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Bicycling Beautiful Bavaria


Bavaria treated me with nothing but kindness. Children raced me down the street on their bicycles, and girls shouted "gröB gott" (hello) from the doorways. Each town, regardless of how small, has its own decorated pole, its bark intricately carved or painted in the blue and white colors of Bavaria. It was glorious to be back on my bicycle after a separation of a few weeks, cruising through small villages and stopping at all the sites on the way.

 

The entertainment at Berg Guttenberg. Copyright: Tyson Brooks.

In Heidelberg, I stayed in a hostel located next to the zoo. I shared my room with an obnoxious Frenchman and several quiet Japanese travelers. In the earlier hours of the morning I could still hear the occasional lion roar and elephant trumpet. Adding to the concerto was the not-so-mellifluous snoring of one of the Japanese. This was too much for the Frenchman. He hopped out of bed, stormed over to the light switch, turned it on and hurried over to the culprit, who blinked in surprise as he was awakened from his slumber. A mini lecture followed on how inconsiderate snoring is and a list of suggestions on how to keep from snoring. The Japanese fellow rolled over and put a pillow over his head. The rest of the night was quiet.

Early the next morning I rode on to Berg Guttenberg, where I watched a raptor show. Although it is still inhabited by its owners, part of the castle, including its uppermost reaches, is open to the wandering tourist. I rushed up there for, well, a bird's-eye view of the raptor show directly below. Five vultures and several eagles were allowed to fly loose and wander through the aisles of the crowd. It was an amazing sight, watching these huge creatures amble by as the crowd reeled back in fear. The birds would fly in an arc into the distance but always return in a powerful whoosh of flapping.

Bad Wimfen, the town next to Berg Guttenberg seems to have been partly forgotten by the present. A tower rising above the landscape sets the character of the place. I ascended hundreds of stairs through the hollow core to reach the top. Just before I reached the viewpoint, I peered into a modern room where a German family was cooking dinner and operating a checkpoint for tourists climbing the tower. Family members took turns collecting admission for the final climb. Once at the top, I was allowed to wander a narrow path around the tower that resembled (and probably was) a large rain gutter. Below, half-timbered houses stood among steep, cobblestone streets. Smoke stacks of a more modern Germany rose in the distance.A pair of happily-married haystacks watched over my route. Copyright: Tyson Brooks.Rothenberg ober de Tauber on the Romantishe StraBe (Romantic Way) is a magnificent walled city overlooking the Tauber River. The wall itself can be walked for almost a mile and a half along tiny passage- ways. The town has a great medieval justice museum, which displays an impressive range of torture devices designed to maim and kill. It is amazing how cruel people can be to one another. From the nearby campground I watched a German shepherd on the hill above looking after his grazing sheep.

I followed the Romantishe StraBe (signed only in German and Japanese) down to Füssen. The radweg (bike route) roughly follows the road and is often heavily trafficked by bicycles. On the climb up one long hill I was greeted by shouts of encouragement and clapping as a bike tour cheered me to the top. I felt like a hero as they joked in German and warned me that the next couple of hills are even steeper. Beyond the hill, bicycle traffic petered out and the path fell away to gravel. Soon the path was bare and stones poked through the dirt as my trail wove between fields of high corn. I passed the famous WeiB Kirche, an incredibly beautiful baroque church with intricate paintings and a scenic sky-blue backdrop. Tourists mob here to see the amazing building up close.

The Romantic StraBe ends in Füssen, at the verge of the Alps and the Austrian border. It made for an incredible sight as I cycled through the foothills to the base of the Alps. Mad King Ludwig, the last of the Bavarian kings, built Neuswanstein Castle in Füssen and made the little town famous. The castle rises from the mountains like a fairy tale. The rooms are adorned with gold, incredible baroque paintings and extravagant furniture. King Ludwig was found drowned before he could complete this magnificent castle. A tour is a must, despite the lengthy lineups.

A typical small town found along the Romantic Way. Copyright: Tyson Brooks.The weather was becoming steadily worse. Nightly rain showers were the norm with rain often persisting until noon. Camp- grounds were often turned into a flooded, muddy mess and my razor blades were rusting faster then I could buy them. My towel hadn't dried in a week. I would wash it every night before my shower so that it would be fresh, even if soaking wet. Finally, defeated by the rain, I hopped a train to Munich.

When You Go:

Information on Bavaria: www.bavaria.com.

Neuschwanstein Castle: www.neuschwanstein.com/english/index.html.

Europe by Bike: 18 Tours Geared for Discovery
by Karen & Terry Whitehill, Mountaineers Books (1993) www.mountaineersbooks.org.

A pair of happily-married haystacks watched over my route. Copyright: Tyson Brooks.Rothenberg ober de Tauber on the Romantishe StraBe (Romantic Way) is a magnificent walled city overlooking the Tauber River. The wall itself can be walked for almost a mile and a half along tiny passage- ways. The town has a great medieval justice museum, which displays an impressive range of torture devices designed to maim and kill. It is amazing how cruel people can be to one another. From the nearby campground I watched a German shepherd on the hill above looking after his grazing sheep.

I followed the Romantishe StraBe (signed only in German and Japanese) down to Füssen. The radweg (bike route) roughly follows the road and is often heavily trafficked by bicycles. On the climb up one long hill I was greeted by shouts of encouragement and clapping as a bike tour cheered me to the top. I felt like a hero as they joked in German and warned me that the next couple of hills are even steeper. Beyond the hill, bicycle traffic petered out and the path fell away to gravel. Soon the path was bare and stones poked through the dirt as my trail wove between fields of high corn. I passed the famous WeiB Kirche, an incredibly beautiful baroque church with intricate paintings and a scenic sky-blue backdrop. Tourists mob here to see the amazing building up close.

The Romantic StraBe ends in Füssen, at the verge of the Alps and the Austrian border. It made for an incredible sight as I cycled through the foothills to the base of the Alps. Mad King Ludwig, the last of the Bavarian kings, built Neuswanstein Castle in Füssen and made the little town famous. The castle rises from the mountains like a fairy tale. The rooms are adorned with gold, incredible baroque paintings and extravagant furniture. King Ludwig was found drowned before he could complete this magnificent castle. A tour is a must, despite the lengthy lineups.

A typical small town found along the Romantic Way. Copyright: Tyson Brooks.The weather was becoming steadily worse. Nightly rain showers were the norm with rain often persisting until noon. Camp- grounds were often turned into a flooded, muddy mess and my razor blades were rusting faster then I could buy them. My towel hadn't dried in a week. I would wash it every night before my shower so that it would be fresh, even if soaking wet. Finally, defeated by the rain, I hopped a train to Munich.

When You Go:

Information on Bavaria: www.bavaria.com.

Neuschwanstein Castle: www.neuschwanstein.com/english/index.html.

Europe by Bike: 18 Tours Geared for Discovery
by Karen & Terry Whitehill, Mountaineers Books (1993) www.mountaineersbooks.org.