Biking Through Austria: The fourth of July in Mühldorf am Inn

Today was another long day - 46 k, and that's before all the detours and dead ends. This trail is supposed to be well-marked, and it generally is, but there's definitely some exceptions that lead to problems.

Today the problem was the crossing at the dam Jettenbach. I was looking forward to it - you're supposed to be able to cross the Inn on a dam. The problem was that there was construction around there, and no access was allowed. I went past the first set of signs, thinking that I could at least ask about an alternate route (because the obvious alternate route was a very busy road), but there was nobody else to ask, just a sign saying that there would be video surveillance, and you would be prosecuted if you went past the gate.

So we went back, and I flagged down some passing bikers coming in the other direction, and asked how they got by the obstruction. It turned out to involve a short stretch of biking on a pretty busy road, but otherwise it was fine.

This is the dam from the other side, that we could have crossed on, had there been no construction.

This was also a day of hills - the hilliest stretch yet. Peter and I walked our bikes up multiple stretches. I think it's the last hilly area - I believe the rest is mostly on the river.

Finally we got to the town of Mühldorf am Inn. There was a very long "Stadtplatz" - a street with shops on both sides, and the covered arcades. Similar to Wasserburg, the last town we were in, but more centralized. Getting to the hotel was a challenge, because my phone battery was giving out, so I was turned it off, and only turned it on when I thought we really needed it. So we ended up making a few unnecessary detours. When we got to the hotel, it turned out that they were closed from 11 to 5! Granted, it was a small hotel, but those are some strange hours! And I don't have German sim card, to call local phone numbers. A guy who was a guest here helped me out, and called the number, and they came by in about half an hour to let us in, so it ended up okay.

Walking around the main square, I saw THREE - yes - THREE bookstores! Here's one of them:

And this is NOT a big city or anything, it's really more like a large town. Maybe it's a replacement for libraries - they don't really seem to have libraries here.

Here's a few more pictures from along the route and in town.

I saw this crazy colored blue flower (I thought) and stopped to take a picture. It's actually a piece of plastic on a young pine tree - I believe it's to prevent the deer from nibbling the tips