Our last evening In Austria was a very wet one with continual heavy rain and thunder which lasted until the wee small hours.
As we departed on Monday morning, there was the promise of some sunshine, which created long banks of mist which rolled up the mountains from the forest to the summits. The shortest route between Innsbruck and Bavaria is very steep and winding and is prohibited for vehicles towing trailers, so our chosen route was along the motorway towards Switzerland before a right turn in order to skirt around Zugspitze (2962 metres) which separates Austria and Germany. The journey was wonderful and provided us wit spectacular views across mountains and into deep gorges. We both found the area to be similar to the Canadian Rockies.
Upon reaching the border town of Lermoos we decided to take a coffee break before dropping down into Garmish Partenkirchen. Our chosen watering hole was Lermoos Golf Club , and the photo shows the very tip of Zugspitze peering out above the clouds.
By lunch time we arrived at the campsite at Oberammergau, which whilst convenient for our needs was a touch down at heel in comparison with many other sites, although a touch expensive for all that! Our 4 day stay was highlighted by a cycle ride to and around Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where Margaret spent some time chatting to an interesting couple on a bench (see photo). On Thursday we attended the Passion Play (Passionspiele), which was performed between 2.30pm and 5.15pm and after a break continued from 8.00pm until 10.50pm. It was a very moving and professional performance undertaken by around half the village's 4500 inhabitants. The length of the performance was only bettered by the length of time it took my hind quarters to regain comfort and circulation!
On Friday morning we departed in drizzle which soon turned into very heavy rain which lasted for mile upon mile as we journeyed via Fussen, Kempten and then along the north shore of Bodensee (Lake Constance) to eventually arrive at my beloved Kirchzarten, which for those with maps is 8 miles east of Freiburg (for those with maps). The skies welcomed us here with warm sunshine as we positioned our caravan and later took an evening stroll around the town. We watched the preparations for the local sporting event of the year: "Black Forest Ultra Mountain Bike Marathon". The competitors appear to have come here from all over the world and many are on our campsite, which has been transformed into a training camp whilst many prepare their machines whilst others sit on their turbo trainers for hours on end. Today (Saturday) was the junior event and tomorrow sees the start of the senior event. The whole area is starting to look like a huge trade show for bikes and all the ancillary equipment.
We will perhaps stay here until next Thursday 24th June which will leave us exactly one week to make towards Amsterdam and our return home on Friday 2nd July. We will hopefully complete at least one more blog before we meet up with you all again.
Love,
John and Margaret.
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