Bicycling in Austria &
Germany – 2004
by Paul Marlin
Part III - Ybbs & Erlauf River Valleys
DAY 9 – Ardagger Stift to
Göstling an der Ybbs (34 miles + train)
When we turned south away from the Danube we
entered a region known as the "Mostviertel", a term coined by the
tourist establishment for the area in Lower Austria between the Danube
and Alps and west of the Vienna Woods. Viertel
literally means quarter (as in French Quarter), but can be translated
as region or district. "Most" is German for hard cider which
is produced from pears and apples grown in the area. The
northern half, i.e., nearest to the Danube is rolling farmland; whereas
the southern half is the much more hilly Alpine foothills.
A characteristic feature of the area is large farm buildings
called vierkanterhof's, literally
"4 cornered farm house". It has four sides with a courtyard
in the center. One side is the home; and the other three house
animals and machinery.
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Rolling farmland of the Mostviertel
(this photo was taken in 2003) |
| Mostviertel with Alpine foothill in
background |
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The first leg of today's journey
continued the climb begun the day before and ended with a
long downhill into Amstetten, a total distance of only 3 miles.
The second was an hour long train ride south along the Ybbs to
Waidhofen an der Ybbs, a fascinating town known as the city of
towers. The train was part of the plan in order make the
detour fit into the schedule, and also because we had ridden the route
from Ybbs an der Donau to Waidhofen an der Ybbs in 2003.
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Waidhofen an der Ybbs, the "city of
towers", as seen from the Ybbs River Bridge. How many can
you spot? |
| One of
the towers in Waidhofen an der Ybbs. Inscription on this one
indicates it is dedicated to farmers, townsmen, and forge workers who
drove out the Ottoman Turks in the 1600's. |
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Schloss Rothschild, Waidhofen an der
Ybbs. It was originally owned by the Bishop of Freising, Bavaria
and was purchased by Baron Rothschild in the 19th century. |
After lunch and a little sight seeing we set off on
the 31 mile third leg, following the Ybbs Valley Bike Route (Ybbstalweg)
to our next overnight: Göstling an der Ybbs. From this point on
the terrain changes: the valley is narrower, the hillsides steeper, and
the farms smaller. For 2/3 of the way we ride on the main and only
road, which is not a problem because there is little traffic.
When the valley widens a bit, the route follows side roads. We
also begin following the route of a narrow gauge railroad knows as the Ybbstalbahn.
After about 15 miles the route makes a turn toward the east.
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Along the
Ybbstalweg. |
| Small farm
along the Ybbstalweg. The hay was probably cut with a small
tractor. |
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Ybbstalbahn narrow gauge train
with bicycle car returning to Waidhofen and der Ybbs from Lunz am
See, a resort town on an Alpine lake
I n this case the bike car had been
used to reposition rental bikes, i.e., return them to Lunz am See.
Bikes can be rented from one station and returned to another.
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So far so good. Although we had gone upstream
into the Alps, the 525 feet change in altitude from Waidhofen to
Göstling was imperceptible. We stayed here for two nights at a
gasthof (combination restaurant and lodging) in the center of
town. So, despite being surrounded by steep hills, we didn't have
to climb to our lodging. Because it was ruhetag
(kitchen closed), the owner served us what is called a "tourist
menu" in some countries. It started with schnapps, then salad,
then Wiener schnitzel and potatoes, and strawberries for dessert.
All for 6 Euros (the Euro, once under a dollar, was at this time about
$1.21).
DAY 10 – Göstling an der Ybbs
Today was spent resting, shopping, and taking side
trips. Göstling's attraction is Hochkar mountain and ski
area about 8 miles south, and was my favorite overnight.
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Gastehaus Harich; our home in Göstling.
After supper the owner invited us to watch him feed the fish in the
stream below with day-old Kaiser rolls. |
| I can spot at
least 2 large trout that went for the Kaiser rolls. |
 |
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Austrian National Forest office in
Göstling |
| A Cafe-Konditorei
in Göstling |
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Passage way between church and parish
office in Göstling |
| Breakfast at
Gastehaus Harich in Göstling. The typical Austrian breakfast
consists of Kaiser rolls and hearty bread, cold cuts such as ham and
salami, various preserves, and some times soft boiled eggs. The
highlight, however, is the coffee. Compared to Austrian coffee,
Starbucks tastes weak and bitter. |
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While the rest were shopping, my
brother and I decided to ride up to the aerial tramway at the Hochkar
ski area. It was an easy 5 mile climb to the small town of
Lassing. However, the rest of the way was the longest, steepest
climb I had ever seen. I quit about a third of the way up; but my
brother made it to the top, i.e., the bottom of the tramway, as the
pictures below attest.
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On the way up to Hochkar. |
| So-called "Valley Station" of the
aerial tram at the Hochkar ski area |
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Ski lodge at Hochkar |
DAY 11 – Göstling an der Ybbs - Melk (48 miles)
The last 7 miles of the Ybbstalweg took us in a
northeastward direction on a bike path to Lunz am See. Lunz is situated
on Lunzer See, an Alpine lake which is the source of the
Ybbs. Despite going upstream, the gain in altitude was again
imperceptible.
| Getting ready to leave Gastehaus Harich.
Between the owner and Jeanine is the chalk board listing the specials
of the day. |
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Crossing the Ybbs just
upstream from Göstling |
| Bike path and
narrow gauge Ybbstallbahn between Göstling and Lunz am See. |
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Bridge across the Ybbs Rivers near Lunz
am See. Its design was not signed off by the
ACLU. Mary on the left and St. Florian on the right are identifiable;
and one of the other statues is certainly St. John Nepomok.
The sign indicates that the bridge was
built by the owner of the largest iron working plant in the area.
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As
we entered Lunz am See we spotted the start of the Ötscherlandweg
which takes us north along the Erlauf river back to the
Danube. Since we still had 40 miles to go, we decided to
proceed without looking for the lake, Lunzer See, the source
of the Ybbs. The question was: how bad was the hill between
the source of the Ybbs and the Erlauf? We lost our SAG wagon
between Lunz and Gaming because, although the narrow gauge railroad
continued to follow us,
only week end excursion trains (nostalgiebahn) ran over this
section. It turned out to
be an
easy 3 mile uphill to the small village of Pfaffenschlag, followed by a
4 mile long steep downhill into Gaming.
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Passing through Pfaffenschlag on the Ötscherlandweg
at the high point between the Ybbs and Erlauf river valleys.
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Because of the
relatively long 47 mile day and because several
wanted to visit the famous Benedictine Abbey at Melk, four of the group
decided to take the train the rest of the way from
Kiensberg-Gaming. After installing them and their bikes on the
self propelled diesel car (triebwagen) used on this remote
branch line, we continued north on the Ötscherlandweg. Its first
segment went downhill to Purgstall an der Erlauf on a bike path, and
then along small farm roads through the rolling hills of the
Mostviertel back to the Danube at Pöchlarn. A right turn
onto the levee along side the Danube took us the last 7 miles to Melk.
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Kienberg-Gaming train
station. The coach is from the narrow gauge Nostalgiebahn which
runs south from here to Lunz am See. The tracks to the left are the
standard gauge branch line that runs north from here to
the Danube at Pochlarn where it connects with the main east-west line
between Vienna and Salzburg. |
| The standard
guage triebwagen (self propelled diesel rail car) catches up
with us north of Kienberg-Gaming along the Ötscherlandweg . |
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St. John Nepomok statue on bridge across
the Erlauf in Scheibs. He must be the patron saint of bridges. ACLU
take note.
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| Back on the
Danube levee. The famous Melk monastery is ahead in the background. |
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After the 47 miles we figured we deserved a
stop at a radlertreff at the turn-off into Melk.
A radlertreff (slang for "bicyclist meeting point") refers to snack
bars located along bike paths. Actually, this one is more elegant
than most because it is located at a boat dock where coaches drop off
tourists for cruises on the Danube.
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Radlertreff at the turn-off into
Melk. The cruise ship is from the Netherlands.
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