After an evening with some fizz to celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary, which actually took place earlier in the week but both of us were too tired from travelling to celebrate properly we left the Parkhotel in Bad Bayersoien heading for our next base in Murnau.

It was the hotel I was looking forward to, yes it was the one in a brewery. But before I could think too much about that I knew that we had some kilometres to cover. Today our route was one of the shorter days at just 27km and that was probably just as well as it was warm again and shorts were most definitely called for.

Our notes said today's route would be through quiet country lanes and tracks past isolated farms, through wooded areas and open meadows. There was good news too as the hills of the Pfaffenwinkel were behind us, although as we were within sight of the Alps it was never going to be truly flat now was it?

So after taking some snaps of the view and of each other we set off. It wasn't long before we arrived in Schöffau which is a typical Bavarian village. It certainly was picturesque with a pretty church and old fire station bearing its original wooden tower, which is now a museum.

After a look around the village we were back on our bikes and on the road heading towards Uffing eagerly looking out for the road signposted Guggenberg. Having confirmed we were in the right place and on track - as we were determined not to get lost today - I turned and took in the view.

Our route instructions said after 50 metres to take a left uphill on a steep gravel track. And we did, going up was tough but I made it and nothing could have prepared me for the view that awaited us:

I could have looked at this view for much longer than we did but hoping that the views would be equally spectacular along our route we headed off through the woods on the popular cycle trail. We cycled on to and through Uffing, we knew there was an option here to visit the Staffelsee and I was keen not to miss this. It was uphill and as usual MOH bombed off and that's fine as I'm much slower up hills. I was convinced that we'd missed the turning to the lake so was pretty grumpy about having cycled up a hill unnecessarily.

However I was in luck as we hadn't missed the turning at all, as MOH had stopped right by it. And the good news was that it was downhill to the lake - it was a downhill that was much needed in the heat, I can tell you. With our bikes in the bike park, we found a table by the lake and sat down to suss out what was going on. Shortly after MOH was despatched for some beers and a pretzel while I enjoyed this view:

It seems I wasn't the only one enjoying the lake. This Jack Russell couldn't quite contain his joy either and it looks as if he'd gone for a dip!

MOH returned with the beers and we sat and enjoyed our surroundings. Soon though we spotted a boat heading right for us.

And it was getting closer.

As the boat docked, my now drier Jack Russell friend was keen to board!

The Staffelsee is the largest of the three lakes in the area and it's renowned for the warmth of its clear marshy waters. We didn't try it but there were plenty of people swimming a little further along from where we were sitting. Later on we cycled past the Riegsee which is a favourite with windsurfers; the third lake is Froschhausersee which we also saw and is popular in winter with ice-skaters and curlers.

The downside of the lake being at the bottom of the hill was that it was uphill on the way back, and we needed to go up to follow our route. While I enjoyed the beer at the side of the lake on that ascent from the cafe I was seriously wondering if it was such a good idea!

We cycled through many pretty villages and it wasn't until the afternoon that I managed to snap a log pile. I thought I'd better include that photo as a day in Bavaria without one is pretty uncommon.

Despite trying not to get lost, somehow we did. We'd cycled past Froschhausersee the third lake and through open farmland but somewhere and somehow we must have taken a wrong turn as the notes didn't match what we saw in front of us. We knew we weren't far from Murnau and in fact were closer than we thought as we soon we were out of the countryside and in the town. Our challenge was to find the brewery. It seems we weren't the only people lost as we bumped into a German couple who were also looking around and scratching their heads in a similar fashion to us. Between us we pooled our information and choose our best option and thankfully all four of us made it into Murnau.

Somehow we arrived on the road our notes expected us to and the brewery was in front of us. As they say - Happy Days! We were soon checked into our room, showered and changed and sat down in the courtyard with a Griesbräu in front of us.

So, before I finish here's the stats for day 4:

Scheduled cycle distance: 27km
Actual distance recorded: 30.7km
Cumulative distance recorded: 165.0km
Number of crowd-sourced directions: 1
Number of lakes encountered: numerous
Number of beers consumed: more than one!