In search of Rainlegs: Augsburg to Landsberg am Lech
What a great hotel the Hotel Dom was. The service was first class, the room was great and they were correct at reception, the bells did not ring all night and we had a great sleep. We lingered over breakfast, particularly as this one included cappuccinos. On the way back to the room I noticed something we missed last night. A pool. I could have wept. That would have felt so good! I just tried to download a picture of that lovely pool, but it was a no go. I will try again in the morning, over breakfast.
How did we miss this. I almost wanted to stay another day to laze around the pool and starfish on the bed.
The first part of the day was just beautiful riding. We rode through Friedberg, looking for the elusive Rainlegs. The shop that carried them closed in July. No luck there, obviously, but Friedberg was a great spot. The bike path was well marked and the surface excellent. We went by a small lake where people were swimming and I was amused by two women and a man, loaded for bear with pool noodles, lawn chairs, picnic supplies and goodness knows what else on their bikes. Keith turned around to try and get a picture.
Pretty spot for swimming. We gave serious thought to jumping in. It looked so inviting. The lake was created by a small dam.
There go the lawn chairs. Keith couldn't catch the women with the pool noodles. Biking is so casual here. Everyone does it and it just makes so much sense. Sure beats trying to find a parking space and then walking from some parking lot carrying all that stuff.
Then we made a side trip into a small community a couple kilometres off the bike path. We found the shop, and what a bike shop it was. It was huge with everything bike you could think of. They had the Rainlegs, and we are now both the proud owners of a pair. From the looks of the weather forecast we may be modelling them on Friday. All this puttering about and stop and go riding to look at things meant that by 1::30 PM we had only put in about 30 kilometres. We ate a picnic lunch at a bench in the shade and thought we should get serious about riding.
An absolutely huge bike shop. If you want it, they have got it.
Well, as so often happens, things became a little more difficult. We wound up on a trail that rapidly deteriorated until it simply became impassable. I found it very difficult to ride...it was muddy for one thing, which we both found puzzling since it hasn't rained in weeks. There were tree roots galore, which is a bit jarring on a loaded touring bike. It was doable but not fast. Thankfully the chief navigator plotted a way out and the next thing we knew we were on a great paved bike path again.
And then this happened. We still can't figure out what went wrong...Keith is pretty sure we were on the Radweg but I don't see how we could have been. German bike trails don't do this. At any rate, we figured it was pretty much impassable and so Keith found us another way.
The rest of the ride we flew along. We arrived in Landsberg and decided to stop. This town is beautiful. We immediately had ice cream, which was conveniently located next to Tourist Information. The woman at TI was incredibly helpful and we are in a great little hotel. We wandered both the upper and lower old towns and have had a great dinner. Hopefully I will be able to get the pictures up tomorrow.
We were no sooner on the bike path than we came across this. Noooooo. Fortunately the workers were there and waved us through. Hooray!
Even though the riding was easy we were still poking around. This stunning chapel was just off the bike path and appeared to made completely of copper.
We came to a secondary road and this lovely couple from Augsburg gave us excellent directions...across the road, down 500 metres, and shazam, we were back on the path. They had done 30 km from Augsburg and we had done 46. That made me laugh. We obviously hadn't taken the most direct route. Thank you to Frances and her husband. It was great chatting with you.
Our arrival in Landsberg. Terrible picture of me but I had to include it. Here I am enjoying my kugel, with the eis shop on one side and Tourist Information on the other. Pretty hilarious picture.
Isn't this amazing? We had dinner on an outside patio at a restaurant recommended by our hotel. It was right beside this cathedral and we listened to the organ music through dinner.
