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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.

The main route heading north and east is a delight.

It is still significant enough to experiece ferries and sizeable bridges, some of which riders are required to use. We travelled in a northerly direction towards Dettelbach. This is very much wine country and Dettelbach (below right) is twee and offers a considerable – and probably necessary – marketing opportunity for growers. They have hostelries on the road side with opportunities to sample the local wine and then buy a crate. We acquired a taste for Domina (a fruity red) and Spätburgunder (another word for Pinot Noir). Suffice to say, we did not carry a crate on the tandem.

We actually stopped at Volkach for lunch where, clearly, we should have stopped at the St. Maria im Weingarten church, the home of another Riemenschneider carving. But we hadn’t done our homework.  However, by way of compensation, and as is so often the case, one stumbles upon strange – sometimes inexplicable – attractions. So at Stammheim, one encounters an air museum (left). And a ferry. I love ferry rides across rivers (below right).

Onward towards Schweinfurt which is a not insignificant industrial town. It produced most of the Nazi war machine’s ball bearings. For that reason it was a target of allied forces in 1945. It retains significant metal industry facilities. But if one follows the track, the city is largely bypassed.

Next up is Haßfurt, again somewhat bypassed. We were keen to get to our preferred campsite at Sand am Main. We took a little detour adjacent to an airfield, surprisingly busy with small and micro aircraft. Sand am Main proved not as easy to get to as we might have thought. There is a lot of water which requires one to ride over the correct bridge just to the east of Knetzgau. The campsite is actually on the banks of Sanderbaggersee and is, consequently, relatively easy to find once in Sand.

Time for a day off from the tandem. The next day we walked into the nearby Zeil am Main (left), a centre for furniture manufacture, and caught the train into Bamberg. Bamberg – or at least its centre – is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And it is extraordinary. It has a thousand years of history, much of it religious. It lost its status as a city state in 1803 becoming part of the Bavarian kingdom.

It is certainly a hilly place (there are 7 hills, die Hügel), thus enjoying the architecture requires some strenuous walking. The stone used for the buildings gives it an unwarranted industrial feel. The Cathedral (right) is, for example, built from a sandy-coloured stone, as is the nearby Michaelsberg Abbey (below right). The cathedral dates from the 13th Century and is described as romanesque (Bamberg is often described, inappropriately, as Bavaria’s Rome). As for the interior, one can find an ornate Riemenschneider tomb sculpted from marble (left). It was sculpted for Heinrich II and his wife (Kunigunde), and dates from the early 16th Century. It is adorned with carvings capturing a series of complex stories. For example, Kunigunde was challenged on her faithfulness to the King (left). She was essentially cleared after proving her faithfulness by runing over some hot sharp metal without injury!

Bamberg also has a history steeped in beer, not unlike most Bavarian towns, it has to be said. There is one very special beer, however, that had to be tried. That beer was Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier (essentially, dark smoked bier). The beer is smoked arising out of an accident. Fire damaged the brewery and soiled the ingredients including the hops. However, waste not want not, as-it-were. The next batch of beer had, not surprisingly, a smoked flavour. I have to say, one glass was enough. The hostelry itself offers traditional complementary food which is quick (the turnover inside is rapid) and surprisingly good, even for a vegetarian.

We took the train from Munich to Regensburg. The lifts at both stations are big enough to fit the loaded tandem. The signs outside the station immediately direct cyclists to the cycle path along the Danube in the first instance.

This section is picturesque, quite leafy and packed full of vertiginously perched castles and monuments. One should always be looking up as well as forward.

For example, at Kelheim one finds the wonderfully curious Befreiungshalle (right). If my understanding is correct it is a after-the-fact monument to the defeat of Napoleon during the Befreiungskriege of 1813-15. The work on the monument itself was started in 1842 and completed in 1856 after a number of issues, not least the death of the architect/builder. It was principally funded by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. However, one should never underestimate the effect of French occupation of German lands on the country’s history. Monuments like this are not so unusual. I’ve used an image by Derzno (Wikipedia) because when we passed by it was shrouded in scaffolding.

At Kelheim the Altmühl flows into the Danube. We were riding against the flow (and the wind). After camping at Kastlhof, we followed the river to Riedenburg (left) and Dietfurt. What one has to say about these places is that they are a shade generic. Dietfurt Rathaus (right) is typical of the architecture of the region. And the Altmühl towns are, on the whole, very well looked after.

However, Eichstät itself is exceptional. A small town tracing its routes back to the 8th century BC with a cathedral, monestary (left) and a catholic university is quite something to behold. I quite like the random sculptures in front of a nicely graffiti’d wall. Just a concession to demonstrate that even here, a white wall is too much to resist. The town is rather quiet in the evening out of university time.