23 June 2007

A day off the bikes in Lindau, Germany

As promised, Joerg and Giovanna picked us up at the campground at 8:30. The weather didn't look too promising, but we drove 74 kms to Bruck in the German Alps area called Allgau. There was a steady rain coming down, so we stopped in a small bakery and had some cake and coffee. Then we put on the rain gear and headed to the trail going to the Imberger Horn at 1656 meters. The rain stopped after about 15 minutes and we could then hike comfortably without that awful rain gear. After about an hour we made a brief stop at a family farm warming house where they had flush toilets and a farmer selling his bergkase (mountain cheese). He cut us a half kilo from a big wheel and it was tasty.
From here the real climb began. We climbed up to the first summit and then went down a bit before summitting the Imberger Horn. It was windy and cool at the top and Joerg had been hopeful the whole day that the sun would come out when we were up there, but it didn't. It had cleared considerably, though, from this morning and we had a really nice view as we enjoyed the lunch our hosts packed while sitting out of the wind.
The trail up had been quite muddy in certain parts and the trail down was the same. We took it slowly and carefully and still made it down much faster than we made it up. For the second time today we stopped for cake and coffee about 15 minutes from the end of the trail. These Europeans sure know how to hike. They have plenty of food and toilets available on their trails.
They drove us back to the campground, stopping at a supermarket for us so we could get some food for tomorrow (remember all stores are closed on Sundays). We said goodbye to our new friends that treated us like royalty. We hope that they receive such hospitality from Americans as they ride their bikes down the West coast later this summer.