The Hills Are Alive! (By Courtney)

Well, I don't think I could have asked for a more spectacular birthday! Today we started in Fussen, Germany. We toured up from there to check out some impressive castles at Schwangau. It's hard not to feel like you're in Disneyland, although I know it should be the other way around!

Courtney& Johanna looking at the Castles of Schwangau

The hordes of people were a little unnerving to us all, and Johanna was sure there must be some back way from the castles through the mountains to where we were supposed to go. So, consistent to her nature, we started climbing some back roads behind the castles and ended up in a beautiful forest on a rugged road!. We kept climbing and were soon in complete solitude. We eventually came across a small, vacant guard station with a gate across the road--we realized after crossing the gate that this was, in fact, the border into Austria!

From Deutchland to Osstrich! (on some random back road!!)

 

The "road" turned into more of something like a rugged gravel/dirt trail, and Johanna said, "Well, I think this is more like a mountain bike trail, but it will do." (remember, she's 75 and we all are loaded down on touring bikes with full paniers!- I just love her sense of adventure-a true kindred spirit!).  . .It was a beautiful ride down into a valley and we made our way to Ruetter, Austria, to an information center to figure out the best way to get to Garmisch (Germany).  .Well, turns out there is no good cycling route, but we could ride the main roads. We've been spoiled so far, and have mostly ridden on bike trails, so this was a change for us (to ride with traffic).

 

We climbed up to Plansee, a beautiful alpine lake. The river that feeds it compares in color to the North Umpqua--that beautiful turquoise green, so it was really amazing. It started to rain a bit when we got to the lake, so we quickly changed into our rain gear.

Birthday Girl at Lake Plansee-let the rainstorms begin!

We rode in the rain for a bit, and then good Ol' Mac found us the nearest biergarten and we all sipped our beers wondering if the rain would let up.

Our break at Plansee

Mac & Courtney climbing out of the valley in the pouring rain

It didn't, of course, so we climbed back on our bikes in the pouring rain and climbed out of the the Plansee valley. We hit the Germany border on the top of a pass and had a thrilling ride back down the other side. There were incredible vasservallen (waterfalls), clear creeks, and beautiful moluntains along the way.

 

We ended up in a small, quiet, and quaint town near Garmisch called Oberammergau. We staying at a lovely guest house, Gasthaus Rose.

 

An afternoon beer in Oberammergau--out of the rain!

I felt very well cared for on my birthday. I had a lovely bouquet of wildflowers on my handlebars that were collected along the way. . . all my beers were paid for and I had an amazing dinner with apfelstrudle, ice cream and schnopps for dessert! Johanna also gave me one of her lovely Bavarian scarves that I wore around my neck all day and Cheryl bought me a beautiful pair of ice-blue earrings that remind me of the color of the Isar River (that we rode along today--more on that adventure later!). Tchuss!