I guess it was worth finishing the packing last night. John woke me up (grumpy - me that was) at 7.30am, and we were on the road saying goodbye to Munich by 9.30am. We cycled out along the Isar, a gorgeous river, with a lot of memories for us from previous visits, especially the one where we had cycled out and the snow was so deep, and the cold so bitter that our jockey wheels froze solid.
The cycle route took us up through some heavily wooded areas (Grünwald) and we started the first real climbs and decents of our journey, and on a fairly demanding surface too. The surface meant that while twiddling up the steeper sections, pebbles and rocks piong out from under your wheel, and either bruise the person cycling beside you, or set the steering off to one side or another at the most inappropriate moments - also making decents slow. It did however, warm us up (the 16-18° menat that we wore fleeces to cycle in for most of the day, poor weeds that we now are after spending so long in Dubai).
The route skirted most of the towns, often taking us along delightful lanes where streams ran totally clear and clean. During our coffee and cake stop a reef of rafts loaded with beer kegs, Bavarians (some in traditional dress), bands, and brezels floated by on the river beside us. It was superb, if a little odd.
Bad Tolz was very pretty, but even better was the landscape which is beginning to look and feel quite alpine. The hills now climb steeply around vibrant green pastures full of cows wearing bells. Some of the tracks we were cycling on were more suitable for mountain biking, but, they were certainly peaceful and we saw very few other people.
We camped in a site outside of Bad Tolz, inexplicably located by a huge main road (again!). Another ear plug night. The folding stools that we picked up in Munich are awesome, and keep our backsides dry while cooking.
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