12th May (cloudy morning, rain in afternoon, cold) 85km

Had a good sleep in our little freecamp and woke at 5am so we could break camp before anyone happened to come along.  It was a misty morning so we decided to get the tent down and have breakfast before cycling to see the castles.

Neuschwanstein - what a magical sight!

We had a nice easy flat ride, well sign-posted for about twenty mins until we started to see some stunning views of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau.  Their setting is almost as stunning as the castles themselves and we were very grateful that the early morning mist had cleared enough for us to see them and that there was no rain.

It was about 7.30am when we reached them and barely another soul around so we were able to cycle all over the place getting the best angles.  We cycled up the road to Hohenschwangau and the only person up there was the gardener.  We cycled back down and paused to look at the beautifully still Alpsee and then onto and up to Neuschwanstein.

Hohenschwangau - magnificent!

Ju cycling up to Hohenschwangau

Pete cycling back down from Hohenschwangau

I’m glad it was early in the morning and our muscles were fresh and we knew there was an amazing castle at the top of this hill, because it was one fair old climb.  About halfway up we ditched the sweatshirts and thermals that we had previously needed against the chilly morning air and continued to slog our way up the hill. 

Finally we reached the top and what a magnificent sight.  

Our faithful companions enjoy a rest and a magnificent view - not that they appeared to notice!

The inner courtyard - you had to pay to get beyond the barrier

The size of our bikes at the bottom give a true idea of the scale of this castle

The out of service Marienbrucke - bit of a shame

Hohenschwangau as viewed from Neuschwanstein

We were able to cycle right into the castle courtyard and again, there were only a few workers about.  We walked around taking photos and talked to some of the workers to see if there was a possibility of getting a photo from the track up to Marienbrucke (which is a bridge that you can get a stunning shot of the castle from but is closed at present and has been for a long time), but the workers said “No, not possible.”  So we had to stop at the 90 odd photos we had.  If you’ve ever been there, you know one photo is just not enough.

In a little seating area we noticed there was a wifi hotspot so decided to see if it was good enough to upload the blog….and it was!  So we had really fast, free, unlimited wifi right by the castle – crazy!

It was about now all the tourists started showing up and a huge majority were Asian.  We met a few Americans and most of these poor people had walked up!  Apparently it’s a fifty minute walk and not a pleasant one!

So we coasted down the hill past the hordes of people walking up and felt very pleased with ourselves that we had got there so early and were able to enjoy it pretty much by ourselves.  We found the Bodensee to Konigsee cycle route at the bottom of the hill and set off across the flat cycle lanes on quiet roads in the valley leading away from the castles.

As we left, we kept glancing back for another look

Stopped at a village up the road for some lunch supplies and had a quick nectarine and Nussecke (nut cake dipped in chocolate – yum!) to keep us going seeing as it had been a long time since breakfast.  Back on the cycle route which took us on more lanes and through the odd village.  It had been lovely, mostly flat riding for the first hour and we were making good time.  We knew we had to hit a hill some time and that time arrived about midday, just as it started to rain.  The road also went from sealed to gravel, which it does from time to time, so that didn’t ring any alarm bells.  The track lead into the forest so we thought well that’s something – at least we’ll get some shelter from the rain.  However, this track just got steeper and steeper and went on forever and that did start ringing alarm bells.  Surely no-one would make a cycle touring route up a road like this?  But we’d come so far, we couldn’t bear to turn around so continued pushing our bikes up hill – cycling had long ago ceased to be an option.  We were going so slowly, our speedos had stopped registering our speed after we dropped below 4 KPH.   From time to time we would hear the odd “cuckoo, cuckoo” but didn’t see any apart from the two clowns trudging up this godforsaken track!

Pete - in no mood to pose for pictures!

Our hearts lifted slightly when we passed a cute cottage locked up, which meant we weren’t the only humans to come up this way and then a ute come up the road and he didn’t seem surprised to see us there and merely passed us by.  So we figured this was somehow the only way past a major road or river?  So we kept going, hoping this was the right way but fearing it was not.

We came across another track that was in a more easterly direction so we decided to take that seeing as it led downhill.  

It's downhill and heading east - that's all we need!
Very glad we had mountain bikes at this stage but
500m on and we needed a bulldozer!

However, after about 500m the track turned into a bog and so we had to turn around and sludge back uphill to the original track to nowhere.  With visions of German headlines saying “Stupid NZ bikepackers get lost in Alps” we decided we had better turn around, much as it galled us to do so.  

Checked out this cute little cabin to see if we could get out of the rain, but it was locked.
Even the porch was only partially sheltered so we looked for a different lunch venue.

And to cap it all off we got mud sprayed all over our backs and panniers – terrific.  At the bottom, we noticed the small sign of a bike pointing down another lane that we had originally missed.  One small sign missed can be a very costly mistake.  The whole debacle would have cost us about about an hour and a half – but we’re just guessing as we didn’t want to check how long or how many kms that had cost us.  We think it was about 10kms.

Pete’s Tale:  After such a bloody waste of time and in the pouring rain, the last thing I needed was something else to get me going. Everyone over here cycles, it’s the norm ( Hey Norm ) so it’s not unusual to see 80 year old women riding to and from villages. Riding along, contemplating our ride up Everest and suddenly an old woman rides on by, as though I’m standing still. “I’m not having this” I thought and slowly began to work through the gears, until I came alongside. She looked across at me with distain and edged further forward. “Right” I thought and powered up alongside again, this time smiling, as though it was no effort at all. She grinned a toothless grin and pushed back her 80 year old ears and floored it. Now it was all on. I was soaked and sweating like a pig, but there was no way she was taking me, especially today. I pulled up alongside again. I could see she was beginning to struggle when all of a sudden, she swerved into me, throwing  me to one side. I heard a faint laugh as she began to pull away again. But they make em tough, where I’m from and as I pulled alongside once more, I looked across and flashed my best smile, before nudging her straight into the ditch. I cackled out loud and yelled back “Auf Weidersehn Pet!”

At the next village, we pulled in at a fairly decent sized bus stop so we could have lunch in the dry.  It felt good to rest our weary muscles and refuel the body but we didn’t linger too long as we started to get cold.  So into the breach we went, realising that at the least the uphills kept us warm.  The signage was good again but we did get the feeling these cycle paths were taking us in a very indirect route and that was not much use to us when we just wanted to get to the nearest camp and dry off.

We came across a rather magnificent looking church in the middle of nowhere with hordes of people and about six tour buses in the car park.  With all the blaspheming we’d done today, we didn’t think we should go inside so contented ourselves with a photo of what we discovered was Wieskirche and pushed on.

Wieskirche

We decided to stick to the roads so we could make a bit of ground and came across a crossroads with no idea which way to go.  Trusted the good old compass and turned east to Wolfkreig where there was a map board so we went to take a look to get our bearings.  At first we were horrified to find we had taken the wrong turn again until we looked at the map more closely and realised the whole thing was upside down – in that the top point was South!  Crazy – but then I did see a backward clock yesterday which had all the numbers reversed and the hands going backwards too, so maybe they’re all a bit backwards in these parts.

So on we went, sticking to the road but it just got too busy so we had to go back to the cycle tracks which were very frustrating because of the poor signposting.  Our common sense guided us to Bad Kohlgrub where there was a cycle path pointing to the next town we wanted of Murnau.  This was an excellent cycle path in that it started with a lovely long downhill and then flat fast cycling on an unsealed track alongside a river.  It was good to be able to get up some speed without endangering life and limb by going on the road.  We flew along here, eager for the first campsite.

However, in true cycle lane fashion, it lead us a merry dance all over the place and even though it was beautiful, we were in no mood to appreciate it.  Finally got to our final destination of Murnau a Staffensee and after more detective work, finally found the campground. What a relief to be able to get out of those cold, wet clothes and into a hot shower – after we’d set up the tent and cleaned all the mud off our panniers that is.

Put a load of washing on and finally got dinner on at 8.45pm.  They had a great kitchen at the camp where we were able to charge both computer and camera while cooking and blogging.

Stomachs full and blog finished, we retired at 11pm to our $125 Chinese tent, hoping it would be up to the task of keeping us dry.