By Bike

Day 21 (24th August) – Heiterwang to Bregenz.

Today we rode west to east out of Austria, into Germany via the foothills of the Bavarian Alps, then back into Austria. We also crossed the watershed separating the basins of the Danube and Rhine rivers.

A narrow gravel track led us over a low pass into Bavaria. Then a descent through a magical beech forest to find what appeared to be good fairies dancing on the surface of a serene alpine lake.

Yes, we had arrived at the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Commissioned by King Ludwig II in 1868 and designed primarily by a stage designer Christian Jank, the castle was inspired by Ludwig’s admiration for Richard Wagner’s operas and his vision of a fairy-tale castle.

If we’d been able to go inside, we might have noticed that despite its medieval appearance, the castle featured many modern technologies for its time, including running water throughout, flush toilets, forced-air central heating, an elevator connecting the kitchen to the dining room and telephone lines!

From the castle I had a commanding view of the rolling hills and lakes of the Bavarian hinterland. The kind of country we rode through for most of the day and before venturing back into Austria.

Over the border it was another exciting descent to Bregenz, then on to our camp by the shores of Lake Constance (Bodensee).

Once part of the Roman Empire, Lake Constance is now bordered by Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Fed by the Rhine River and over 500 km² in size, it supports over 200,000 water birds and 26 different species of fish.

It was inspiring to discover that since the 1960’s when nutrient levels were exceeding high (P = 85mg/m³), all neighbouring countries have contributed to making the lake clean again (P = 5mg/m³).

According to Garmin