September 8, 2022
Into Bavaria: Imst to Schwangau
There are two ways to get to the German border from Imst: over the Fernpass, or over the Hahntennjoch. The former is less high, but the road was said to be unpleasantly busy, and all accounts of the off-road alternative suggested that it would be quite hard work on anything other than a mountain bike. There's a shuttle option this way too, but I'd left it too late to book it. All of which made route planning for today fairly simple: Hahntennjoch it is.
The weather had broken overnight, and things were looking distinctly murky outside. The plus side of this, though, was that it seemed likely to deter the hordes of motorbikers who (the internet told me) liked to flock to the Hahntennjoch on sunny days. No danger of sunshine this morning, so I was good to go.
It was a steep climb to get to the edge of Imst, but after that things eased off a little bit, as the road zig-zagged upwards through the forest.
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Then, the views opened up as the road snaked along the side of the valley. It was very atmospheric, if also increasingly chilly: I had to stop to put on a few more layers, I think for the first time (when going uphill) on this trip.
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2 years ago
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Just before the summit the rain started to come down quite hard. Luckily, though, the top was marked by a particularly elegant, and solid, wooden bus-shelter, which provided the ideal place to sit things out (and to put on even more layers).
Not only did the rain soon stop, but as I started to descend down into the Lech valley the sun inched back into view. It was still a bit soggy, because the road was so wet, but the views were wonderful.
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Eventually, I made it back down to the valley floor. My first attempt to join the Lech radweg was scuppered by a closed bridge across the river -- I could wave at some equally (probably more!) stuck cyclists on the other side, but none of us dared to ignore the stern 'Danger To Life' signs. But the valley road, to which I retreated, wasn't very busy, and had the advantage, too, of taking me past a very nice inn in Stanzach, where I stopped for some fortifying and warming lunch (also adding them to my list of Nice Places on whose seat cushions I've left a damp patch: sorry, Nice Stanzach Inn...)
Shortly after that, I did find a way to get onto the cycle path, which provided a beautifully smooth run down-river, interrupted only by pauses to shed layers of clothing as the sun re-established itself and the temperatures rose.
I was heading into fairly familiar territory now, so could start to tick off some landmarks: here's that patch of terrible lumpy gravel just before the border; there's the very good ice-cream kiosk just after the border (organic bilberry ice-cream: it would be a crime not to stop...); here's the place in Füssen where I reliably lose track of the cycle route; ah, and there's That Castle...
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2 years ago
In reaching Schwangau, I'd also reached the official end of the trip: in one piece, but I think significantly over the 47.5 hour estimated time. But of course, I still had to find my way back to the UK, so this journal isn't (quite) over yet...
Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 789 km (490 miles)
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2 years ago
2 years ago