The Isar and The Rolling Hills of Bavarian Farmlands

We left Munich following the Isar river on its journey toward the Danube. This was a surprisingly beautiful ride. After passing through the heart of Munich our path brought us to the Englischer Garten. A giant public park right near downtown. The Englischer Garten is huge. Covering 3.7 square kilometers it is larger than Central Park in New York. As we rode we passed vast expanses of grass and beautiful wooded areas, all right along the Isar. After the park, the Isarradweg (Isar bike path) continued through a very large nature preserve. With no cars and just a few other cyclists and runners our minds just floated away as we rode through the quiet, peaceful riverside forest.

Somewhere along this path we found a steep trail down to a seemingly secluded rocky beach on the river. It made for the perfect lunch spot. Until one after the other, families of 4 or 5 came down to join us, that is.

We spent a cold but free night at a ghost town-trailer park near Berghofen. We've been dealing with fickle weather as fall takes hold. It had been quite warm in Munich, the air growing heavier with humidity. Then, as if someone poked the sky, rain poured for a day and a half, until the sky was vacant of clouds. The nights thereafter were dry and cold, but during the day, the sun radiated through the clear sky.

This beautiful, clear weather came just in time for us to encounter the picturesque rolling hills covered in farmland. Miles and miles of patchwork green, brown and gold were bordered by forests. This Romantic rural landscape uncluded one peculiar element, as most every farmhouse was covered with solar panels. It turns out that the government and electric companies provide generous subsidies for solar power. The farmers invest sometimes oer one million Euros to fill their barn roofs with solar panels. They can then sell any extra energy they produce to the electric company at a price higher than the normal cost for electricity.

After our journey through the little farming villages and intermittant forests we arrrived at our destination: Kelheim. This is where Paul's old foreign exchange partner from 2002 lives with his parents and sister. We arrived with a surprising knock on the door as we could only provide our hosts with an approximate arrival date due to the nature of our mode of travel.

After a warm welcome and some left-over pizza we went to bed somewhat early as we had ridden over 80 km that day.

Since then we've been enjoying comfy beds and homecooked meals thanks to our generous hosts. We even got laundry service for our poor, neglected, smelly clothes. For this we are incredibly thankful.

More to come on our excursions to Nürnberg and Regensburg later.

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