Day 15, Passau to Assach.

Wow, what a breakfast spread; it's a pity you can only eat so much! So much choice.  We headed off on a shortcut to the bridge, failed, and retraced (pedalling quickly back past the hotel in case anyone noticed us) following the route indicated by Mr Garmin.  As usual he kept us right. After an initial dark and gravelly stretch alongside an old railway track, we hit smooth tarmac which took us across the border into Austria and continued all the way to our destination either on cycle track or quiet country roads.  We cracked on until the first river crossing by cycle ferry at Engelhartzell where we had to ring the bell vigorously to summon the boat.  We were hoping for a coffee at the ferry point, but it was closed Tuesday and Wednesday, muh!  At least a farm biergarten materialised petty soon after we reached the north bank so coffee and cake were there imbibed. Refreshed, we continued to the so-called Schlogen loop where the river does a full 180 deg bend to work it's way through a huge band of granite.  Here we took our second cycle ferry to Schloggen where a fine gasthof beckoned with the offer of a beer!  An offer not refused.  The wide alluvial plane that we had seen so much of earlier was now gone, replaced with impressive gorge scenery, a river hemmed in by steep forest-cloaked slopes.  But these were not for cycling up.  This stretch, i.e. from Passau to Vienna, is the tourist section.  There are dozens of cyclists ( mostly on e-bikes) and the Austrians have clearly capitalised on the trade by ensuring that the cycle tracks are absolutely first class.  Gone are the gravel tracks (famous last words); bring on the velvet tarmac.  They even provided a 10-14 mph tail wind to aid progress making this the fastest easiest stretch yet.  We soon reached Assach where we stopped at a local bakery for a coffee before crossing the bridge to the north side and back-tracking to definitely the best hotel yet.  It is an old Schloss (castle) and sits high on the north bank.  So steep is the approach that it was a get-off-and-push right at the end.  Our meal was indulgent and was taken on the terrace overlooking the river.  Despite sitting in a pretty stiff wind in only shorts and flip flops, we were still rather warm as the sun set over the opposite hill.  Better make the most of this as tomorrow we are in a Youth Hostel!

44 miles at an average of 11.6 mph.  3 hrs 47 mins moving time to ascend 160 m.