Day 2: Steingarten (Tyrol) to Schwangau (Bavaria)

September 24, 2021

Let's start the day with a picture out of the hotel window. I wanted to post this at the same time other moon shots were appearing on CycleBlaze journals, but I have gotten behind.

Another glorious day as had been predicted. The air has a definite autumn chill but the strong sun compensates. We haven't quite finished our climb from yesterday yet and it's another three kilometers on a rough path before we begin to descend. Smoother paths come but we still had some descents that were on gravel. After working your way up, it's a disappointment when you can't fly down the hill but have to grip your brakes instead.

Beautiful views all day - This must be Bichlbach

Now some shots on our way to Reutte where we cross the Lech.

Lots of this kind of surface, firm and not too much gravel.

No, I don't want to walk across that bridge. They have made quite a tourist attraction out of the castle ruins at Klause.

While we are riding through this beautiful countryside there is a subplot to the story. I thought long about whether I should include it or not, but it is part of the trip. At the risk of sounding like someone who always has health problems, here goes. Yesterday I had stomach cramps, but not too bad, not worth mentioning. A good night's sleep, I thought. And I did feel fine in the morning. Around noon I noticed I wasn't fine. I had more cramps and was in a big hurry to find a WC. I barged into a bike shop and they kindly let me use their private john. I was grateful and gladly dropped a few Euros into their Kaffeekasse. We also found a pharmacy that was open at noon, not to be taken for granted, and got some Imodium and Buscopan for the cramps. We rested a while, I ate a little rice pudding and soon I was feeling better.

After Reutte the path was basically flat and again a pleasure to ride. About eight kilometers before we reached Schwangau we crossed back into Germany, and again no border was visible in any way.

There must be a story to this picture with the Tyrolean flag

I spied my lucky number and it was photogenic enough to stop for a picture.

The Lech and view to Schwangau, home of Neuschwanstein.

Since we planned this trip at the last minute, there weren't a lot of hotels to choose from. Tonight's lodgings were definitely out of our acceptable price range, but we asked ourselves, should we give up the trip because of one hotel that is too pricey? No! Since I was feeling a bit tired from my stomach problem and little food, I was definitely looking forward to a bit of luxury.

Neuschwanstein, the fairy tale castle built by King Ludwig II, can be reached from Schwangau which makes the town a magnet for tourists. We even had a view to the castle from our room. Can that explain the price we paid? Otherwise the room was the simplest to be found, and it didn't even have internet!

Neuschwanstein in the evening from our window

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Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 86 km (53 miles)

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Nancy GrahamI am playing catch-up here and finally getting to read your blog for this trip. I love the photo of your lucky number, and all your photos really. Sorry you were feeling poorly for a bit, but sounds like you had a good fix for it.
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