Misfortune rarely comes alone!

On Saturday July 21st we cycled culturally refreshed and culinary well strengthened from the last two days in Salzburg, despite thick clouds, first along the Salzach and then along the Königseeache towards Germany. At kilometre 705 on our speedometer we left Austria. Hardly over the border the rain began. Well wrapped up in our new rain gear we nevertheless pedaled to Berchtesgaden, visited the village and then drove on to the starting point of the cycle path on which we wanted to cycle through Bavaria and the Allgäu in the next few days: the Königsee-Bodensee-Radweg. Katharina had great expectations of the Königsee - romantic, beautiful, lonely mountain lake. When she arrived at the parking lot in front of the lake, she woke up: This is a tourist spectacle even worse than Hallstatt in Austria. The first impression of the lake: no lake, only parking, tourists, stalls, information centre. Only if one continues to rummage through, one arrives at the lake, at which one can hardly find a free place with a beautiful view on the lake to sit. Moreover, the thick, grey clouds did not release the upper half of the mountains. Only the rain that started again finally gave the whole thing a special mystical atmosphere. Also the way back to Berchtesgaden along the Königseeache was reconciliatory; that we wandered around a little bit shortly afterwards, had to breathe uphill and at the same time a real downpour started less. In the late afternoon, the sun meant well with us again and illuminated the beautiful descent to Reichenhall and the sightseeing of the romantic town. Motivated we pedalled on to find a rainproof accommodation in one of the next villages. Shortly before Piding we had two accidents: When leaving a very narrow wooden cyclist bridge to cross a small river, we got stuck with the rear pannier on the railing and fell over. Nothing bad, but for us it was clear: “In Piding it’s over for today”. A short time later, on the way there, a common railroad crossing stood in our way. The grids, to keep away motorized traffic, were so narrow that we couldn’t get through with our bike. We saw no alternative but the cross the track there. Also in our bicycle travel guide nothing registered. On the first pages we could circumvent the barrier, pushing Düsi through the grass. But on the other side it was too difficult, the trench too deep and additionally a wire was stretched. What now? We were trapped on the rail crossing. We began to dismantle the pannier and lift it one by one over the barrier when Matthias drew Katharina’s attention: “Watch out for a train! We stepped back as far as we could, holding the bike tightly while the train rushed by. We never wanted to get that close to a moving train - and we hope never to do so again. Thank God a local came and helped us to lift the bike over the barrier. Three of us made it. We were done and looked forward to find a soft bed and a warm shower in Piding. But the hostel search turned out difficult: Most signposted guest rooms had been given up and the one still existing hostel occupied up to the roof. In the second one we seemed to have more luck: There was still a single room available. Well, we already knew from experience that it would work out and were happy to finally rest. But for the landlord this was definitely not an option. He phoned all the pensions in the area for 20 minutes in order to get only cancellations and then sent us away anyway. No bed is apparently better than a narrow bed … We rejected his suggestion to pedal back towards Reichenhall after our experiences and pedalled hard to reach the next village Aufham. At a quarter past 8 we reached it and the Weber family had much more understanding for tired cyclists. While we were having dinner, Mrs Weber prepared the holiday apartment for us, which was vacant for the weekend due to the bad weather. We can only recommend the Pension Weber very warmly: very nice people, cosy & clean rooms and rich breakfast with homemade cheese and on Sunday a glass of sparkling wine. The innkeeper opposite surprised us with Hortobagy pancakes and Szhomlauer Nockerl. We hadn’t expected such good Hungarian cuisine in the middle of Bavaria. The fact that we had to wait much longer than the neighboring tables for food, fit simply only too well to the day.

The next day we learned that it can rain just as mich in Bavaria as in the Salzkammergut. From early in the morning until late in the afternoon it was rqining continuously. We wanted to subject our rain gear to a stress test. We started cycling motivated. It could become only better than yesterday … we thought at least …. after not even 20 km we heared a loud bang like a pistol shot. Our rear tire had no air. In the pouring rain Matthias wanted to repair the hose, but he found out that the coat was broken and that the hose would be damaged immediately if we continued riding. We looked at the map and found out: we had 11 km left to get to Traunstein, the next city. It was Sunday, no help was in sight and the number of the tourist office of Traunstein, which was written in our travel guide, was not valid any more. We had no choice but to push. Matthias repaired the coat with cardboard and put in a new hose, the panniers came back on the bike and the fat Berta on Matthias back and off we went on foot to Traunstein. Alternating we pushed Düsi or it pulled us downhill. Around 16.00 o’clock we arrived completely soaked. An older gentleman led us to the best address in the village: Parkhotel 1888. Why not after such a day? He also told us where we could repair the bike the next day and in which brewery on the town square you could eat well. His recommendations were all correct. Freshly showered and well rested, we ate two soups and three main courses to the waitress’s astonishment - we can recommend baked spleen sausage - and were sure: Now it can only get better!