The Epic Ride Part VI: Germany

We entered Germany halfway through a tunnel that cut through a mountain; all of a sudden there was a sign on the wall with the EU symbol and a D underneath, and we were there. The Romantische Strasse begins not far from the border, just outside a town called Fussen, at the Neuschwanstein Castle. The Castle is better known as the Disney castle because it’s what Disney based their castle on. It was incredibly busy, being a beautiful Saturday afternoon but we managed to follow the signs and then get a park in a gigantic carpark. Toby changed his boots so he’d be more comfortable walking around and then we sat at an overpriced restaurant and ordered some lunch which we ate in the sun. At the table next to us was a young Australian woman with a baby and some Muslim women who I think were her sisters in law and perhaps a mother in law; she said hello to us later as she had recognised our accents. I noticed her particularly because her husband was on the outing but did not join the females at the table; he did however manage to get into some kind of altercation with an American man outside the restaurant later. A strange set of events.

After lunch we went to figure out how we could get up the hill to visit the castle; once we found the visitor’s centre we realised we were up for a fairly hefty entrance fee so instead we decided to just take the shuttle bus up the hill to get a closer look. We got a very crowded bus up the very steep, windy hill with me reminding myself that the driver did this all day and I was perfectly safe. I was really glad we went up though; the castles were very impressive and the views from the bridge were really magnificent. There was a rather strange story about how the castle was built by a Bavarian prince who decided he wanted a castle based on those from the Middle Ages, so he demolished the existing castle which was from the Middle Ages and built a prettier one. Such a modern outlook from the prince. It was a pretty cool excursion.


We got the bus down the hill and stopped for some ice cream which we ate in the rain (for a change). Then back to the bike and we tried to figure out how to get onto the Romantische Strasse. I had seen a sign just before the carpark that implied we were already on it so we decided to keep following the road and luckily we spotted another such sign. We took a wrong turn at one point and ended up in a random carpark but we were soon back on the Strasse which wound its way through fairly flat countryside, with the occasional mosey into a more interesting area. All in all, the Romantische Strasse was a major disappointment for us. We could have stopped at the tourist information area at the castle and picked up a guide, but instead we decided to just follow the signs, which was our mistake. The idea of the Strasse is that it links interesting historical sights, not that it actually contains the sights. This was our mistake. We did go through some pretty towns but in general we were not impressed. We spent the first night camping in a reasonable enough site with a pretty lake, where I had a cold shower and therefore was quite miserable.

The next day was wet of course, and in the afternoon we were having problems finding anywhere to camp so decided to choose the next zimmer frei we came across. It happened to be a little pub in a tiny village; it didn’t look particularly welcoming or even open, but we were wet and tired and not sure how much further we had to go before we'd find something better. So we stopped and went past a group of people drinking on the verandah and asked a man inside for a zimmer frei. He took us past the pub and up a set of stairs where we immediately felt as though we were in someone’s home. Someone’s home that hadn’t been cleaned in a long, long time. There was general stuff everywhere, like buckets and brooms and jackets. It looked like they were moving house. He showed us to a big room at the front that had a shower and sink in the corner (note I didn’t say ensuite) and one of those big old black leather beds from the 1980s with a digital clock radio actually built in. There was a second smaller room at the end with twin beds. We looked at each other, trying not to laugh or grimace, and asked how much. I believe it was 40 euros including breakfast, so we said ok and went downstairs to get our stuff. I don’t know who the man who showed us the room was; the rest of the time we ended up dealing with the owner, an older man who had no English at all. They were kind enough to open up their garage so we could keep the bike out of the rain. Once we had all our things upstairs I decided to use the toilet before we went out again; I went outside the room and asked an old lady sweeping in the hallway where the WC was and she pointed at a door in the corner. Well if the rest of the place felt like someone’s home, the toilet was no different. It seemed to be toilet and laundry in one and I have no idea how long it had been since someone cleaned it. I was slightly nervous about catching a disease; none of the campsites we’d visited had been anywhere near so filthy.

We went for a walk around the village, which consisted of a few houses and a church on the hill where I think we interrupted the ending of a fete of some kind. There was nowhere to buy food so we decided to eat at the zimmer frei, where we had gigantic schnitzels and beers for 16 euros or so. It was all cooked by an old lady (different to the sweeper) who I assumed was the owner’s wife; the owner liked to serve us our meals and make sure everything was ok. The group of people stayed outside drinking but I don’t think they ever ate. I sent mum a message saying we were staying in a really filthy pub but otherwise were okay; I think I was almost afraid we’d go missing and was thinking it would be good if someone knew roughly where we were. On the other hand, we’d been so lucky with our accommodation and figured we should push our comfort levels a bit so it was an adventure in that sense. And really, from what we could tell with our rudimentary German and their English, the owners really were nice people, missing teeth notwithstanding. In the morning as we were riding out of the carpark the man came running out of the front door, camera in hand, and got us to wave for his photo. ‘Bye bye,’ he kept calling to us, waving. It was kind of sweet. I’d love to go back one day and see if we made it onto the wall of the pub, where I’d assumed the photos of guests were some kind of celebrities.


We got as far north as Wurzburg the next day and went straight to the tourist information office at the train station to find accommodation. I say ‘straight’ when in actual fact it involved the GPS and going round and round in circles, complete with yelling at each other through helmets to discuss directions. Yes, things were still stressful. The tourist office was really just a window with all the accommodation listed but it did the job and we put the addresses into the GPS to try and find one of the campsites. There was a bunch of kids who looked old enough to know better drinking and carrying on just outside the train station so we weren’t that keen on staying around much longer. We managed to find our first choice of campsite easily enough; it was quite a pretty spot next to the river and far enough from the city that there wasn’t too much traffic. Inside the office was a bunch of pamphlets including several for the Romantische Strasse, showing the route and where to get off and where to stay. Wow, that would have been helpful three days ago. Wurzburg was actually the last stop; we’d managed to do the entire Romantische Strasse without seeing anything.

We got set up for the night and Toby went for a walk along the river while I put some music on and tried to read my book while we calmed down from our stressful afternoon. For dinner we went to the on-site restaurant and ordered pizza and beer. We were soon overrun by everyone else at the site who were there to watch the Germany vs Austria game in the Euro Cup. That was a fun night with emotions running high throughout the restaurant. We were trying to do our laundry at the same time so at one point I went outside to check on it; someone had pulled all our clothes out and left them on top of the dryer while they used it. I was so cranky especially as they were still so damp. We got it back eventually and once we’d had enough of the soccer we decided to play some table tennis in the shed with the laundry so we could make sure no one else interrupted our very important washing.

In the morning we decided to re-think our route. We’d exhausted the Romantische Strasse and weren’t sure we wanted to continue much further north since Toby was quite keen to have some more time in the south of France. On the other hand, we needed to get north eventually. We eventually decided we wanted some more mountain riding and decided to head south for Switzerland; Toby was quite keen for a ride on an autobahn so we were going to use the motorways instead of the secondary routes we’d been on so far.

The autobahn was fantastic, terrifying fun; I got off the bike feeling as though my skin had rearranged itself over my face. The incredible thing was how fast people were going; we were going fast enough but there were still quite a few people in their Porsches who were easily overtaking us. It wasn’t the easiest way to travel as it was never really clear when it changed from speed limit to no speed limit; it was a bit nerve-racking but we were both glad we’d made the effort to find one. I think Toby was keen to leave me by the side of the road for a while so he could really let loose, but that was never really a practical option. And I would have been really mad.

We stopped for petrol and it turned out we’d both been thinking how silly it was that we were heading for Switzerland when really we needed to be moving north. What a waste of time and petrol, we said to each other. Never mind. We got back on the road and stayed in the same direction; when we stopped next for lunch we decided it really was a stupid thing to be doing, so after we’d eaten we turned back and decided to head for Freiburg since it was near the border of Germany and France and looked big enough.

And all of a sudden, Germany started looking more interesting. The ride into Freiburg was stunning, through forested mountains and along lots of nice windy roads. We had a small drama when we first arrived by somehow ending up in a pay parking lot; I forget why but this was absolutely not what we wanted and we ended up leaving very quickly without paying by riding through the space between the barrier and the wall. I should say we tried to pay, but because we’d been there for such a short period of time, the machine wouldn’t accept our ticket and nor would the barrier machine. And hoping their security cameras were busy looking at other things as we did so. Finally we managed to park near the tourist information office, which was in the pretty town centre, and this is when we discovered that Freiburg was in the middle of the Black Forest. No wonder it was so magnificent. We decided we wanted a hotel for the night and managed to book a place through the office; when they found out we were on a bike they even gave us a special tour map showing suggested routes for motorbikes.


The hotel was a short ride out of the town centre, just off a fairly major road. It was actually an old pub/restaurant that had been done up, with rooms upstairs. We’d specifically wanted wi-fi and this hotel was the only one that offered it and wasn’t charging a fortune. Unfortunately you get what you pay for, so we didn’t manage to get wi-fi the whole time we were there. (Toby of course knew how to fix it but the guy at the desk was entirely uninterested in the fact that an advertised service was unavailable, so we didn’t offer.) The room was quite nice and overlooked the ‘beer garden’ and a church. There was a TV and a big bed and as Toby wasn’t feeling well, we decided we would stay two nights. Freiburg looked like a nice place to explore and we were ready for a bike-free day.

I left Toby to rest and went for a walk up the road to find some food; luckily I found an Aldi and could stock up on items for a picnic dinner in our room. I remember making cheese and ham sandwiches on greasy bread and passing them across the bed for Toby to eat. German TV had a lot more English available so I think we watched a movie that night as well, and generally took it easy. In the morning we arranged to stay an extra night and then walked into town for an explore. Freiburg was a lovely place, with lots of tanned Germans riding around on their bikes, pretty buildings and public spaces. It’s a university town and did have that young, buzzy vibe about it. We did a bit of shopping and ate yummy sandwiches sitting on the window sill of a public square, people watching.

After lunch we decided to visit the Augustiner museum; unfortunately it was going through some renovations and we didn’t get to see much; we also annoyed the security guard by not understand where to go. But they had some really interesting and beautiful religious paintings and other items so it was a worthwhile detour. We made our way back to the hotel for a rest and then for dinner we ate in the beer garden of the hotel; it was a lovely warm evening and lots of people had the same idea as us, to eat and drink in the sunshine. We tried our best to translate and order from the all-German menu but the waitress had to step in using English at a point when I tried to order some pasta and what I thought was a salad. It wasn’t a salad; I’ve no idea what it was but I got the impression I was ordering two main meals. My pasta was a traditional German noodles in white sauce with cheese on top and grilled; absolutely delicious and very, very decadent. It was the only vegetarian item I could figure out on the menu but it was definite comfort food. We ended up getting a salad with the meal anyway so no wonder the waitress thought I was a bit greedy. Most of the people around us looked like workmates at after work drinks but there were a few people nearby who didn’t fit into that stereotype. When they were leaving, one of them decided to put on a show and started yelling at everybody as he left; it was like being in civic again. We asked the waitress what he was yelling about and she said she couldn’t understand him. I don’t know if that’s true but it was kind of nice to see that crazy is a universal.