When the going gets hot the hot get going

With apologies to Billy Ocean

It’s getting hot here in Austria! Today’s ride is a long one, on largely unshaded roads and paths. While the river is as beautiful as always, the way is a little monotonous and exposed this morning. Because we have a 90km ride today we just crank it.

As we approach Linz we ride alongside a busy road for about 10km of the last 15, which is not nice. It is some of the less pleasant riding we’ve done on this trip and it is a relief to cross the bridge and ride into the main square of Linz, where we go about getting ourselves a Linzer Torte.

After lunch (because that’s what the Linzer torte is) we ride out of Linz and crank it toward Grein. The ride out of Linz takes a long time – it’s a big town – and we are both keen for the day to be over.

Grein is a very small town with most activity settled around the water or one main town square. I think almost every cyclist is here. We’re seeing the same people from last night and the bike garage at our hotel is full!

It’s not just cycling. There is a pilgrim’s route called the Jerusalem Way that passes through here, and I meet a young German man who is walking the Way and looking for his own way. He’s walked about 30km today but is still roaming around town, not as footsore as he should be!

Food is pretty slim pickings here but we eat at a place with the best view in town and follow that up with huge ice creams.

There’s not a lot to do in Grein, but you don’t need much to do. It’s just a pretty town to enjoy while winding down from a big day in the saddle.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 90.35km
• Climb: 118m
• Average speed: 19km/h
• Average temperature: 32C
• Moving time: 4:44:48
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken sitting at the town square outside our hotel. A very refreshing beer it was too.

Along the way today: