Riding the Kunstschleife
Finishing the Wasser Radlwege Oberbayern Series
The cycling season is definitely underway! In early May, we got lucky with great weather for an excellent 3-day cycling trip. This ride took us from home (around Munich) to Oberammergau down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then past the epic, crystal-clear blue Walchensee lake, back to Bad Tölz. Day 3 saw us heading back towards Munich, following the Isar river. If you got 3 days of time and know how to cycle - this is a recommendation!
This trip was an easy one, especially since I took part in the Wings for Life Flagship run in Munich the very next day. It's definitely not comparable to the TransAlp challenge coming up, but more on that later.
The "Kunstschleife" is one of three recommended tours known as the "Wasser Radlwege Oberbayern", all starting near Munich.
I've now completed all three. Two years ago, the "Hopfentour" went north from Munich into the hops region. Back then, I was still keen on home-brewing and enjoyed visiting the hops museum and learning about beer. Last year was the "Salzschleife," heading southeast. We rode down to Rosenheim, east towards Freilassing near the Austrian border (close to Salzburg), and back up to Mühldorf.
This year was the "Kunstschleife," the final one (see details on Komoot). We covered about 90 km each day with some moderate climbs. The riding was great, filled with good conversations, and we enjoyed trying local food at restaurants in the evenings. In Oberammergau, we were joined spontaneously by two more friends, Andre and Tobias, which was a real bonus.
Planning for these trips usually starts months ahead, and most of us book hotels early to get good deals. After a full day of cycling, there's nothing better than a nice hotel bed. We even had a sauna on the third night, which was perfect for recovery.
Here are some highlights from this year's tour:
Day 1: We stumbled upon a huge miniature model train garden. We went in and spent time exploring all the funny, strange scenes they had created.
Also Day 1: We spent ages looking for an ice cream shop rated 5 stars on Google Maps. Turned out it was an ice cream machine! Still, the ice cream was amazing.
Riding through awesome landscapes with cows around, just enjoying conversations in the sun.
That great dinner in Oberammergau with Andre and Tobias joining us – meeting up like that spontaneously was brilliant (see image above).
Day 2: A stop right at the famous ski jumping facility in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A good break before a tough climb.
Walchensee was truly epic. That crystal-clear blue water in such a landscape! I had to jump in. It was quite fresh, but worth it.
Later on Day 2: Sun, non-alcoholic beer, and great company at a hill-top beer garden. Hard to describe, but it was an unforgettable experience.
Day 3 was a bit cloudy with some rain, but riding back to Munich along the Isar was still great. We rode alongside some wooden floating boats on the river, which was cool to see.
By the time you're reading this, I'll have completed a TransAlp cycling tour (see Komoot plan here). Stay tuned for the report on that!