Albing - Legionslager and Passau Haibach - Burgus

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Albing - Legionslager

   There is almost nothing to see at Albing, and that is exactly what makes it a good story. Under these fields near the confluence of the Enns and the Danube lay one of the largest Roman military bases ever built in what is now Austria, a full legionary fortress raised in the later second century, around the time of the Marcomannic Wars, when Rome was fighting hard to hold the Danube against peoples from the north. It was planned on a grand scale and then, it seems, given up very soon after, probably because the site was too exposed to floods. The legion moved a few kilometres south to Lauriacum, the camp at today's Enns.

   Read the complete Albing - Legionslager write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Albing - Legionslager is where the day begins. Next is Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg.

2. 2. Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg

   Linz is a city that has reinvented itself. For much of the twentieth century it was known mainly for its steelworks and its uncomfortable links with the Nazi period; today it markets itself as a city of culture and technology, with the Ars Electronica centre glowing on the Danube bank at night, the Lentos art museum opposite, and a lively music scene. The Schlossberg, the castle hill above the old town, is where it all began: the Romans had a fort here called Lentia, part of the Danube frontier of the empire, and the Danube Limes is now on the World Heritage list. The castle that stands there now dates largely from the Renaissance, built for Emperor Frederick III, who spent his last years in Linz and died here in 1493. It houses a branch of the Upper Austrian state museum.

   Read the complete Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg comes up 39 km in. Next is Schlögen - Kastell.

3. 3. Schlögen - Kastell

   The Danube here performs one of its most famous tricks. Forced by hard granite, the river makes two tight hairpin turns, the Schlögener Schlinge, doubling back on itself in a loop so neat it looks drawn with a compass. From the viewpoint on the wooded slope above, a short walk from the road, you look down on the river curling around a forested spur, and it is one of the classic images of Upper Austria.

   Read the complete Schlögen - Kastell write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   78 km in you reach Schlögen - Kastell. Next is Passau Haibach - Burgus.

4. 4. Passau Haibach - Burgus

   Passau sits where three rivers meet, the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz, and from the high point of the Oberhaus fortress you can see their colours run side by side before mixing: green from the Inn, blue-grey from the Danube, and dark from the Ilz, which flows down from the Bavarian Forest stained by peat. The Romans knew this spot well. They had a fort here called Batavis, named after a unit of Batavian soldiers from the Rhine delta, and another at Boiotro across the Inn, and along the Danube downstream they built small fortified towers called burgi to watch the river and signal to each other. One of these late Roman burgi stood near Haibach, and its remains are part of the Danube Limes, inscribed by UNESCO in 2021 as part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire.

   Read the complete Passau Haibach - Burgus write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Passau Haibach - Burgus, about halfway. Next is back through Schlögen - Kastell.

5. 5. back through Schlögen - Kastell

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Schlögen - Kastell write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Schlögen - Kastell sits at 157 km, about halfway. Next is back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg.

6. 6. back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg comes up 196 km in. Next is Albing - Legionslager.

7. 7. Albing - Legionslager

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Albing - Legionslager write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Albing - Legionslager closes the day.