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Starnberger See from Gasthof Cafe Seeseiten

I am trying to get my fitness up to a decent level. I always feel that I should be able with ease to do 80kms in a day. 4 days’ ago I did 67kms from Munich to Starnberg to Tutzing and felt pretty well trashed after it. Yesterday I have had another go with better results. I did not manage more kilometers largely because I ran out of time. I started out heading from Munich to Dachau along the Würm cycle route. Relatively easy, but once in Dachau the cycle routes become less visible. I was looking for the AAR. Having found the Amper River heading into the town, I quickly saw the route markers and followed them. Short into the ride, the path gives two choices, one north to Allershausen and Moosburg, the other South West to Eching am Ammersee, Kempton and beyond. I took the northern route thinking that Freising would be a good destination – a terminus for the S-Bahn to get me back again.

This is not the prettiest route, there is quite a lot of intensive arable land. At this time largely growing sweet corn, but it has its moments. The Amper, like many rivers, just attracts flora and fauna; and when the sun shines, even a view from a utility bridge looks exquisite (right, just through Dachau). The route on a summer Wednesday was not very busy. It is fair to say that it would be peaceful if part of the route was not directly under the flight path of Munich airport. For a good part of the day, a constant stream of parallel planes preparing to land on the parallel runways threatened the enjoyment. But I suggest that riders persevere because the route does eventually move away and the peace is restored. There is a lot of water; not only the river, but also many pools (left), at least one of which (very close to Würmmühle, supports leisure swimming (it has a pontoon and steps to access the water). There is also a lot of forest; on a hot day, a good forest can be really cooling and also dampen any sounds that might be coming from planes or the nearby motorway.

I made it to Kranzberg but failed to see any directions towards Allershausen, so I opted to follow a sign for hikers directing them towards Freising. Not a bad idea, though the path ran out at Giggenhausen (5km short of Freising). A bit of road had to be done; though it was not too bad. Freising is nice. Good decision.

So today, I went back to Dachau and took the southern route. I had intended to follow the route all of the way to Eching and then move on the Herrsching where I could pick up the S-Bahn. It was not to be for a number of reasons. Though a key one was finding myself on the wrong side of the river necessitating a bit of tracking back to find a bridge. Many of said bridges are wooden (right close to Olching). Plenty of picnic places, but not many other eating opportunities. I found one Gasthof that was open (Gastätte Amperlust).

The southern route is much like the northern route. There are also some aeroplanes, though they are a little higher. There is lots of arable land to navigate. Plenty of forest, too. I only managed as far as Fürstenfeldbruck (40 kms from my starting point). Eching was signposted as another 22kms and Herrsching maybe 10-15 beyond that. With the time available that was too far. So I took a path to Munich via Aubing. And as ever, one finds things that one does not expect. For example, Puchheim, wonderful cafe/chocolatier (left with coffee at €1.60!).

Finally, there is always the thrill of industrial archaelogy. Now, it is quite normal to demolish buildings that are old or are no longer useful/functional. So to come across a large, derelict industrial building is unusual and quite exciting. I have no idea what it was, but it was worth a picture (right). It does look like it will be demolished shortly.