April 3, 2014
The Preliminary Route II: The Inn is In
On the earlier page "The Preliminary Route" there was expressed the notion that like with a vacuum cleaner, we are passing over territory we passed over before, trying to pick up any bits that we missed. That is still a good analogy. Of course, with a vacuum you do not necessarily usually want to go over exactly where you have been before, although you would, if you have missed something.
Anyway, in our case, we wanted to go back to south Germany, and Austria, but we also wanted to pass through some places where we had not been before. The "Preliminary Route", according to an expert panel (comprised of ... Dodie), contained the long Passau to Ulm section on the Donau. That is a wonderful stretch, but we have done that. Also, though we say we hate hills, we love mountains. There were not enough mountains in the mix.
So here is the "Preliminary Route II". What's new? For one, the whole Inn Radweg below Innsbruck is now covered. When we come off the Romantische Strasse at Fussen, we will find a way to strike over the mountains - by the resort town of Garmish Parten Kirschen and through to Innsbruck. From there, we will coast down the Inn to near Rosenheim. Then we will jump on the Mozart Radweg and head to Salzburg. From Salzburg, once we coast down the Enns Radweg and hit the Donau, we will ride up it only until Passau. At Passau we will again join the Inn, and ride up it to again near Rosenheim. After that we turn west and take the Bodensee-Konigssee Radweg to the Bodensee. Got it? Even if not, the idea is that we have swapped out some route portions that we have traversed before and swapped in some that we have never exactly gone down. The new additions may be a bit hillier, but they also should have more mountain scenery.
Another area where hills and mountains are a topic is the Sudschwarzwald - the Black Forest. The Rhine flows east-west between Bodensee and Basel, and then turns abruptly north as it heads for the North Sea. In the elbow defined by this turn of the Rhine is the Black Forest. The only thing, the Black Forest is not just an elbow in a river, it is a large region, with mountains, many towns, and mountain roads. One could blow a whole 90 day visa just there. So what will we do? Cut through just a little corner of it, from Rheinfelden to Freiburg, and then safely back to the good old Rhine. We will then declare that we saw the Black Forest, and carry on!
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Actually, even if we return to the good old Rhine, it won't be for long. See the thin turquoise line that wiggles up beside the thicker turquoise line of the Rhine? That is us ducking back into France, the Alsace Region, and following a hopefully canal route from Colmar to Strasbourg. This is not because we have already cycled on the corresponding portion of the Rhine, though. It's because we think we see and interesting way to go. Some would say we are charging off madly in all directions.
Another feature of Preliminary Route II is the Ortlieb headquarters, in Heilsbron. Heilsbron is a short jaunt off the Romantische Strasse, and about 27 km southwest of Nuremberg. We don't really know what we will find there, but Ortlieb bags have been our mainstay and lifesavers on all our tours, so there is a natural attraction to go see what it is all about. The detour to Ortlieb can be seen on the map as the Orange road, near the number 5.
Our next step is to tally up the total distance for this total route and try to estimate how well it fits our available 90 days. If we have time, we will dream up some further extensions (like maybe Bayreuth and Nurenberg). If we are short on time, there will be tears and gnashing of teeth, probably followed by zooming through places too quickly!
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