Day 21 - Sat 20 Jun 15: Muhldorf am Inn to Simbach am Inn
Estimated km: 46; Actual km: 50; Total km: 960; Ride time: 3h05m; Start time: 8:30am; End time: 1:35pm; Av speed: 16 kph
8-14 deg C, cloudy and cool (in some parts quite cold!) with showers/drizzle all the way nearly.
The quiet hotel out of
town, away from traffic and crowds, ensured we had a good night sleep last
night.
A hearty brekkie with two busloads of tourists at 7:30am and we were on the road by 8:30am. As if on cue, the light rain started and the temp dropped to about 8 deg C. So we stopped, just after we started, to don a layer of wet-weather-gear. On we went into the light rain. A mix of paths (both gravel & bitumen) along the Inn River, quiet back roads, or great off-road cycle paths filled the day. A stiff tailwind pushed us along nicely and the km clicked over fairly easy. The coffee/bakery options were fairly scarce but we managed to sniff one out at the little town of Marktl which pleased the caffeine and pastry addicts. By then we only had 10 odd km to go so we skipped the lunch stop in favour of a warm, dry hotel room. A really efficient lady booked us in, locked our bikes away and in no time at all we were warm, dry and fed (spoils from breakfast).
A planned afternoon ride around the area had to be cancelled due to the rather nasty showers and thunder storms that were coming through at regular intervals. Lucky for us this motel (Motel Inn Simbach) is brand new (6weeks old) has a combo coffee shop / restaurant / bakery on the ground floor and a supermarket next door. So we could lounge around, drink coffee, eat cake, get drunk (as if) and then stagger up to bed virtually under one roof. We'll blame the weather for the perceived lack of activity.
The main reason we are stopping here is for Gunther to re-visit where his parents and older siblings used to work and live. In fact we are staying in Simbach, Germany (due to the hotel availability) while Braunau is a couple of km or so across the river in Austria. Braunau just happens to be the birth place of a bloke we've heard a lot about over the last couple of weeks, Adolf Hitler.
After picking up some
wine and beer (both cheaper than drinking bottled water) from the Aldi style
supermarket next door for our pre-dinner tipple which we had in a lounge area
of the foyer, we then had to walk a whole 10m through the connecting door of
the bakery/restaurant for a lovely schnitzel and potatoes. After dinner, a wander down the road and
back in reasonably warm sunshine completed another great day on tour. Tomorrow
it's into Austria to explore Gunther's family past.
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