Rural idyll

Early in the morning (around 4am), we left Linz by boat, and travelled to Mauthausen, arriving in time for breakfast and departure.

One of the features of the cycling has been the quiet country landscapes we've traversed. Absolutely idyllic. Today, Mr A decided to travel in style by boat, with a 100 person cruise ship just for himself. C, K and I bowled along country roads, past fields, alongside wild flower meadows, and latterly along the side of the Danube. We crossed a couple of bridges - one was a little stressful. We took a swim in a backwater oxbow lake, where we were the only people around. At one point we saw a barn marked with some epic high water points. It was a fairly hot day, but more or less bearable. We stopped for a beer at one point, and saw a nest with storks above the beer garden. Finally, we reached the very pretty town of Grein - perhaps the nicest destination of all.

Later on, Mr A and I climbed up towards the castle of Grein, and caught a lovely view of Grein and the Danube, and had a couple of glasses of wine in the central square. After dinner, we sat on the sun deck and watched the sun go down. It was fresh and cool - in fact almost quite chilly by 10pm. Our pleasure wasn't even spoilt by another, larger cruise boat pulling alongside ours.

I've added extras accordingly.