Day 42: Eschenlohe to Bad Tolz

May 24, 2022

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The Tonihof Hotel was dead quiet from the moment we checked in until the moment we left. The only exception was the faint sound of cow bells for a bit in the evening. We may not have been the only clients, but we did not see a single person in what might have been a 30-40 room place, until the lady bringing coffee at breakfast. Consequently our sleep was perfect. We arrived in the elegant dining room and were greeted with a ten jammer breakfast, seemingly just for us. We sat and looked out at the terrace where our room was, and at the mountains and village an thought how lucky we were to be part of this, even if for a short time.

It's just us, a ten jammer, and this dining room.

This started out as a sprinkly day but quickly progressed to basic rain. So we started out with rain jackets but quickly progressed to full rain gear, including warm hoodies. We were ok, but did end the day slightly chilled. The rain made it difficult to take a lot of photos, but we did manage to document our progress and what we saw.

Lots of buildings have painted scenes on walls, or decorated windows, like this.

Our route today followed the Loisach River a lot. It comes from the mountains (obviously) and flows into and out of Lake Kochel (Kochelsee) and ultimately joins the Isar, a little north of Wolfsratshausen, about 45 km from Eschenlohe. For 10 km after the Loisach leaves the Kochelsee, it runs through a protected marsh/meadow area. Sign boards illustrate the meadow. I guess it's not just us that noticed this!

Yesterday, when we were trying to photograph meadow flowers, Dodie spotted a wild iris. But we were on a steep hill and did not stop. But today, at just one spot, we saw them again. Clearly they are a bit rare.

Near the town of Ohlstadt, the track led us through a gate and into Schwaiganger, an estate that used to (1780 to 1790) be the manor of the Duchess Maria Anna of Bavaria. The "Anger" part of the name means "meadow", so again meadow is a theme for our travel here. From 1930 Bavaria took over the estate and established a horse breeding and equine husbandry centre. We knew nothing of this, until we encountered men in traditional work clothes walking tall and beautiful horses along our lane. Dodie asked a passing lady, and found that today young horses were being shown and assessed for their future breeding potential.

We noticed in particular one "gorgeous blond" and watched as she had her tresses and tail brushed.

We decided that the men, like the one pictured below, were not dressing up for a special occasion, but just wearing their normal garb.

You can see that the horse in the background was all dark, while the one in the foreground is light brown with blond. Our favourite, the very blond one, was dark with blond. Still these must all be from some named variety.

As for nearly every day of this tour, our daily path has included a lot of truly idyllic looking cycleway, with bicycle sized path or road, usually winding, and beautiful scenery on the sides. It was the same today, and I love to record it.

Crossing a small tributary of the Loisach.

Some hillsides had sheep - all white or all black. Brown cows have now disappeared from hills and meadows. There must be something about this region (altitude?) they don't like.

An unusual trailside find - a Guinea Hen. We used to have a lot of them, but they were all eaten by eagles or raccoons.

We passed two monasteries today, and we know there is also Ettal Abbey, close to Oberammergau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Mountains must be conducive to monasteries. Interestingly we also passed a guest house called the Nirvana.

Another form of major institution here is the strawberry hut. These are common in Germany, but we have not seen them elsewhere, certainly not at home. One thing that is sort of along the same lines is the Orange Julep in Montreal, which has a famous orange drink that blends orange juice and skim milk powder. It was started in 1932.

The Orange Julep drink was copied and offered at Montreal shopping malls as "Orange Julius", but only the original has the big orange building.

Our hotel tonight is just across the Isar from downtown Bad Tolz. It's called the Geiger. Just like last night's place, it is large, comfortably appointed, has given us a huge room, and otherwise appears empty. I went out looking for a staffer, but no, the place is deserted. We can expect another dead quiet night.

What gave Meaning to Life today? Absolute dead quiet sleep time - with maybe a few cow bells.

Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 2,445 km (1,518 miles)

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