A Bavarian Stroll
Today was our last day in Bavaria – tomorrow, we move on to Austria. So, we went for a walk, courtesy of a new app we’ve just discovered; Komoot.
When out walking back home, we use OSMaps to find our way around. When we are in foreign climes – such as visiting ports when on cruise ships – we swear by Maps.Me. Komoot offers walking routes based around a chosen location (or the location of the phone), and can be customised according to filters assigned by the user (preferences such as maximum length of walk, road or off-road routes, maximum height climbed, difficulty, that sort of thing). It was Tracey who stumbled across it initially, and I must admit I was a little sceptical at first (Maps.Me takes some beating), but I have to say; it’s good. The mapping is clean and clear, and routes are fully editable and saveable. A premium version of the app gives you lots of extra features, but the free version seems to do everything we need, for now at least.
Komoot provided us with a circular route just over 6 miles in length, starting direct from the campsite, which took us along some really good paths. The scenery varied between woodland paths and wide open, rolling meadows bursting with wild flowers, I can only describe it as being what I might imagine as being ‘typically Bavarian’, complete with the sound of cow bells.
The paths were all well maintained, of course, with thoughtfully positioned, frequent benches to rest upon and small wooden shelters. We came across a small, quaint-looking chapel, which also turned out to be a war memorial. Lunch was in a particularly idyllic spot, overlooked by the ever-present Zugspitze mountain range, and with the village of Grainau nestling in the valley below.
Our route took us around the outside of Badersee – a small lake full of massive fish – and the weather stayed good right up until it wasn’t. We’d had a few spots of rain when we were sat eating lunch earlier, but as we left Badersee, it started to become noticeably more persistent. As we approached civilisation, it started thundering and lightning, and we ended up huddled under an information shelter, watching the rain and enjoying the sound of thunder cracking overhead.
A nearby building that seemed like a sport centre of sorts, provided us with further shelter and warmth for a while, but eventually we decided to make a run for it and headed towards the centre of Grainau, finally finishing up in a small bar where we sat out the rest of the storm with a couple of beers for me and a coffee and a very generous slice of cheesecake for Tracey.
We had planned to spend a little more time exploring Grainau, since we thought it looked a particularly nice place when we’d passed through it yesterday on the bus. However, the change in the weather had dampened our spirits somewhat, so we picked up the trail we’d been following again, and headed back to our starting point.
Back at the campsite we stocked up on food supplies in the nearby Aldi and had beefburgers and chips for tea, which was lovely. As we sat under the canopy watching the light slowly fade on the mountains, Tracey said that she was going to miss the view. A sentiment with which I totally concur.
