Day 7: July 14, 2025

 Today was the third day of the VBT trip. 

We started the day with an early morning trip up the river to Pasau. Again, low water required a change in where we could dock in the previous days. Pasau was where we were supposed to be on day 3.

Whether by design or because of changes in itineraries, we docked next to a Viking ship and crossed their upper deck to get to shore.

Here's the view of our ship from the upper deck of the Viking ship.

Here's a view of the front of our ship and the butt of the other.

It was an impressive piece of driving.

The day began with a walking tour of Passau. It in Germany.

Here's our tour guide giving us an overview. 

Passau gets flooded often and here are the water levels over the years.

Another church, more frescos.

This was apparently used as a beer fountain. We are in Bavaria, after all.

Today's ride was a loop, not unlike the ride we often do from Onondaga Lake Park to Hinmansville, up one side of a river, cross over, and back on the other side. 

The first half and some of the second half featured gravel. I wouldn't dare take my hands off the handlebars to take a picture and even grabbing a drink was more challenging.

This was from one of the rare patches of pavement.

Here is where we crossed to the other side.

Here we are blocking the bridge.

The ride back was less bone-jarring than the ride out to the bridge. 

We returned to Pasau, and passed through some of the older parts of the town.

We use an app called RidewithGPS that takes a route - and if you have it on your phone - transmits the directions to an earpiece. We use bone-conduction earpieces so we can hear directions and still hear sound around us.

In this next picture, she told us to get off our bikes and walk through the tunnel. It was good advice, especially since we were going the wrong way.

Here are the stats for the morning: https://www.strava.com/activities/15108571144, 13.5 flat miles.

We returned to the boat for lunch and to get ready for the afternoon ride. It was a carefully orchestrated schedule. The time that our boat was leaving was fixed, so if we didn't get off the boat, we didn't ride. And we could leave earlier, but then we would have to wait for the boat in a town that mostly a speck on the map. Our ride was a one-way route to a spot where the boat would pick us up. 

The ride was pleasant and uneventful. We rode along a bike path parallel to the river, and mostly downhill. The only challenge were multiple crossings of a busy two-lane highway.

Afternoon stat: https://www.strava.com/activities/15114157877, 17 flat miles.

Here's the boat picking us up.  Even though they passed us at our snack stop, we beat the boat to the dock. Apparently, they got held up at a lock.

Here's a picture of the dock.

No sooner did they pick us up but we were on the move again. We were sailing overnight toward Melk. 

Before dinner, we went through another lock. This time, I went to the upper deck to watch. The whole process is pretty cool. 

Since we were going down river, we started out at the top of the lock and quickly sank as the water drained out. When it got to the right level, the doors opened, and out we went. We were the only boat in the lock.

 

When we went through another lock, this is what it looks like when we're at the top of the lock.

Eating on the road is always a challenge but the restaurant manager and chef tried very hard to meet my needs. The past two days, they put a copy of the next day's menu under my door and I would annotate it and return it to them. The first day, a combination of mistakes produced something that looked like it came from the state fair. This time, I decided to just ask for what I thought they could make with ingredients they had on board. The result was a lovely stir-fry over rice pilaf with a garnish of fresh sprouts.

Sometimes, I just have to take a lactase and hope for the best.