Germany-Switzerland
from June 26 to June 27 2002

The taste of melted sunbeams

Sunday June 16th we cycle from Breisach over the Rhine-bridge into Germany. It's been a long time ago since we cycled over level roads, true enough with a steady headwind, but that seems to be part of cycling. We never read a story where cyclists had a following wind all the time. On the contrary: strange enough cyclists always have adverse winds, as if they have to be punished. Whereas we think that cyclists should be rewarded; cycling is healthy and environmental friendly. The god of wind must be the devils relative.
Today it's kind of puffy, warm weather. The heatwave that's holding Europe in it's grip, has spread it's tentacles to us as well. At noon, when we reach Eschbach, we plunge into a brook by the same name, and have a nice cool-down. I never want to leave the water again. Our break is extra-long because of the heat. In the afternoon we're still languid as we pedal some more kilometres. We're not going anywhere far today, it's too hot for that. In Germany it's forbidden to camp in the wild, most campsites are too expensive for our budget though. Apart from the budget we find it very hard to pay 25 Euro for a hot shower and a fancy w.c. We have no other choice then to find a quiet place to put up the tent for a quiet night. The first night in Germany we take an unpaved road right between a cherry-orchard and thousands of grape-vines. Out of sight we park our bicycles in the shadow of a big cherry-tree. We decide not to put up our tent, it's hot enough to sleep outside. We roll out our mattresses and dive into our sleepingbag. When it gets dark a whole flock of fireflies performs a true spectacle for us.

On our Michelin-map the road from Mullheim to Schonau is shown with red and yellow squares, which means unpaved. It's also green, which means that the route scores high in the scenic beauty-department. It's a splendid combination and again Peter has been looking forward to see this road with his own eyes.
We wake up at half past 5, half past 6 we're cycling. It's still early which is sensible regarding the expected heat in the afternoon. From Schweighof we cycle on the squares, but the tarmac doesn't budge. The road continuously climbs, with gradients from 5 to 9%. At 9 o'clock it's already 32 degrees Celsius, per hour we turn one litre of water into sweat. All this time we've been cycling in the shade. The exceedingly beautiful road becomes narrower, but stays tarmac.

In the descent to Schonau our speed exceeds the 70 kilometres per hour, lovely! Just like yesterday we dive into a small river and take a long lunchbreak. At night we put up our tent at river number 5 and laughingly watch each other: we're tanned, already our skin starts peeling and I'm covered with tiny blisters. After a last dive in the river we're ready to sleep another long night when Peter discovers a tick on his left calf. The first tick of his life. At least we haven't bought the tick-remover in vain: carefully Peter sees fit to painlessly remove the profiteer.

We're on our way to Schaffhausen in Switzerland to admire Europe's largest waterfall. The last two days we spend in Stuhlingen, at the river Wutach. Our track leads us through the most southern part of the Black Forest. It's green everywhere and after 20 kilometre we hear the roar of thundering water. Peter has been here about 30-years ago, the waterfall hasn't lost any of it's charm in the meantime. We cycle all possible roads leading to the thundering beauty, so we can observe it from all sides.

The twisting backroads lead us to Germany, Switzerland, Germany again. You can visit a whole lot of countries in one day this way. It's the cherry-season and we eat our bellies full. One tree looks even more attractive then the other. It's a miracle we manage to cycle 90 kilometres today with all those cherry-stops. In Allensbach, at the Bodensee, we have a restless night thanks to a lot of weekend-visitors who spent the whole night partying.

In Lindau we visit some beautiful Catholic and Evangelic churches the following day. Just like the cathedral in St. Blasien these churches are richly decorated. On a bench at the lakefront we hold the German championship cherry-stone-spitting. We win.

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We cycle further eastwards, the Alps have appeared on our right-hand-side. Gradually we climb higher and higher until we spot our first blob of snow on a mountain in the distance. After we cycled past the delicious cherry-orchards, now it's strawberry-time. For all to see and reach, without fences, electric wire or armed guards, that's asking for trouble. The trouble, that's us! After a while we can't restrain ourselves anymore and carefully shuffle on to a strawberry-field. The warm fruit almost melts on our tongues, the taste is summersweet. We hang around a little bit more, and more… All the sunlight of the last weeks seems to be transformed in these full gratifying bloodred fruits. So, this is the taste of melted sunbeams…

In Aach we're having a quiet day, swim in the pool filled with ice-cold mountainwater and walk to Austria, that's 500 metre away. And back, because it's not Austria's turn yet.
From Aach we go to Schwangau. For the first time since our departure the temperature is quite pleasant, I think. The whole day it's about 25 degrees Celsius, an ideal temperature for cycling. I feel that cycling is a lot easier in this 'cold'. According to Peter I brag that my legs are very good this day. Quickly he cheques the map to find a really steep climb to punish such intolerant behaviour, but can't find one. Pfff, am I lucky!
In Immenstadt we visit church number … I don't know how much. This one's also worth the visit, but we have to stop visiting and photograph all those churches: we're no evangelists!
Via pretty little roads along the Gruntensee and Weissensee (which are lakes and no seas at all) we arrive in Schwangau. Here the campsites are aimed at families with children and dogs, therefore too expensive for us. After searching for a while we find a nice and quiet spot between a forest and a grassy hill, with a magnificent view on the surrounding mountains. We're nice and tired of all the endeavours and after eating our dinner our eyelids feel a lot heavier. At eight o'clock all lights are out.

The Bavarian king Ludwig II - in a wave of self-love - decided to build a castle in 1869, on a hill at the foot of Mount Stauling. The castle had to be more beautiful and spectacular than anything that already existed. Instead of the usual architects he hired stage designers from a theatre. Their assignment was to create something of incredible beauty. They started working and were still working 17-years later. The castle has the shape of something out of a fairy-tale: shining white and countless towers and turrets. King Ludwig's family were less and less pleased with his whims and plotted a trick. Rumours were spread that the king's mental condition was - to say the least - very unstable, the king was ill. Under these pretexts the king was brought to another castle, near to Munchen. Here he drowned the next day, under suspicious circumstances. The building-activities were stopped, running orders - like the golden throne inlaid with ivory - were cancelled.
We walk in and around the castle, it indeed is like walking in a fairy-tale. Everywhere you see gorgeous ornaments, stylish panelling, elegantly arched ceilings, enormous wooden staircases with fancy woodcarving. The highlight is the King's four-poster bed: completely fashioned out of skilfully carved wood, with hundreds of Gothic turrets on the vault of the roof. A true pleasure to look at, from all positions.

The next day is our last in Germany (and part of Austria). And a fine day it is: cycling along the Plansee, over a wide and level road, just like a delicious dessert after a heavy meal. Via the Devilsvalley we climb to Ettal and Garmish Partenkirchen. As long as we can remember, we've always watched the ski-jumping from this place on the first of January. We're standing at the foot of the enormous ski-redoubt and try to picture ourselves going down it at an incredible speed on your skies. Well, we'd rather cycle.

We spend our last night on an illegal campsite in the vicinity of Krun. It seems that Germany is eager to let us go: we're being chased away by thunderstorms and a lot of rain. The temperature drops quickly far below 20 degrees Celsius.
Auf wiedersehen to you too.