About Grein and Ybbs to Melk

On the morning of June 28, 2017 (Wednesday), I crawl out of my tent and my first look is at the inflatable boat. Great, it's still there, only the air has deflated overnight. So after breakfast, I have to inflate it again. Then we can continue. The first stop is about 10km away in Grein. I need to get a few things (including a repair kit for the rubber boat) and I want to take the opportunity to visit the city. After I docked in the harbor, Max makes himself noticed from a canoe, who is just doing his morning paddling tour. We chat briefly and arrange to meet again in the early afternoon at the same place, he wants to take a few pictures of us. After my stroll through Grein, which not only has a very attractive old town but also offers the Greinburg Castle high above the Danube, I meet Max again in the harbor. He gives me a few tips for the onward journey as well as some copies of a hiking guide for water sports on the Danube. Around 2:30 PM, I leave the harbor of Grein and can sail for about 15km in the afternoon. The wind is favorable and the tent cover is not only useful as a sunshade but also as a sail. Just before Ybbs, it's time to stop and I set up our camp on the right bank of the Danube on a meadow.

The next morning, a dog approaches with its owner. I have Rango under control, but I have to let him off the leash because his owner can't keep up with his four-legged friend. Luckily, it seems that neither of them is particularly serious, and I can separate them after a short scuffle... Luckily nothing serious happened. After that, I pack our stuff, do some repairs on the boat, and we continue. Right at the beginning, we have to use a transfer facility to bypass the Ybbs-Persenbeug power plant. Thanks to a transport cart, this works in a very elegant way. After that, we can drift for hours. The wind is blowing so strong and from a favorable direction that we can make good progress even without the tent cover. In the late afternoon, we reach the Melk power plant, and it's time to transfer the boat again. Since I leave the Danube a little too early, I have to transfer three times instead of twice. During the second transfer, the rubber boat starts drifting away from me and almost goes down a small weir. Fortunately, a few meters downstream, I can catch it again. If you don't have stress, you create some...

After this hurdle is overcome and we are back swimming in the Danube, it's just under a kilometer downstream until we can moor and settle on the campsite near Melk.