Day 27: Graben to Schongau, Germany

August 17, 2015

I am thinking of discarding my handy summary indicator of a good Guesthouse breakfast, which had been the presence of several large pots of various berry jams. There are a lot of things to take into account when looking at a breakfast, and it seems that jam pots just do not capture enough complexity. For example, the hotel put out three kinds of eggs this morning - including the rare devilled egg. How to give them credit for that, despite the relatively meagre three pots of jam?

Ok, I know you think I am obsessing about breakfasts. Sure, sure, you are right. But we are in yet another hotel tonight, and aren't you wondering too what they will come up with tomorrow and how to rate it?

We did not super rush at breakfast this morning, since we thought we had lots of time to make it to our next logical stop - Schongau. Besides, they had soft cheeses - like Camembert type with bleu inside - wow!

Ok, so they have jam. This is not enough to describe or evaluate the breakfast.

Leaving our hotel near Graben. It was a modern "business" hotel, but still ok.

The temperature started at 15 C and never

rose above 17. Pretty ideal for cycling, despite persistent light showers. Our way passed through numerous small villages. Almost none had any significant retail businesses, though there was a sprinkling of bakeries. The houses in all the villages we large and solid, but very plain. We would be glad to own and live in one, but for tourist interest, they had none. It's a bit strange, because this is Bavaria, and we rather expected to be seeing scads of chalet style houses with balconies festooned with red geraniums. We think we have figured out that that Bavaria is just a little east of where we are.

10 km down the road was this Via Claudia rest stop. A nearby panel describes how the Roman road had rest stops along the way. So it would have been legitimate to wild camp here. Maybe next time.

One of our preoccupations today was an old favourite - where to find Campingaz. The major town along the way was Landsberg, but to go into it would be a detour of about 10 km. When you are as slow as us, 10 km is a lot. Before leaving home, we had mapped out the Decathlons in France and the Intersports in Germany, so we knew exactly where the Intersport was. We also noticed signs advertising an OBI. OBI is Home Depot, and we know that they too have Campingaz.

We decided to go beserk and head off route toward Intersport. The GPS did a great job of taking us there. I was glad, because I was the one who put in the coordinates, and I have been known to screw up in the past! This time, though, the screwup was Intersport. Despite boldly claiming that they have everything for your sport, all they really had was shoes and clothes. When Dodie asked the German only speaking girl for camping supplies, she said (in translation) "LIke, tents?" "Yes!" replied Dodie. "Nope" was the gormless reply.

The bikes parked beside InterSport. The sign says they have everything for your sports. Yeah, if all you want is clothes!

So it looked like a further trek, to OBI, which the GPS identified as being a few km away. We followed the track that it set out, and were glad to see that it coincidentally led to or through the old town. However we quickly could also see that it wanted us to climb a steep hill. We were about to give up, when I happened to spot a small mountain climbers' shop. Not only did they have the Gaz, but they had some other things we had been hankering for . Notably, we got a waterproof bag that we can put the tent fly in when wet. This will keep it from wetting the tent, which has been happening when both fly and tent are packed into the watertight Ortlieb rack top bag. I was pleased to see that the ultralight bag we got was made by Ortlieb. We adore all Ortlieb products, and had had no idea that they were in to this type of super thin/light bag.

Now, despite ourselves, we had fetched up in the old town market square, in front of the colourfully painted rathaus. This brought back memories of last year, when we came to the Information in the rathaus and bought the guidebook for the Claudia Augusta, which we then followed down to Fussen. And here too was the bench that I had sat on, swapping SD memory cards from one of our devices to another. Only later did I notice the drainage grate under the bench, ready to gobble up any tiny card I might bobble.

This time in the square we had another kind of excitement, in that we ran in to two cyclists who were there with their Hase -Pino, which is a tandem in which one rider is upright and one is recumbent. The cyclists were Bjorn and Julia, from Dusseldorf, on their way, like us, to Verona. We much enjoyed asking questions about the bike, about how they and we might get over the passes, about where they were staying, etc. etc. The Claudia Augusta seems to have very few long distance cyclists on it, and we found it encouraging to have this conversation.

Bjorn and Julia did not have their bike loaded, since they were just coming from the bike shop (hydraulic disk brakes problem). But as we parted, we assured them we would meet again, when they caught up with us.

Three hours later, sure enough, this happened. Fortunately (for our pride) they did not pass us as we steamed along at our own speed. Rather we were stopped, talking to two additional cyclists. These were Bev and Jenni - Canadians! - on a supported tour. They were unloaded, since it was one of those things where they carry your gear to the next pre-arranged hotel. That next hotel was in Schongau, so we arranged to meet up there. In the end it did not work out, but we still hope to see them at the next stop, which is Reutte. Our stops can be the same though they are unloaded, simply because we must cycle many more daily hours. I am getting tired just thinking about it!

Here is that glitzy Ortlieb dry sack. 22 litres, 20 euros!

Julia and Bjorn, Note the length of their Hase Pino, extending toward the camera. This is not much of a joy to get onto a train.

The tourist information in Landsberg came up with a few maps and pamphlets of interest. One of these showed the towns in detail, at least until Schongau. This is useful for keeping me happy at the back of the expedition. Another described the sights in Landsberg, which are not too many and generally around the square. But it clued us in to an Urseline Monastery a little ways off. This turned out to have a very interesting baroque interior, well worth the stop.

We proceeded out of town and back loosely following the Lech upstream. Most of our time was either in the same tiny and dullish villages as earlier in the day, or passing through farm fields, most with corn, and some with cows.

We always love cows, and have been on the lookout for the Swiss type, preferably with bells. We found some unique and pretty ones, but not swiss. I photographed two of the calves - not being Swiss was certainly not their fault. Finally we did begin to run in to Swis style cows. They remind us a lot of our former Jersey cow, the much beloved Katie.

Along one small road was a string of cows heading home. They were supremely unbothered by traffic on the road, from cars to motorcycles, to us. Being unbothered also meant that they were not about to move out of the centre of the road. It was great watching cars, etc. having to creep by on the edges.

Dodie effectively used the GPS to detour us slightly, into the old town at Schongau. There was no camping in the vicinity and we still had spitting showers, so it clearly was hotel time again. With tourist information closed, we just checked a couple of prospects, coming up with €89 euros each time. So we gritted our teeth and went for it. Our room is what we have come to expect as standard - neither very big nor tiny, very scarce soap, but with a balcony, and as always immaculately clean. Then of course there is the big variable - what will they come up with for breakfast?

We will try to get away fairly early, as we want to reach at least Reutte. Reutte is in Austria. Once there, we will not be returning to Germany on this trip. We then will have to turn our gaze to the Alps, the passes, and Italy. A new and exciting phase of this trip that has been turning out so fine.

Our typical road for today. All that's missing is the relatively boring villages.

Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 1,379 km (856 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0