Day 1: To Hofstetten

July 10, 2019

Are we finally getting a window of good weather and nothing on the calendar? If we had to book a flight far in advance or apply for a visa or arrange transportation for our bicycles, I am sure we would have gotten away sooner. But we have the good luck to live exactly where we like to ride our bikes, here in Bavaria. We also like to ride our bikes in other parts of Europe, but a trip to Italy or France doesn't have to be planned ahead of time, either. We're spoiled. So we sit around waiting for ideal weather, not committing ourselves until the time seems perfect - which gives us a lot of room for procrastination.

In our defense I might add that we really have been busy this spring. We moved from our Munich home of 35 years to a place about 20 km outside of town. It is an ideal spot to take off from the front door and that is what we finally did. It was a short ride, just two days, the two days where the weather forecast promised we would stay dry.

I left the planning up to Janos this time. He traced the route on the map and booked a room in a small Gasthof in a village we had never heard of, but the distance was right. The first 20 km would be on paths that are already familiar, the rest would be new territory. Our rides are never too long, one reason being that we both like to stop a lot for pictures. Well, that's not the only reason.

Janos decided to leave his regular camera at home and just take his new Osmo Pocket DGI ("This mobile gadget puts a stabilized, drone-style camera into a handheld grip, enabling you to shoot super-smooth video as you walk,cycle ...") and put it through its paces. I also recently added a new gadget to my photo equipment, a GoPro Hero 4 Silver which I got second-hand on ebay. I wasn't too sure how well I would do with the new technology I had to get familiar with or even if the used action cam was in good working order. So I took a regular camera along as well. That is what our cycling is all about, pushing the pedals and leveling the lens.

Our route closer to home takes us through the forest on gravel and dirt.

I am amazed how often we see storks here now.

The blue ridge in the distance reminds me that we will drop down to Lake Ammersee and have some hillier terrain afterwards.

We spot storks again - searching for food for their brood.

I like shooting vistas like this with the GoPro with its extreme wide angle, almost fish eye effect.

Another one with the GoPro with its tremendous depth of field

Bicycle paths to die for (again with the GoPro, I love the distortion of the sky and clouds)

We reach Diessen on Lake Ammersee at around noon and stop for a bite to eat.

An eatery in Diessen - on the wall you can read "In this house from 1856 to 1915 was the Brewery Unterbräu", the scenes on the wall show the path of the beer from the vats to the table.

It was another paltry 15 km after lunch to Hofstetten. That's when the battery on Janos's cell phone died and his cell phone is where he had his nicely planned route following trails and bicycle paths. I hadn't bothered to load the track onto my Garmin and of course we didn't have any paper maps with us - so unnecessary. This made us both a little grumpy but we knew the general direction and fortunately came upon a kind of placard with a map for hikers, enough to get our orientation. We ended up following the main road which had little traffic, and that meant fine riding and no bumpy paths through the forest. No more grumpy me.

I didn't take many more pictures in the afternoon and my videos aren't yet good enough to post. I need a bit more practice with that medium, for the time being they are so shakey and wobbly that watching them makes you feel sea sick. But I do like the action cam for photos and don't regret getting it, even if I never do manage to make a decent video.

It wasn't until I unpacked my bags in our room and got all the devices hooked up for charging, that it occurred to me, oh I have a cell phone with me and we could have referenced it for Google maps. Duh.

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Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 52 km (32 miles)

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Nancy GrahamNice photos with that new toy! So wonderful that you can leave from your front door and do this beautiful route. Number of miles is never more important than doing the journey and enjoying it! Love your photos.
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonGreat to see you on the road again; and fascinating to see the use you’re putting your GoPro to. It never occurred to me to use it for stills with a different perspective.
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5 years ago

Suzanne GibsonTo Nancy GrahamThanks, Nancy! The number of miles is becoming less and less important as the years go by. Sometimes I intentionally ride really slowly just to take it all in.
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5 years ago

Suzanne GibsonTo Scott AndersonI now appreciate even more the quality of Rachael's videos! My inspiration for using the GoPro for stills came from photographers on Flickr.
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5 years ago

Rachael AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonThanks. The great image stabilization makes all the difference.
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5 years ago

Suzanne GibsonTo Rachael AndersonYou warned me. But there is good software for correcting the shake, and since I don't post until we get home anyway, I'll have time to process the videos.
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5 years ago

Karen PoretThank you Suzanne for all of your effort and insights of the camera and accessories for us ( not so talented ;) readers to use!
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1 year ago

Karen PoretTo Karen PoretOh! The irony! As I read and enjoy your original post , note it was exactly three years ago today!
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1 year ago