Mühlviertel Cycle Path

From the Danube valley at Niederranna and Engelhartszell the opening stage climbs hard at once: out of the narrow Strudental gorge it works up via Pfarrkirchen im Mühlkreis and Lembach into the western Mühlviertel and the wooded foothills of the Bohemian Forest around Ulrichsberg. Over quiet ridges the stage reaches Aigen-Schlägl with its baroque Premonstratensian abbey of Schlägl and its own monastery brewery. A demanding, forested mountain stage - the biggest single day's climb of the whole route.

Ascent

1,253 m

Descent

846 m

Duration

approx. 5-6 h

Surface

Paved, some gravel

Down from Aigen-Schlägl into the Mühl valley and on to Haslach an der Mühl, the old weaving town - its textile tradition lives on in the weaving museum and the annual weavers' market. Then it climbs again over the rolling ridges of the upper Mühlviertel to Bad Leonfelden, a climatic spa hard against the Czech border, known for its gingerbread and linen. A constant up and down over the granite heights, open and far-reaching country.

Ascent

1,147 m

Descent

861 m

Duration

approx. 4-5 h

Surface

Paved, some gravel

The long traverse of the high borderland: via Reichenau im Mühlkreis and Schenkenfelden the route heads east along the Bohemian frontier, through the thinly settled hill country around Windhaag bei Freistadt - the district town of Freistadt, with its intact medieval town wall, lies a few kilometres south of the route. Following the line of the former Iron Curtain (DenkStein memorial), the stage finally reaches Sandl, the high-lying village famous for its reverse-glass painting. Rolling and lonely, with wide views over the borderland.

Ascent

848 m

Descent

630 m

Duration

approx. 5 h

Surface

Paved, some gravel

Through the Freiwald, the high forest range in the eastern Mühlviertel, the route runs over high-lying Liebenau and Unterweißenbach. Up here, at around 900 metres, the route is at its coolest and quietest - dense spruce forest, peat bogs and high pastures. Gradually the descent to Königswiesen begins, with its late-Gothic parish church, one of the finest net-vaulted interiors in the Mühlviertel. Mostly downhill, but with several counter-climbs.

Ascent

492 m

Descent

623 m

Duration

approx. 3-3.5 h

Surface

Paved, some gravel

The great descent to the Danube. Over Pabneukirchen and the lower Mühlviertel the route steadily loses height; at Bad Kreuzen the ruined Kreuzen castle and the old Kneipp spa tradition are worth a stop. Through the deeply cut valley of the Klam the final stage reaches Grein on the Danube in the Strudengau - with Greinburg castle above the river and the town theatre of 1791, the oldest theatre in Austria still in use. Here the R5 joins the Danube Cycle Path. A long, almost continuous descent of more than 1,300 metres.

Ascent

532 m

Descent

1,368 m

Duration

approx. 4 h

Surface

Paved, some gravel