Day 28 - Linz to Ebersdorf (62 miles)

The sun was back today.

Yesterday I took the northern bank of the Danube to experience the ferries needed to travel upstream at two of the stages. Today I continued on the northern bank as I wanted to visit a memorial at the small town of Gusen.

Gusen is some twelve miles on from Linz: along the Danube and past the industrial outskirts that sit on the river, as with all the larger cities I pass through, and then through suburbia and countryside. Together with Mauthausen, a little further still, Gusen was a location for German Second World War concentration camps. It was primarily populated by Poles but there were also a large number of Spanish Republicans, Soviet citizens and Italians. I had never heard of it before I planned this trip but the complex of Mauthausen and the camps that made up Gusen held - and killed - tens of thousands through extermination and forced slave labour, in particular during the construction of underground factories for the German jet fighter, the Messerschmitt 262. Life expectancy at Gusen was as little as four months.

I arrived expecting the memorial - plain concrete walls surrounding the cremation ovens (the only part of the original camp left) - to be quiet. Instead there was a coach of Italians being shown around and a few German people standing around with purpose. I got speaking to a couple of the latter and as a result ended up being shown around the memorial and having its history explained by one who seemed enthusiastic to impart his knowledge. A women who had once been an English teacher then took up the reins and we had an interesting conversation about the aircraft factory and the pros and cons of the aircraft produced. All the while more coaches would turn up - mostly Poles and Italians - and when I remarked on how busy it was I was told that this was the weekend of the liberation of the camp: May 5, 1945. I came away feeling informed, privileged and that my visit had also been very timely.

Approaching Grein

Another two and a half hours along the Danube and across countryside took me to Grein, a small town sitting on the north bank of the river. Although now relatively quiet, it gave the impression it was just slumbering until the summer season; today's lightly populated eateries and tourist businesses would then come alive. After a hearty lunch it was time to address the last twenty-five miles which was entirely along the Danube valley, a little similar to yesterday except ultimately there was more sky, more building and a road which - if I were not on or by it - I was never far away from.

I had originally planned to get to Vienna tomorrow after a long day's cycle. However, this small village is a few miles short of where I had hoped to be: the cost for accommodation around my intended destination was more than I was willing to pay and probably would not have been up to the standard I have ended up with. My task tonight is to decide whether I need a new plan for the morning.