Berton Ride - Day 9

We woke up to an incredible breakfast that Susi had prepared: fresh eggs from their chickens, assorted breads, meats, homemade jelly, melon, and other things too numerous to mention. Wow!

After we gathered our gear, we drove about an hour and fifteen minutes to the lovely town of Füssen to begin our 42-mile ride through a part of Austria and on to Garmisch. The bike paths are incredible as they regularly turn from paved paths to gravel to sometimes dirt paths. Our rides in Germany will have substantially less elevation than our rides last week, but the routes here require us to navigate through gravel and unpaved roads, and it's easier to fall if you aren't careful. We had to stop a number of times to determine our direction to get on the correct path or road but that was just part of the fun.

The scenery was incredible: a scenic river at the foothills of the mountains. We observed families who took advantage of the beautiful day by swimming, boating or just enjoying the sun on the shoreline. We also rode along the alpine river in the forest. While the river is not near its peak we could still sense its power when we saw the fast current. When there are large rains and snowfalls the basin protects Munich from flooding.

Unfortunately, along the way my iPhone met its demise as a bottle of water spilled in my bag and I quickly learned the phone has not yet learned to swim. I wasn't able to get a replacement until Day 10, so that explains the reason for the delays in my posts. Some of you probably appreciated the break!

We made our mandatory stop at a German beirgarten along the way as we enjoyed the local brews and a little bit of strudel.

We arrived at our hotel around 6:00 pm in a village on the Loisach River called Farchant. We were greeted with sandwiches and delicious cakes. We later enjoyed dinner at a sidewalk Italian restaurant and then got some much-needed rest.