Bavaria

[gordonyoung]

we flew to Memmingen ( a lovely small walled town) and got the train from there to Landau to do the Lake Constance cycle route . Was lovely. Also have cycled the River Main cycle from Frankfurt to Bamberg - excellent route and Bamberg is lovely and really really good beer!

[skelo]

I wouldn't go if you like beer. Virtually impossible to find drinkable beer in Bavaria.

That's why I stay North of Sheffield!

[Thehairs1970]

So, an update. Our route as we are planned at the moment.

Lindau - Fussen - Ehrwald - Landeck - Bludenz (via Silvretta High Alpine Rd) - Feldkirch - Vaduz -Lindau

Hoping to do in around 10 days.

Still struggling with campsites, particularly the Lindau to Fussen section. Most of the ones I have found are going to cost €50+. Any suggestIons?

Is there a German CTC? We have also used the Natuurkamperterrain sites in Holland. Does Germany have the equivalent?

[Steve]

The ADFC has a scheme for members to put each other up while touring ("Dachgeber"), which I used a long time ago when Neil Wheadon ran something similar for the CTC (no longer, I believe) and there was a reciprocal arrangement between the two.
There were thousands of hosts in the directory.
I don't know if you can join ADFC outside Germany.

https://www.adfc-radtourismus.de/uebern ... dachgeber/

[foxyrider]

It was 2010 when i went across the bottom of Bavaria but i expect the campsites are much the same! I stayed near Immenstadt, at Buhl am Alpsee.

Here is my diary entry for that day:-

'Wittenbach to Buhl am Alpsee via Lindau

I slept fairly well, degrees of exhaustion helping to wake to rain trying to bash its way into the tent. With the rivers roar and thunder rolling around above its not a very auspicious start to day 2.

Well I rolled into Alpsee Camping about five, tired but not beaten. Boy am I glad I decided to do the trip clockwise as today showed how unfit I am. The weather forecasters seem to of got it right as by the time I reached Arbon on Bodensee it was drying up.

I was well early for the ferry so I grabbed a coffee as I decided to miss breakfast at the site given the weather. Got on ferry to discover I was at the wrong place, still it connected with the right ferry so all was well. I got myself a snack with the idea of pushing on once I had cleared Lindau. My visit to Lindau really didn't do the place justice but it was approaching noon and there were still @ 75km to cover.

I decided to follow the book today; the route looked easy enough and for maybe 30km it was. Then we moved into more testing terrain and the heavy arrows on the route map really did produce some testing climbs. By 3 o'clock and with another 20km or so to go I spotted a bakery cum cafe and decided to adjourn for some refreshment.

Suitably refreshed I decided to take a more direct route than the guide, which quickly and with minimal fuss brought me to Oberstaufen. Not far now, tired legs were overcome and I was soon in site of my destination. Too late for the shop but I think the Stube will have a customer shortly!

To find the campsite full of triathletes was a bit of a surprise but not half as much as the succession of steep climbs that punctuated the latter half of the days ride. '


and the details i recorded of the campsite:-

Bucher's Alpsee Camping (D) 731 m
Alpsee Camping GmbH & Co
Seestraße 25
87509 Immenstadt/Bühl
Bavaria
Germany
Tel: (+49) 8323 7726
Fax: (+49) 8323 2956
E-mail: mail@alpsee-camping.de
Price €14,60

Free shower, new reception/ablutions block, shop and bar/restaurant book early! They were turning people away when I arrived. Nice site by the lakeside but not on it so no midges! Worth considering if you are in the area.

I took a loop up through Kempten on the way to Fussen as there are some nice Roman remains there, fairly benign countryside with some nice singletrack lanes as you move into the sub alpine hills towards Fussen.

'Buhl am Alpsee to Hohenschwangau via Kempten

Apart from some early morning mist - the site is next to a lake, it looks like being a good day. The camp shop has its own bread ovens so the variety of baked goods is excellent. All being well I shall be away by nine for a shorter day in the saddle. One thing I hadn't been expecting just yet was the overnight cold, I had hoped the better sleeping bag would do the job but I still ended up less than warm.

Half one and I’ve about an hours ride into Füssen so I’m breaking for some food - liver soup and of course, beer! Its not quite what it sounds, it’s actually very good and filling without being too heavy. The basis is a liver faggot in a clear soup with ball noodles/dumplings. Damn it’s hot! The temperature that is, clear blue skies, a gentle breeze and no rush.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I left the campsite virtually on the stroke of nine but due to some triathlon that was taking place I had to make a bit of a diversion to get to Immenstadt. I took the rolling road north to Kempten where my aim was to visit the APC, the partially excavated and reconstructed roman town of Cambodunum.

I didn't have high expectations and I guess the 3 euro entry was quite reasonable. I thought I might as well take in the modern town too and by comparison that was disappointing. I left to the sound of the church bells ringing for 12 noon to embark on the largely up hill route that has brought me to Nesselwang where the Bären Brau has provided the sustenance.

I had a leisurely ride on to Füssen and thence to Hohenschwangau where I easily found the Hotel Garni Schlossblick and yes you can see the castle Neuschwanstein from it.

Showered and changed, I set out on foot to revisit the 'village' that I first visited back in 2004. A gentle stroll along the bank of Alpsee then a stop at one of the numerous restaurants for pork, sauerkraut and dumpling in a cranberry sauce. One day and two new eating experiences.

One things for sure, if I keep this weather I might well need something stronger than the factor 30 sun cream I've got. Whilst I don't seem to have actually burnt I have acquired some new tan lines with a vengeance - not that I'm complaining especially after Thursday night!

The APC was pretty good value and certainly worth the detour from the book route. Once again I was caught a little by some of the climbs, oh how I wish the otherwise excellent maps had contours shown, the occasional spot height tells you very little.'

Have you got your other campsites organised? I used Riffler at Landeck and Alpencamping at Nenzing between Bludenz and Feldkirch - i can get you the details if you are interested. I didn't camp at Fussen that trip, i decided to have a comfy bed instead but previously i used the big site at Bannwaldsee about 5km east of the town and right on the lake, it was cheaper than the big resort sites closer to Fussen.

[st599_uk]

There's also a couple of cycle touring magazines in Germany that may have campsites advertised. Archies is very useful. Gasthof sometimes have a camping area attached.

As for price, make sure you're looking at Kl. Zeltplatz prices (small hiking tent) rather than Campingplatz which are for big tents/caravans.

[Thehairs1970]

Great diary!

Unfortunately I think prices have changed. Lapsed is now charging €20 pp plus €17 pitch; Baldansee is €12pp plus €12 per pitch plus taxes. Whatever happened to camping being cheap?

[Thehairs1970]

As for price, make sure you're looking at Kl. Zeltplatz prices (small hiking tent) rather than Campingplatz which are for big tents/caravans.

Good top tips. Thanks

[BerlinMatt]

A good place to camp in Germany is on the grounds of Sports Clubs. Canoe clubs are especially welcoming and you are rarely charged much more than €10 per night. Sailing clubs can also be a good bet however, some of the posher yacht clubs don't welcome sweaty cyclists. I tend to search on google for Kanuverein plus the towns near my route.
For example I searched Lindau and found this https://www.lindauer-kanuclub.de/index.php/sport . It says they are currently not open due to Covid but I would bet on that not being the case in the summer.
This strategy requires you to be touring near a body of water

[Thehairs1970]

Great tips regarding zeltplatz and canoe clubs.

However, we haven’t been able to find either. Is the region we are going to just more of a holiday one and therefore more catering to the car and camp crowd?

[foxyrider]

I usually just turn up but that only works if you arrive fairly early, certainly i wouldn't want to get to a site much after 5pm, i've never been turned away but later arrivals have. Besides which its a bit anti social to arrive later, i've seen people turn up at 9.00pm and be turned away, what do you do then? I've often ended up paying peanuts as i can pitch almost anywhere not taking up a precious big pitch but i'm afraid the trend in Germany and its neighbours has long been the pitch and per person charging.

I very often find sites through ACSI camping but another useful source are the local tourist office websites - several times they've put me onto sites that seem otherwise off grid!

I have used Kanuklubs to camp and in a similar theme, tennis clubs are often very good for food at reasonable prices

Is there anywhere in particular you are struggling with, it occurs to me that i've been through the area you are going to quite a bit and might know of sites that i've not neccesarily stayed at or stayed at on other diverse trips.