 |
| Klosterburg St Peter at Höglwörth - an unplanned surprise |
A week ago we were losing our way following a mapped trail in Croatia. Seven days later and we are riding without a plan in Bavaria. No planned route, so can’t get lost!
Drifting along with no fixed plan has its moments. Some good. A few, not so good. But either way, the surprises are a bonus, sometimes a challenge, often a new experience.
Germans are supremely organised. For them planning is the key. Cycle touring magazines are full of GPS planning aids and articles about how to use them. Uploads, downloads, extra gadgets, supplementary power, solar panels, chargers, phone brackets. Everything to keep the GPS devices attached to the handlebars with tiny maps keeping the rider from straying off the intended route.
 |
| Bavarian farmhouses are surprisingly large |
Too much planning reduces the opportunity for surprises. Maybe that’s what some people want. Not us.
Non-planning included:
· Deciding left or right on the fly.
· Rounding a bend to come across a beautiful monastery beside a placid lake
· Asking locals for directions.
· Following along a “beer trail” through woodland to the Weininger brewery in Teisendorf. Signs told us the history (the mayor declared “no defecating in the river after midday on Tuesday as the beer is made on Wednesday).
· Failing to find a single café in 70km,
· Choosing a country lane because it looked interesting
· Never getting lost because there’s no fixed plan
· Not knowing what’s around the next bend or just over the hill
· Consulting a (paper) map to find the way back to the start.
Bavaria is huge, largely agricultural, undulating but not too hilly and incredibly well supplied with marked bike trails, local and long distance. Lots of good signposting. Plenty of good beer (even if coffee is hard to find). All add up to an ideal place to ride a bike, with or without a plan.
 |
| Along the beer trail to Teisendorf |
No comments:
Post a Comment