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Friday, August 16th - Linz to Maria Gugging, 9018 km
I pack bright and early before breakfast at the hostel, but I cannot leave until I get some Austrian currency. I find myself waiting in line at the nearest bank, waiting for the 9 am opening. The currency exchange doesn't take long but I want to see if I can make it to Vienna for tonight, which is more than 230 km away. I would have preferred to leave by 8.
I cross the river to the north side to join the trail again. The morning is grey and uninviting. It is pollution, not the weather. Linz is a major industrial centre and what should be a clear sky is blanketed with a grey haze that was evident when I arrived last night. It has a Benzol oil refinery, amongst other things. Hitler wanted to make his home town economically vibrant so he had factories in Czechoslovakia moved to Linz, and now the city suffers the results.
As I get farther from the city the sky clears up and it is bright and sunny again. The path is quite busy with other cyclists at points. It seems I am one of the few solo cyclists. Whatever I do I seem to end up doing it alone. I'm not sure why that is. I make up a game of seeing how many I can pass as I try to keep a steady pace of slightly more than 20 km per hour.
The Danube passes through more hills the rise steeply on either side, but no to the extent of the canyon I passed through yesterday. By noon I have made it to Marbach, 62 km from Linz. From Marbach, the Danube Valley widens a little. I keep my steady pace, pausing about ten minutes every couple hours, never long enough to completely cool down. I roll through Krum 
Nussbaum and Pochlam, and then by the town of Melk with its remarkable monastery on a high bluff above watching over the valley below. It looks remarkable and the Michelin Guide gives it a high rating, but I am tired of looking at religious buildings and it looks like a very challenging climb. Besides, I am addicted to motion at the moment. I may regret it later, but I sail past beneath it.
After Melk, I pass another piece of magic, the Schonbuhel Castle, which was property of the bishops of Passau for centuries. It is set on a bluff 100 m above the river and looks like a cross between a castle, a chateau and a church. I keep moving.
The valley closes into a near canyon again a few kilometres later. It is scenic and delightful, but my energy is flagging a little. It is 2pm when I enter the canyon and the ride 
through takes two and a half hours. I pass several small, scenic villages, such as Aggsbach and Durnstein. Eventually it ends at the town of Krems, where I stop briefly to buy cheese and meats to complete a small meal before continuing on.
I am definitely growing tired as I pass the 150 km mark at Krems, but the route remains quite flat. I have maintained a 20 km/hr average for seven hours and I continue on in a quasi-trance like state, keeping my legs moving around at an even cadence of 75-80 rotations per minute. The light in the sky is fading by the time I reach Tulln. I catch the colourful sunset but see little else of this pre-Roman town. This is the last place before I round the final bend of the Danube as it heads south to Vienna.
I should stop here but I don't. I have just reached the 200 km mark for the day, with 13 kg of baggage on my bike, my longest day of loaded touring ever. My longest unloaded day of cycling is only 10 km further. I have crazy notion that I can make it to Vienna, still another 35 km away.
By the time I make the last bend before Vienna, still 25 km away, it is dark and my strength is fading quickly. I find a small hotel in a hamlet called Maria Gubbing on the outskirts of Klosterneuberg, the northern suburb of Vienna. I have made it to the suburb of the suburb of Vienna, and that will have to do. I am at 221 km for the day! To put icing on the cake, I have crossed the 9000 km mark of my trip.
The hotel I find is right by the roadside. They have a place in their garage for my bike. I haul my bags with my last bit of energy up their stairs and into my little room. There is no restaurant nearby that is still open after 8 so I forage through my bags to find what I can. There is still some sliced meat and cheese left over from my dinner in Krems. I pour a bath for a change, so I can sit and soak in hot water. It knocks me out and I crawl under the sheets as soon as I am dry. That is all I can remember.
PHOTO 1: leaving the pollution of Linz
PHOTO 2: bridge over trail east of Linz
PHOTO 3: Radweg near Mauthausen
PHOTO 4: Mauthausen
PHOTO 5: Radweg station (just for cyclists)
PHOTO 6: path as Danube widens
PHOTO 7: Melk Abbey
PHOTO 8: Schonbuhel Castle
PHOTO 9: bike path north of Schlonbuhel
PHOTO 10: Krems, late afternoon
PHOTO 11: Durnstein
PHOTO 12: sunset at Tulln
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