After three and a half weeks in Germany we set off this morning for Grabenstätt, a village just east of the Chiemsee. It’s our last full day in Germany for this tour - tomorrow we’ll be in Salzburg, and a new country.
The ride begins as it ended yesterday with a peaceful ride along the Mangfall River and the canal that parallels it. Once again we’re blessed with beautiful weather. We’ll enjoy it while we can and try not to think of those ten days of intermittent rain in the forecast just a few days ahead. The entire first half of the ride is very easy, virtually flat except for a short climb away from the Inn River after we cross it at Rosenheim. We break for lunch near the water beside the Simsee, round the north end of the lake, and then come to an abrupt change in terrain.
Don’t you just hate biking in Europe though? It seems like you’re always getting held up by some blasted train.
The second half of the ride is nothing like the first, as we bike through the gorgeous Bavarian countryside and skirt the southern edge of the Chiemsee. I’m sure there are many routes for skirting the Chiemsee, but I just picked one that looked reasonable from the map. You might look at what we chose though as probably a poor example - especially if you’re hoping to see the lake itself, which we were almost never in sight of except when we passed through Prien, where the lake just looked like a large, unattractive forest of yacht masts.
Instead, we followed a track that was for the most part unpaved and in spots hilly. One spot in particular was very hilly - about a quarter mile gravel stretch that climbed about 200 feet at a grade marked as 18%. The nice thing about this was that it was so steep that neither of us even considered trying to bike it. It was challenging enough just trying to push.
After a flat ride around the Simsee we face this beautiful but daunting hill and hope our route doesn’t take us up there.
There are some very impressive, heavily timbered old wooden structures through here. I should have stopped more often for them but I at least stopped for this door and implements.
Once up though, we were fortunately soon back on pavement for the steep downhill to the lake; and the remaining miles to our guesthouse were flat, relaxed riding. We arrived at our room about three, and after a couple of hours walked a half mile to an Italian restaurant where we were lucky enough to claim the last unreserved outdoor table.
Ride stats today: 39 miles, 1,600’; for the tour: 1,087 miles, 87,000’
Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km) Total: 1,087 miles (1,749 km)
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Suzanne GibsonI love the Chiemgau, and I think we also did that steep gravel ascent a couple of years ago. With e-support of course, but even that was hard. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Ben ParkeWell, your route along the Chiemsee did largely avoid riding near the autobahn, but the path right along the See is nice and flat and does give lots of views of the lake as I recall. You may have managed to find about the hilliest way to get there. I don’t recall any big hills when I rode through there many years ago, but I also don’t think I got to see the Simsee. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Ben ParkeI don’t recall now how we came up with this route. In general it was fine, except for that one gruesome hill. If we come this way again though, I’d probably circle the north end next time. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Ben ParkeTo Scott AndersonThere is a small road, maybe a service road, that’s not marked as a cycle route, but basically is. It sticks right close to the south side of the lake. Road noise obviously, but very flat. North side of the lake is not as direct, but I’d bet is much quieter. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
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