Never give a map to someone who doesn't know north from south: Landsberg am Lech to Schwangau
What a great day. It started with a great breakfast at the Gasthof Ausburger Hof which we lingered and enjoyed. The wifi in the breakfast room was great so I was able to finish the blog, and while it isn't my favourite thing to do over breakfast it works.
Michael, the host with the most, and Keith, had bonded over hockey. The lovely lady who was running the breakfast room (Michael's sister) and I just rolled our eyes. She spoke excellent English and made me laugh when she said for her husband it is fishing. So she understood perfectly. It was a lot of fun. She and I were laughing, Michael and Keith were laughing and it was a great start to the day. Michael also cycles and gave us some excellent route advice. Then, to really make Keith's day he gave him a River Kings jersey- the local eis hockey team. Michael was a phenomenal hockey player so could probably show the duffers a thing or two.
The riding today was just excellent. I don't know if I have finally hit my stride or what, but it just felt really good today. Despite Michael's excellent instructions and his map we still managed to lose his suggested route so ended up following the Via Claudia Augusta. It was almost all paved, off road bike paths. Usually we were only on the road going through small villages. There were a few plowed and sanded bits but they were good surfaces. There were positive inclines, but all were very manageable.
Going into Schongau (not to be confused with Schwangau where we are tonight) the path took us up a very steep pitch, but it was short and sweet. The ice cream in Schongau was excellent and the church was beautiful. Honestly, I think all the guys (and they were guys) in past centuries just spent their time trying to outdo each other by building more and more elaborate churches.
We saw the usual trail side companions and lots and lots of bikes. Keith called back to me "Look at the elks" and at the same time I was contemplating his grammar I was scanning the fields for the elk, and I might add, wondering what the heck elk were doing in German hay and corn fields. The penny finally dropped. We had our first glimpse of the Alps. They looked impossibly far away, and the next thing we knew we were in them.
We have had a super evening, sharing a table with two very nice women from London and Birmingham, Gillian and Elizabeth. They are touring many of the same places by car and we shared stories over dinner. More slow internet, so I don't know when I will be able to post pictures. One last note about the day...I moved down the hall to see if I could download pictures. There is a vending machine here. Beer, 1.50 euro for half a litre. Coke, 1.50 euro for .33 of a litre. You know, we had the beer!
The riding was just so incredible today. I had lots left when we got to Schwangau and could have gone further if need be. Glad we didn't though as we had such a great dinner with Elizabeth and Gillian. Those two have a lot of jam. I am so sorry we didn't get their picture.
View from our hotel window. We have no desire to get any closer...we were there in 1999 and once is enough. I bet King Ludwig had no idea what a tourist industry he was creating. You should see the number of tour buses around here.
