Another unexpected day: Schwangau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Wow. What an unexpected day. I am sitting on a beautiful Tirol balcony in Garmisch-Partenkirchen wondering how I got here...oh yes, the train. But I am getting ahead of myself.
We started the day in Schwangau with a good breakfast and the world's worst wifi. We went across the street to tourist info after breakfast, and while Keith was making inquiries about the route forward I was able to download all the pictures at lightening speed. The hotelier at the Gasthof Zur Post had explained to me that the wifi was so poor because Schwangau is "a very small village". He should talk to TI. They clearly have it figured out. I wouldn't be so annoyed if we hadn't paid 5 Euro for the privilege of having non working wifi.
The ride into Fussen was beautiful. We know this perfect weather is coming to an end, so we are savouring it. We spent some time last night retreading both the Grampies and the Graham's journals about the route ahead and I wasn't sure I would sleep after the rereading. We stopped in Fussen at TI to get their take on things, and I admired the fountain so beautifully described in "Grampies Ride Again".
A great place to stay if wifi isn't important to you.
We left Fussen on our way to Lermoos, not really sure what to expect, beyond perfect weather. The first pause for thought came in the form of an umleitung. We were fine because we were on the bike route, but...
The police were out in numbers, the traffic was being rerouted, there were many marks painted on the road, as well as markers. This police officer was repeatedly moving this ladder and taking pictures. Clearly there had been an accident, and I hated to think about the lives that had been irrevocably changed.
The ride to Reutte was uneventful and easy. We were either on paved bike paths, plowed and sanded ones or the secondary road with virtually no traffic. We had a good ride. We definitely were going up, but it was still easy riding.
Beautiful trail side companions. Moments before the picture these guys were galloping across the field. A beautiful sight. Why were they galloping?
This amazing group of children and their wonderful teachers were going by. What a great group of kids and what a happy time it was meeting them. It made my day.
Once in Reutte we sought the advice of tourist information about the ongoing route to Lermoos and then Biberweir where the first of two shuttles can be taken. We also made inquiries at the local train station about a train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, simply because we were so close and we have thought it would be good to see. We made the decision to go to Lermoos.
Sigh. For the second time this trip we were reduced to walking. This hill was impossible. Even unloaded mountain bike riders had to walk. I finally developed a technique with one hand on the handlebars and another pulling on the seat. It was the only way I could plod up the hill as my feet kept slipping on the gravel.
There were more positive inclines...rideable, although I took to zig zagging up some of the hills or I wouldn't have made it. At the top of one was this amazing sky walk from one castle to another. Doesn't that look like fun? With rubbery legs we pressed on.
This is a posed photo. Our good friends from Berlin started their tour of Italy in Nauders, from which it is essentially downhill for tens of kilometres. It did help that they had a car to get to Nauders.. I told Keith to take this picture, as after a great deal of climbing this pretty much expressed how I felt. I said we could send it to Wolf and Anne so they could really comprehend why Nauders was such a good idea. A very nice man came along just as this was happening and explained that the route to Lermoos was easy. He was right. From this precise point onwards it was downhill.
We swooped downhill into Lermoos and then started up the hill to Biberweir. Between us and the route to Biberweir was the train station. We breezed over to take a look and realized the next train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen came along in exactly five minutes. We got on. So here we are, in the most wonderful guest house, contemplating our next move, which we think will be a train to Innsbruck on Friday when it is raining. We will enjoy Garmisch-Partenkirchen tomorrow while the sun shines. We then plan to head to Landeck from Innsbruck. We are so lucky to be doing this.
Bikes on a train. We saw the bike path from the train, and think (can't know for sure) that the ride from Lermoos to Garmisch would be straightforward. On the other hand, the train was 12 euro and it was getting later in the day.
