Well, not completely. The speedometer (called "tako" in German) has completely given up the ghost this morning. There is not the slightest movement. Which means the odometer isn't working. Which means I don't know how much gas I've used. Ok, so just go about as fast as everyone else and fill up often. I can't ride 240km in one stretch anyway on intermediate roads. That is about how far I can go on a tank of gas, about 16 liters. So far, I've gone about 2,000 km on this trip. Now I will have to estimate.
Today, I can put aside my old Swiss/Austrian Alps map. It covers just the right area but is often difficult to read. My ADAC 1:150000 "Blat 15" of Oberbayern actually goes all the way from Munich to Innsbruck, is easy to read with lots of detail, and is perfect for the trip to Augsburg today.
I could go by Mittlewald, but I want to do the Fernpass. (So did everyone else that day.) You have to go through the middle of Telfs to find the 189 and it is hot and crowded on this Saturday market day. But like all roads, the directions are well-marked and it's easy to find the way out. Just outside of town, I find a nice place to tank up and get something to drink. In hot weather, I keep a plastic bottle of water stuck between my windshield and instruments and drink often.
At Nassareith, you take a right onto the S14 to get to the Fernpass. It is a big road with lots of traffic, occasionally stop and go. Bikes work their way through it. But it is very pretty. At Sigmundsberg along the pass, there is a really charming resort spa with a small mountain lake that is perfect and popular.
After the pass, you go through a long tunnel (3186m) and on the other side, you are in the recreational area of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany, right on the border with Austria. This is also beautiful country and I am tempted to go in the direction of Garmish-Partenkirchen to enjoy it more, but that is very heavy tourist country. So instead, I stay on the S14/314 in Austria and head for Ruette.
There, I cut to a much smaller road in the direction of Plansee and Ammer-Sattel. This is such a good move. This small road is so great for bikes as it curves along, largely along the shore of the beautiful Plansee. At one of the small resorts with a big motorcycle parking lot, I stop for a quick lunch so I can sit and look at the lake.
Ammer-Sattel is a small hotel and the crossing into Germany. This little road goes on through a nature protection area for about another 27km until the main road, the 23. Oberammergau is only about 4km away but I resist the temptation to check it out. Instead, I just continue north towards Peiting where I connect with the 17, the "Romantic Road". There's nothing much romantic about this stretch and I continue up to Landsberg, where I stop to call Viola and let her know I'm close and to get directions to her house.
It's been cooling off, there are dark clouds, and a brisk wind is picking up. Still, the clouds are some ways off. I ask Viola if it is raining in Augsburg, and she says no, it is probably another hour. So I don't put on my rainsuit. I really really do know better.
I get about 1 km out of Landsberg and a terrific storm hits. I pull off the road behind some trees and put on my rain gear. My leathers are already wet. Back on the road, there are no other motorcycles and some of the cars are pulling off. The rain is so thick that I can just see about 3 meters ahead. The wind is blowing down temporary road markers at a construction zone and the cars that are moving are having to pick their way around them. These are substantial heavy markers. The wind is blowing hard enough to make me lean to one side. It wouldn't be so bad if it were steady but it comes in gusts and I can hardly follow the white line.
I make it into Augsburg about the time the storm abates a bit. I find another phone and get more specific directions from Viola. I end up putting the bike in her cellar and all my wet things on the landing of her stairs to dry. The map says 206.5km today.
That evening, Viola, her daughter Antje, and friends of theirs, Heuger and Corina, take me to the Kaltenberger Knights Tournament (Ritterturnier). This is somewhat like the Renaissance Fair, but times 10. People come from all over the world to watch this. It is totally amazing and fun. The tournament alone is astounding. In the course of making a spectacle with hundreds of performers and fireworks in telling a story about good fighting evil (the black knight has been doing this for 20 years and is a favorite of the crowd), the knights on horseback perform astounding athletic feats, many of which include been struck by a lance at full gallop and being thrown off of a sizable horse backwards.
Afterwards, we ate and drank our way through the booths while shopping and enjoying the entertainments,which went on until the early morning. That is, we had a really great time. (Later, Heuger burned a copy of the Corvus Corax CD for me. This is a great rock group composed of barbarians with bagpipes shouting German.)
My daughter, Lauryn, arrived by train the next day, Sunday. She had flown to Frankfurt from South Africa, where she was visiting relatives. She originally was supposed to visit a family in Berlin this week, but the father took ill, so she is with me. It's a little difficult because Lauryn doesn't speak German and Viola doesn't speak English. But it turns out ok because Antje is about the same age, is appropriately cool, and she and her boyfriend do speak English. They take Lauryn out and everyone has a good time.
Monday morning, we store what doesn't fit on the bike in the cellar, and head out for the Alps.
Part 6: The Road Back to the Alps
