A circular route around Murnauer Moos, with a 10km warm-up

August 11, 2015

For our fifth day of cycling we expected to complete a 30km circular route around the circumference of the conservation area known as Murnauer Moos (Murnau Marsh). Our notes said it was a "generally flat and leisurely circuit" so that sounded good, and even better there was a Gästehaus on the route which the notes said served "wonderful" cakes.

Murnauer Moos is quite unique in Central Europe, both because of its size, unity and landscape as well as it's flora and fauna. Peat was extracted from the marshland until the middle of the twentieth century and in 1964 it was declared a conservation area. It's home to over 4000 difference species of fauna and 800 plants, which is quite a lot!

We cycled out of Murnau and the plan was to head towards Eschenlohe but as you can see from our route on the right we had a slight detour towards Ohlstadt first.

The views as we unknowingly cycled towards Ohlstadt were amazing and our detour was almost worth it for those alone. We reached the main road and checked the notes, when Ohlstadt wasn't mentioned at all we realised we'd missed a turning somewhere.

So back we went and tried a path alongside the railway line. We weren't sure, but carried on anyway and soon came out at that same main road just further down.

Hmmnn...

Ah well, let's just enjoy the views we weren't supposed to see. And I got my wood pile fix in early too, and with some farm equipment too.

We headed back the way we had come and back to the main road we'd left Murnau on. From here we retraced our tracks and realised we'd missed out an instruction, missing turning left before we turned right. Finally we were on the track that related to our notes, but not first without clocking up ten kilometres as our warm-up.

The route notes were fairly sparse and included "at the industrial zone turn left at the fence and follow the Radweg sign" - when we got to the fence it made perfect sense, but perhaps some more clues on how to reach the industrial zone might have helped!

Although it was threatening to rain as we approached the river, it never really managed it. And yes, the river really was that colour.

It wasn't long before we were heading towards the village of Eschenloe, and the only village of notable size since we left Murnau (despite our diversions). Two of the road tunnels to the south of the village were used during the Second World War in the production of the Messerschmitt. Tunnels were used as they weren't easily detected by airborne reconnaissance missions.

While looking for and failing to find toilets, as the Rathaus was shut on Saturdays we watched this farmer expertly reverse his tractor up a small slope into the barn - something he'd clearly done before!

Heading back towards the centre of town, past the highly decorated Rathaus and onto the Second World War Memorial.

Unsure of how much further along the village of Grafenaschau was we decided to stop by the side of the road to eat our lunch and watch the world go by. At the top of a smallish hill it was actually a great place to stop as we watched cyclists of all abilities tackle the hill.

Fed and ready to go again we went down the hill, around the corner and was almost upon the village and the cafe with the wonderful cakes. It'd be rude not to stop wouldn't it, so we did. We ordered a beer and followed that by a humongous slice of cake and a coffee. And sat and admired these views.

We could have sat here for much longer, and eaten more cake. And I think we would have done had it not been for the bikes and having to cycle back to the hotel. But as we did, it was time to go.

We cycled back through more of the marsh area alongside the Lindenbach stream on gravelly paths. It was warm by now and we decided to push hard to get back to the hotel. It turns out that doing this and upping the speed on winding, gravelly paths wasn't such a good idea. At one corner I was almost off my bike, but somehow I saved it at the last minute - and I'm glad I did.

Before much longer and after a few more hills we were back at the hotel, but not before clocking up 42.6km - not bad for a 30km cycling day!

Staying at the Griesbräu brewery in Murnau

August 4, 2015

We arrived in Murnau by bike having cycled 27km from Bad Bayersoien (read more about our cycle and the stop at the lake) - this was the hotel I was looking forward to, and I wasn't disappointed. Their website says it's a place "where Beer is fun!" I'm not sure about fun, but I was rather partial to the dark, dunkel beer.

We received a warm welcome and were invited to leave our bikes in the breakfast room. We didn't know then but that was because of a function in the beer hall, the usual storage place.

We headed through the beer garden courtyard and towards our room, but not before a glimpse into the Brauhaus area.

Now that looked interesting and I knew I'd be back here with my camera to explore further. But first onto our room, which was on the top floor of the accommodation block, the window on the left in the photo below.

Despite it being on the top floor, the room was the coolest hotel room we stayed in on our trip. And I mean temperature wise, although the decor was modern and pretty cool too.

Throughout the corridors in the hotel area there were plenty of quirky additions, here's just some of them - my favourite is the handsome chap top right.

We ate in the Bierstube restaurant our first evening, which served an a la carte menu and provided a quieter and more formal area. It too retained some character and artefacts from the brewery.

The next evening we ate in the more informal and relaxed Brauhaus. And it was here that I ate my first German Pork Knuckle, which was huge. When it was served it was cut in half, and I thought it was be portioned. But no, it was being cut to make it easier to eat, and both halves were on my plate. It tasted fantastic and I managed to eat the lot, which I'm putting down to all the cycling activity!

When I could move again I grabbed my camera and went to take a look around.

If I hadn't already been sold on this place, then this area would have converted me. It had a relaxed, informal style with plenty of artefacts but also clearly still part of a working brewery.

So if you're ever planning a trip to Bavaria and Murnau is on your itinerary then I can't recommend this place highly enough. It's a place I'd stay in again, and if/when we go back to Bavaria, I'll be trying to squeeze in a visit even if it's just for one (or two or more) of their dunkel brews. In fact I enjoyed our stay here so much, I'm tempted to arrange another cycling trip around another more northern German brewery. Thinking ahead I picked up a booklet of possibles while we were there!

Cycling on to Murnau, with a stop at the lake

August 1, 2015

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!