. We're still not sure what it was all about but it was a major celebration. Inside the marquee were 100s of people, it was sweltering, there was beer, there was food, so in we went. We got more than we bargained for when we lined up for what we thought was a bratwurst sausage in a roll. We received a plate with two bratwursts, a pile of sauerkraut, some mustard sauce and a slab of bread! We ditched the plate, wrapped the
The ceiling art in St Stephen's Dom
The imagery and frescoes in The Dom are truly amazing. The more you look, the more you see. sausages and got out of the heat and soon ditched most of the food. Never mind, it was an interesting interlude.
Back on the trail, we chose to stay on the German side of the river. We're not sure it was a great idea. There were cyclists and walkers galore. The trail was up and down and through forest and certainly not good for heavy solid bikes. It was rough, stony, gravelly and steep in parts. What a way to finish our trail journey. Soon, Passau was a welcome sight. We'd made it! 350 kms of a really excellent route. There were the usual hassles of every trip of keeping to the correct trail or finding the route to accommodation, but on the whole everything ran really smoothly. It's been a great experience and one we'd recommend.
Back in Passau, we found our central hotel in the middle of the Old Town which is perfect. Passau is a charming and beautiful town and even though we've been here twice before, we still enjoyed wandering through the narrow streets, visiting the huge ornate cathedral and investigating the massive doors. We met up with the Canadian team, Jan, Bruce, Julie
The Canadian Team
These people we saw off and on all along the trail. Sometimes for a chat and sometimes a wave and finally a dinner together at the end. and Wally for dinner and certainly had some laughs with them. Maybe they'll turn up in NZ sometime and visit NP.
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