No ships in sight on the quay. The river was still high, and the water was running swiftly making the small boats on the other bank look as though they were moving. Ducks that landed on the surface of the river floated past at about 7km/h; a fast walking pace. I finished my leisurely breakfast and formulated a plan for the day. I would infiltrate the Hilton and see if I could get permission to film inside. The approach would have to be carefully planned and I dressed for the occasion; my smartest casual shirt and trousers far too warm for the weather.
Month: June 2016
The Journey – Day 72
A black bird sang its song beautifully on the motorhome roof at 5am; very loud. A bang on the ceiling sent it away and I got up two hours later, without the lovely, but deafening melody.
The Journey – Day 71
I had set my alarm for 6.45. when it went off I felt I had only just gone off to sleep. I found another bakery near the bridge and didn’t buy their small croissants at 1.60 each. As I crossed over the bridge a saw a pusher tug taking two barges side by side into the lock. I drove as quickly as I could though slow-motion traffic and stopped inside the lock next to where the chief lockkeeper was standing. He greeted me as though he has expecting me to arrive exactly at that moment; he indicated that when the ship was tied up he would go and negotiate a tow.
The Journey – Day 65 – 70
June 4th
I moved the motorhome to the parking on the rive gauche near the centre of Linz which was only a 10-minute walk over the bridge. I arranged all my equipment and made the journey on foot to the tourist office. I had arranged to have some space in the reception area, to use the sockets to power my new disc drives. Having set up all the various things that needed charging I set to work loading the very large files, which had filed my computer, onto the hard drives. I freed up half the storage on the computer, some files taking 15 minutes to load.
I worked on the blog and tried to catch up with notes etc. with some success; the interruptions were many and the events going on outside were a temptation for me to go out and film. I made a few excursions to film university students climbing up a rope ladder hoisted 50m in the air by a huge extending crane.
The Red Cross were giving a demonstration of their arts and there were preparations underway for a rock concert for later on in the evening. A group of people, dressed in traditional costumes were holding an event displaying very intricate hats of a somewhat odd design; laced with gold filaments or completely black. The event merited an Austrian brass band and a group of young people with guitars and choir waiting to perform. I had to go back and keep an eye on the progress of the file transfers.
The Journey – Day 60 ’till 65
Three days travel on the Herbert brought me to Linz. I had a stopover at Obermuhl, a truly beautiful village at the confluence of a small river that comes down through the Austrian mountains to join the Danube. The small marina, centre of the tiny village is surrounded by wooded hills cut by the Danube as it twists its way through the rock formations forming loops than almost form islands. The village is located at the end of the most famous loop called Schlogener Schlinge.
There is a quay where the Herbert was able to tie up and spend the night. I organised the delivery of the motorhome as set about organising my evening. I spoke to the owners of the hotel and bar, explained what I was doing by showing the website. They saw photos of me playing guitar and invited me to play a few songs on the terrace. During the evening I joined a group of bikers who were saying at the hotel. The evening ended in a cloud of schnapps.