Wallsee - Kleinkastell and Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Wallsee - Kleinkastell

   Wallsee is the kind of Danube town you only notice if you slow down: a market square, a big castle on a rock above the river, and a long, quiet waterfront where the cycle path runs past willows and moored boats. Beneath the streets lie the remains of a small Roman fort, one of the posts that lined the river frontier of the province of Noricum, and archaeologists have also traced a larger fort nearby. Both are part of the Danube Limes World Heritage listing inscribed in 2021, though above ground the medieval and Baroque town has long since taken over.

   Read the complete Wallsee - Kleinkastell write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Wallsee - Kleinkastell is where the day begins. Next is Albing - Legionslager.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg.

3. 3. 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

   about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Linz - Befestigung Schlossberg. Next is back through Albing - Legionslager.

4. 4. back through 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

   back through Albing - Legionslager, late in the day. Next is Wallsee - Kleinkastell.

5. 5. Wallsee - Kleinkastell

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Wallsee - Kleinkastell write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Wallsee - Kleinkastell. That is the ride.