In search of Sunshine!!



Bad Reichenhall from the cable car

 We left Munich around 11am in glorious sunshine with temperatures starting to climb into the mid-twenties. We travelled fairly steadily along the busy A roads, stopping off here and there for a “bum” break to enjoy the warm temperatures and admire the scenery, or for a coffee break. With the able assistance of the satnav, we eventually arrived around 3 ish into the German Bavarian town of Bad Reichenhall, which nestles at the bottom of the valley,and surrounded by the high Chiemgauer Alps (including Mount Staufen (1,771 m) and Mount Zwiesel). We were greeted and made very welcome by the lady hotelier who gave us the key to our room - No 11, we quickly unloaded our kit and made our way to the room.


The picturesque old Tyrolean buildings

 We were well pleased when we opened the door, we had ourselves a lovely big room with a balcony, and a small fully equipped kitchen. We packed our kit away and changed into something a bit cooler and more sweet smelling (I’m not suggesting that our motorbike kit was smelly, but you can’t wear this stuff inside out on the motorbike hehehehe) We made ourselves a nice cup of tea before setting out to get some supplies from the local supermarket, as the kitchen offered us the opportunity to cook for ourselves. By the time we’d gotten back to the room the clouds had gathered and sadly that was the last we saw of the sunshine till next morning, we had quite a thunderstorm and alot of heavy overnight rain. Ann made us a lovely steak & kidney pie that evening, with apple sponge and cream for afters, followed by a beautiful gaelic coffee. Oh boy, I really enjoyed making that one up, (I dream of a real steak n Kidney pie for dinner!!), but we did have a lovely meal, (spaghretti bollocknese), washed down with a bottle of vino, and spent the rest of the evening catching up on things and planning an itinerary for the following day.




The blackthorn hedge inside the 'Gradierhaus'

On Wed 3rd we woke to bird song and blue skies, so I got the air rifle shot the birds and pulled the blinds closed, 5 o’clock in the morning was too chuffin early. At a more sensible time we got up, had a good breakfast and left to see what went on in Bad Reichenhall. Well it didn’t take us long to realise this was a town more suited to the older, more mature persons who were more interested in the benefits of the brine and thermal waters for their ailments. We on the other hand were fascinated by an incredible man made salt spa structure (Gradierhaus), consisting of a very tall blackthorn hedge probably standing 10m high and 160m in length with 400,000 litres of saline brine trickling down through it every day. The wind and air blow through the hedge and inhailing the moist air apparently stimulates the blood circulation to the nose and mouth, and also helps to cleanse the respiratory tracts – so now you understand what I mean when I suggest it’s more for the infirm than the firm!!.



Looking Cool, On our way up to the summit

 Ann was very keen to travel up to the top of the nearby Predigtstuhl mountain, approx 1600m to the summit, in a cable car, which is reputedly the oldest original cabin cable car system in the world, operating since July 1928. I on the other hand was not so keen, however, the macho side of me won over the more sensible and responsible side. It was quite scary looking down as we ascended, getting higher by the minute, I have to say how glad I was there was no strong winds blowing, other than my own every time we went over a steel supporting stanchion. I was somewhat relieved to step out of that cabin onto terra firma (even though it was 1600 m high).



Mad or what? the parascender in mid-air

 We spent about an hour and a half walking around the top of this piece of rock taking some wonderful pictures, and looking through the binoculars, we could see for miles. We even watched a number of lunatics, lunging off the summit attached to large rectangular parachutes, they rose to ridiculous heights, just watching them made me dizzy, I couldn’t do it for love nor money. The term rectal (derived from RECTAngular) sprang to mind, and I knew I had to find a toilet before my balance went completely!!!!! I was pleased when Ann suggested that we should make our way back, but I wasn’t looking forward to the roller coaster of a ride going down. We waited ten minutes or so before the lift was finally cranked back up to the summit ready for another descent and another twenty minutes or more for the journey down, along with thirty other pilgrims – I was very relieved (as were my bowels shortly after) to reach ground level in one piece. We spent a little time after that, meandering through the streets admiring some of the old historical Tyrolean buildings, then returned back to our hotel for a quick sandwich (Home made) and a drink, before heading out to Salzburg on the bike about 15 or 20km away. Alas the best laid plans... the next thing we knew it was pouring rain and another storm broke out. We spent the rest of the day and evening in our room, we had ourselves a lovely dinner, (sweet and sour chicken) and retired to bed early.

The following morning started wet and cloudy, with little hope of sunshine. We spent some time searching for suitable accommodation within Salzburg and eventually found a hotel (The Adeo), in the small hamlet of Puch bei Hallein, 15 miles due west of Bad Reichenhall and just over 4 miles south of Salzburg. It was midday by the time we packed the kit onto the bike, the rain had ceased, so we took the opportunity and left for Puch. We located our hotel and settled in till the rain (which had started shortly after our arrival), had stopped and a couple of hours later we were on the bike heading into the city.



The fountain outside Salzburg Cathederal

 Salzburg (Austria) is on the banks of the Salzach River, at the northern boundary of the Alps, it has a population of 148,000 residents and is probably more famous as the birthplace of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was the setting for parts of the American musical and film The Sound of Music which also featured famous landmarks in Austria. We parked the bike and set about exploring the city. It was extremely busy, there seemed to be thousands of people wandering around, but this was due to the rain and accentuated by the very narrow streets. We also arrived into the Salzburg Festival period, a prominent festival of classical music and theatre established since 1920 and held annually each summer (for five weeks – from the last week in July to the end of August). We got to see some of the important and historical buildings including:- The Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom),






The Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg)



Catacombs in the rock by St Peters Abbey

 The Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg) on a hill dominating the old town, is one of the largest castles in Europe, with views over Salzburg. The Franziskanerchurch, The St Peter's Abbey with it magnificent graveyard -the Petersfriedhof, The Residenz Palace (the magnificent former Prince-Archbishop's residence), Mozart's Birthplace and his Residence. The weather turned against us yet again and we finally gave up the sight seeing and went for something a little more sustaining by way of food. Ironically we found a smashing Italian restaurant where we had a pasta dinner and light refreshments (The good ole Vitamin B), before leaving to find our way back to Puch in the dark!!!!!


How about riding these roads?? Awesome!!

 The following morning, Friday 5th August, we decided we were going to tour around the local area on the bike. The roads we chose, were recommended and identified in various books and flyers as ideal for motorbikes, and I can only confirm how right they were. We had an absolutely fantastic day, the weather had improved and the temperature rose to just over 24 degrees.






We rode up to lake Konigsee in Berchtesgaden National Park, through some wonderful countryside and magical scenery and over some exhilarating tarmac to a place called Ober Salzberg which sits below the Kehlstein mountain (1835 m) with its Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest), which offers spectacular views to its visitors, and quite a tourist attraction for a completely different reason.


A" break "in the clouds at 1835m



Above the cloud, The Eagles Nest perched
up on the mountain top

 The Kehlsteinhaus, also known as "Hitler's Tea House" or the Eagle's Nest, was built as a 50th birthday present for Adolf Hitler. The Eagle's Nest was meant to be a retreat for Hitler and a place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries (which he almost never did. It is claimed by some historians that Hitler had a fear of heights, which probably explained why he didn’t visit). It was commissioned by Martin Bormann, with construction proceeding over a 13-month period prior to its formal presentation to Hitler in 1939. It is situated on a ridge at the top of the Kehlstein mountain (1835 m), reached by a spectacular 6.5 km (3.9 mile) winding road which cost 30 million Reichsmark to build (circa. 150 million euros). The last 124 metres up to the Kehlsteinhaus are served by an elevator bored inside the mountain, reached via a granite tunnel; the elevator itself is surfaced with polished brass. We spent the best part of two hours up on the eagles nest, discovering all about this hideaway and how they built it along with the road. It was fascinating, and though a little extravagant, it was well worth the visit. We left Ober Salzberg and took a magnificent route back through the mountains on twisting tarmac with hairpin bends, to make you weep, it was a real adrenalin rush. And if you stopped and took photos (as we did), it was really quite scary when you realised just how high you were.


A parade of Vespa scooters at the Italian Market

 On the way back we stopped off at a small town called Hallein, and discovered an “Italian Market” and festival, (Hey Georgio Attardo eat your heart out). Well, needless to say, we parked the bike and spent another couple of hours mooching around, enjoying the ambience, eating different cheeses (parmeasan), fruits and olives, thoroughly enjoying ourselves, even listening to a group of Italian singers and musicians, who, as it turned out (Next morning), were staying at our hotel. We rode back to the hotel and retired to our room, still buzzing from the day’s events - awesome.

Although the weather had not been great since our arrival into Germany, we decided to persist with our plans and continue to explore the region of Bavaria, the Southern part of Germany. What we had seen and experienced in Germany, for us has been nothing short of a revelation, and so it was an easy choice to make. Much has been said and written about the German people, alot of it, in my opinion, unjustified, perhaps it’s fear or maybe just plain ignorance. OK,Yes, 72 years ago a German egocentric megalomaniac, bullied and brutalised his way into power intent on ruling the world, and in the process, attempted genocide on the Jewish race – a complete and utter freak and like so many freaks before him, (and after), completely immersed in their own fantasy world. Well, that was over 65 years ago, I know there is still alot of pain and suffering out there and some deep scars that will probably never fully heal, The German people have preserved the Hitler/Nazi party legacy, clearly they have no intention of forgetting their history, but it’s entirely for the right reasons, ‘they will not allow history to repeat itself’ We personally feel the German people deserve the opportunity to be allowed to rise above their history, we have found them to be incredibly helpful, very genuine, and exceedingly hospitable. And for sure, those parts of the country we have seen and travelled through, have been quite beautiful. For us it’s been a golden opportunity to extend our hand of friendship to people of great quality.
We discovered more by accident, that it was more economical to cross the border into Austria, and book a hotel, than to stay in Bavaria, and yet still very accessible for the areas we wanted to visit in Bavaria. So our next destination was the small Austrian town of Reutte, 140 miles due west. Two thirds of the journey on a major highway was slow and very hot in our kit, in temperatures just above 28 degrees. It was slow due to the sheer volume of holiday traffic (like the M25 on a Fri afternoon), and as we turned off the highway the speedometer told us we had completed 10,000 miles since we began our journey.



Loadsa Bikes - ready to burn some rubber.

 The last third, from Miesbach to Reutte was cool, we followed the floor of the valley, through the mountains swooping up and down and weaving around the bends as we made our way towards Reutte. We stopped off for a drink at lake Plansee, incredibly there must have been at least 50 other motorbikes parked up, all out enjoying the wonderful ride through the mountains. They too must have stopped to enjoy a drink and absorb the sheer magnificence of the lake and mountain scenery, it was one of those occasions when you wish you could stop time – and it’s at these moments when we recognise, how incredibly blessed we are to be doing what we’re doing.

The water in the lake was crystal clear, a gorgeous delicate blue and so inviting, but we resisted the temptation and after about an hour or so we headed off to continue the exhilarating ride into Reutte. We arrived around 4pm at the hotel Maximillion, about 1.5 km outside the town centre (which we’d booked for two nights). It was typically Tyrolean, in fact, just like many of the ski hotels we’ve stayed in whilst skiing and from the bedroom we could even see the ski lifts up on the mountain. We were told that we had arrived on the day of the annual town carnival, a day when the streets are closed off, for entertainment and live music, with plenty of food and beer, which kicked off at 6pm, We didn’t need reminding.



celebrations are fully underway!!
We snapped this just before the woman lost her head, hehehe



Ere we are 'rockin in Reutte'

 We unloaded our kit, showered and changed, rented a couple of bicycles and rode the 1.5km into town. The carnival was just about warming up with people like us starting to roll up , it looked like we were in for a good night. There were three different stage areas, one for the traditional Tyrolean music and laiderhoisen garb, one for a rock band and the other for the Boyzone type, I have to say the entertainment was cracking. We had ourselves a roast chicken meal and spent the entire evening wondering up and down the streets drinking, watching and enjoying what was unfolding before us. Sadly about two hours into the evening, the heavens opened and for about three parts of an hour it sheeted down, fortunately such was the heat, within an hour of the rain stopping, the streets were dry again and shortly after that, we and the streets were rockin. I don’t remember with any degree of clarity how we got home, but I was pleased to see the pedal bikes below our bedroom window the following morning!!

Over breakfast the weather had closed in again and it was pouring with rain, there was little we could do other than read and do some catching up. I guess it was probably at this point we made the decision to leave Germany the next day. The long term weather forecast was not great for Germany so we decided it was time to chase the sun, which according to the news reports, was shining in Italy.




Neuschwanstein castle

An awesome picture of the same Neuschwanstein castle



Schloss Hohenschwangau

 By about 2pm the rain had ceased, we took the opportunity and hopped on the bike to visit the two castles close by (in Germany), that had drawn us this far south – The Neuschwanstein (The white castle that can be seen on the Disney Logo), and Schloss Hohenschwangau, the ‘Yellow Castle.’ Maybe it was just the wet weather, cos it started to pour again just as we arrived, or more likely, it was the size of the castles, both of them were disappointingly small and looked so much better in the books and pictures, in addition the tours only lasted for half an hour - short tours or what? I’m not sure which king Ludwig I,II or but he certainly had a fetish for castles . We walked around and visited both castles taking pictures and getting soaked in the process. Our resolve started to wane and so we left around 6 pm. We made it back safely to the hotel, and with their permission we hung our wet gear to dry by a fire in the lounge area. We spent the rest of the evening in the hotel; we enjoyed a lovely meal and spent a couple of hours talking to a Dutch couple and a German couple, before retiring after midnight to our bed.

On Monday the 8th August we packed our kit onto the bike, although it had rained all night, there was some beautiful early morning sunshine and so we remained optimistic about our long ride through the Alps to our next destination (back in Italy), the city of Milan. Before we left for Milan we had one more Ludwiggian castle to see.


Linderhoff castle

This one was called Linderhof and like the previous castles, it too was small and compact, a bit like a miniature palace, and modelled in many instances on the French Louis XIV Sun Palace, in fact during the tour it became clear that our Ludwig II was heavily influenced by the French monarch?? We spent over three hours touring the gardens and the castle and just as we were about to leave, the heavens opened once again and the rain set in for the day. We left Linderhof in the pouring rain at 1.30 pm to travel the 280 miles, through the Alps south to Milan. We actually travelled through four countries before arriving into the fifth, Italy – They were; Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. The ride was absolutely incredible, even in the pouring rain, it was so exhilarating travelling up through the mountains into the ski area that we have ski’d in winter and seeing them for the first time, without the usual cover of snow and ice, just meadow green grass in summer condition and beautiful scenery,(if you could see it thru the rain) and an occasional glimpse of snow at higher altitude. Oh my goodness!! It was awesome, looking down the gorge and valleys below us, was intoxicating, I was really getting my fix of adrenalin.
 

Lech in the torrential rain,  the ski slope in the background


Amazingly we arrived into the mountain town of Lech and Zurs, with St Anton only a few kilometres up the road. OMG, happy memories flooded back, skiing with the gang from Netherseal, Nigel & Julie, Graham & Sarah, Ian & Rosin, Dave & Sarah Alistair & Michelle and Duncan & Amanda, we had some great ski holidays together – happy days. It was so incredible we had to stop and take some pictures in the pouring rain, just so we could tell the others we’d been through Lec on a motorbike and as close to some of them ski slopes as we could safely get!! As we travelled through Lichtenstein the rain eased off and the temperature warmed up a little and as we entered Switzerland the sun started to shine, a welcome sight. While travelling through south eastern Switzerland on our way to Milan we encountered the longest road tunnel of our journey so far, the 4.1 mile in length San Bernardino Tunnel, completed in 1967. A great engineering achievement which replaced the San Bernardino pass road. I suspect the original road would have been an awesome pass to cross on the bike, but we still had a long way to travel, it was getting late and we had to find accommodation in the city of Milan when we got there. So on this occasion we chose the tunnel as the best option. We continued on through Switzerland, on past the beautiful setting of Lake Como in Italy and finally arriving into Milan at around 9pm. We did find accommodation, it took us some time, and I’m afraid to admit that tiredness caught us up, as we settled on an inferior hotel, it was Crap with a capital C but we were so jaded it was a place to put our heads down. We hoped the next day we would find ourselves somewhere more suitable, once we decided where, in Italy, we would head for.

That’s it for now folks, much love to every one back home.

But, before closing, a very very happy birthday to my mam, she was 92 on the 13th August and still going strong!

The Easyriders xxx