August 8, 2024
To Bad Tölz.
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Two days in Mittenwald were perfect and when we left this morning, we felt good about how we spent our time in this charming little town; taking in two good walks, napping and strolling it's quaint Altstadt; all situated at the base of the soaring peak of Karwendel that looms over town.
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The Isar River runs through town here as a glacial blue alpine river, and it's not far from its headwaters when it passes through Mittenwald. And, it's the Isar we'll follow for the remainder of this trip until it eventually leads us to the final destination of the cycling part of our trip in Munich. But, of course, the Isar will continue on without us, on its way towards the Danube, then eventually on to the Black Sea.
So, it was pretty straight forward finding our route this morning. Find the Isar. Look at the direction of its flow. Then, follow the direction of its flow. Today we travelled along the Isarradweg, a 300km long cycle route that, you guessed it...follows the Isar.
When we left this morning, the forecast called for rain beginning in the early afternoon which gave us plenty of time to cover the 60kms of downhill riding towards Bad Tölz. But, as we left Mittenwald, the sky behind us darkened and began to chase us downriver. When I looked back I thought I saw an evil face in the cloud as it approached and caught up to us, cloaking us in darkness and depositing the first drops of rain. Ahead was bright blue sky, so we put a little bit more push into the pedals and we were able to 'outrun' the dark monster approaching. Sounds gripping, but the storm's path wasn't exactly on a direct path with our direction anyways. It skirted off behind us somewhere. As much as we humans love to anthropomorphize nature and make everything about us, the storm did as it was meant to do.....and we have no say in the matter.
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We rode along separate and wonderful cycle paths towards Wallgau with the dramatic Karwendel Mountains rising towards the south. After Wallgau, though, our route headed right into the most spectacular and wild part of the Isar and into the Bavarian side of the Karwendel Naturepark which straddles the German/Austrian border. With an area of 739 km², it is the largest protected area in Tirol and also the largest nature park in Austria.
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These were the best miles of the day. For about 15 kms we rode through deep beech, pine, and oak forests along a quiet road and the Isar valley through here seemed wild and untouched. There were no human made structures, no dams and the Isar ran through braided gravel channels across the wide valley. It was strange because it felt so much like home, and it felt like we were along the upper Squamish river at times. This was truly a memorable part of today's ride.
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But, this blissful riding ended as we crossed the bridge across the Isar and were dumped on to highway 307, a gap in the Isarradweg cycle route where we led onto what looked to be a busy road with no shoulder to speak of. Our first impressions were that it looked like it was going to be a busy road and had all the appearances of a road that might carry a lot of traffic. But, surprisingly as we rode along we waited for the sounds of an onslaught of cars approaching from behind, but we discovered that there was very little traffic at all.
We rode along this road for a good ten to fifteen kilometers until crossing the Sylvensteinsee dam, then we were back sailing along downhill on separated cycle paths again. By the time we knew it, we arrived in Lenggries, and it was not even noon; and, with only ten more kilometers left in today's ride before arriving at our destination for the day at Bad Tölz, we took a break sitting outside the Rathaus (town hall).
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The clouds again began to look threatening, and that 2pm predicted time of rain looked like it was going to keep its promise. So, we made haste to Bad Tolz. We were way to early for check in at our hotel, so we had a beer on the patio when the sky opened up, and people scattered and ran for their lives. I'm not exaggerating here. It was an intense rain, but we were able to watch and enjoy it all from under the cover of one of the hotels massively large umbrellas.
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2 months ago
We're here in Bad Tolz for two nights. As I wrap up this journal and look outside, the sky is clearing and it looks to be turning out to be a very nice evening. We're leaving making plans for tomorrow until tomorrow, but we might go for a hike, or take a day ride, or do nothing at all. So, I'll leave it there because our bellies are grumbling. Now that the rain has passed it's time to get out an explore Bad Tolz.
Today's ride: 61 km (38 miles)
Total: 1,252 km (777 miles)
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