Campsite was cheap enough. About €18.
Rode north alongside the lake. Traffic was awful. Turned off east and picked up the B307 to Oberaudorf on the Germany Austria border. Until we'd cleared Schliersee, traffic was painful. Non stop Austrians and roadworks and traffic lights. The lights at the roadworks were insane. Must of been waiting 15 minutes for a green. It was the same when we had to cross a railway line. We waited about 15 minutes and then a tiny local train rolled past. Those guys need a boot up the backside. The swearbox was overflowing.
There was a sneaky speed camera van in a layby but forward facing so no concern. The camera was poking out of a flap in the roof. Cheeky buggers. Clear of Schliersee everything opened up nicely and traffic started flowing again. The roads were brilliant.
Continued east along border to Berchtesgaden and Obersalzberg to visit the Eagles Nest. Or Hitlers hidey hole as Catherine calls it. It was actually his tea room. Probably not as expensive as Bettys but it couldn't of been far off. Very plush. You have to take a bus ride from the car park up to the entrance. To access the house you walk through a long tunnel in the mountain to a brass elevator which then takes you way up to the house. The same way the big man and everyone else had to get up. Views of the Alps from the nest are apparently unrivalled. We'll take their word for it. When we visited there was low cloud and mist. Visibility was probably about 50 feet. The trip was a nice little detour though and definitely worth doing.
We left the hidey hole and popped into Salzburg, about 20 minutes up the road. Catherine had visions of splashing in fountains and skipping through green meadows. What you actually get is a big congested city full of tourists and Austrian drivers. Salzburg itself is lovely though. There's some pretty impressing buildings and monuments.
The most impressive thing we saw was definitely the cute lass in see-through leggings getting all flustered with a flat tyre on her Passat. She pulled up right in front of us while we were sat on the bike planning our next move. Normally I'd have been happy to help but time was really pressing on.
The other slightly mad thing around these parts is the traffic lights. Pedestrians and cyclists press the button to make the man go green but everyone gets the green light at the same time - traffic, pedestrians and cycles. You'll be turning right at some lights and a cyclist will shoot across your path, and they've got right of way. I really didn't get that. Either sort it out or do away with it.
We took the autobahn and went to Munich. Thoughts of huge beers and bratwurst were very tempting.
The autobahn is fantastic. It's free, although Vicky and Mikey say they're trying to push through a change over to tolls. I hope they don't. Speed limits are advisory rather than compulsory. No matter how fast you go, there will always be somebody going faster. If there's someone ahead going slower than you in the outside lane then you flash your lights as you approach them. Not aggressively. Just to signal that you're approaching and you want to get past. Nobody takes offence and the system works. If they don't move then tailgating and more flashing is the done thing.
The autobahn shreds your tyres though. An hours riding in a straight line at high speed, fully loaded, really took its toll.
Took the closest site to town centre which was still several km out. Bit of a back packers retreat. Full of them. Most with guitars. The chap on reception said the bus ran until about 10pm but it didn't turn up for us. We were gonna get the late bus in then grab a taxi back out. We fancied a bit of a blow out for Catherines last night. When the bus failed to arrive and the beer garden down the road had stopped serving food I offered to ride us into town. Catherine didn't try to talk me out me it. We headed straight for the Hofbrauhaus - the world famous beer hall. It was mint. A huge elaborately decorated hall full of beer and food and lederhosen and umpa lumpa bands and women in traditional costume. Beer came in steins - big sturdy 1l glasses, built to take a good slamming on the tables in time to the music. Food was pig and pretzels. Catherine had a couple of local speciality bratwurst with sourkrout. I had a traditional Bavarian favourite - schweinshaxn. It's pigs knuckle. And it's delicious. I was riding so didn't have any beer. Catherine said it was awful anyway and I wouldn't have enjoyed it. To be honest, she really wasn't that convincing.
They stopped serving at 11.30 so we headed back. Stopped at a little kiosk by a bridge to pick up some cold beers for a nightcap. The kiosks are dotted all over town and are really popular after hours. Useful because they open late and aren't stupidly priced. Cold bottles of beer were €1.70 a pop and worth every penny.
215 miles
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