57 miles ridden – 233m climbed – temperature 19C average, 25C at end.

It’s lucky I don’t sleep late as the Basilika bells started cascading at 5am and thus didn’t disturb me. I slept really well and was excited to see it was overcast and cool when I checked outside. Breakfast was really good despite the austere surroundings of the dining hall. By the time we started riding the rain/drizzle/rain had arrived but after all the heat no one really cared.

We shadowed the river pretty much all the way with the occasional diversion inland to skirt around airfields and factories and arrived at our first tea stop very quickly. No rush today so we spent extra time chilling and chatting at the stops.

At halfway we cycled into Passau and stopped for lunch. It was very leisurely in anticipation of a group split. Half had decided to take a river trip from Passau to Obernzell and the other half including myself continued to cycle as per the original route.

Passau is a heavily industrialised city yet retains old charm in (unsurprisingly) the old section.

The scale of the Danube – or Donau here – is both easy to forget when cycling through quiet countryside and easy to be reminded of when you cross and see an enormous lock.

We continued along the stunning riverside cycle path with a superb tailwind to our afternoon tea stop at an eco centre that had the best vanilla ice cream I’ve had in ages. About one mile after the stop at a point marked with a so innocuous that despite three of us scouring the verge we crossed from Germany into Austria. The only indication we had was a different flag on a house – maybe that was more to do with football than the border.

The non-cycling related picture of the day is this.

Who would have thought?!?!

About two miles out we had the excitement of a passenger/bike ferry across the river. Very exciting especially as there was a cargo ship crossing our path.

From where the ferry docked it was only a mile or two to our overnight stay – the very pretty hamlet of Inzell. The hotel – pension really – oozes Austrian style and the care of the owners who run it. It is pretty on the outside and quaint on the inside. Really special.

So after finding our rooms, cleaning and servicing our bikes after the rain this morning, we had dinner of predominantly Schnitzel….