The Romantic Road I - 2 August 2009

Forsaking our country idyll and its tuneless bovine chorus we headed back to Fussen and the castles. There is a wonderful view to be had overlooking Neuschwanstein Castle but the guide book told us it was a 2-hour round trip from Marienbrucke and the driving instructions for the day we were here previously said it was a full day's drive so we did not attempt to fit the two-hour walk into that day. As it turned out, we were misled on both counts. It was not a full day's drive and we made it up to the view, took our photos and were back to the bridge in 50 minutes this morning.

Unfortunately we did not start from the bridge, we had to make the climb from the village once again and because we did not want to pay the high car-park charges we parked a little way out of the village making the whole trip car to view and return in two hours of energetic walking.


While that view was “energetic” the next was restful and contemplative as we stopped at the Wieskirche. This World Heritage site is a riot of Baroque decoration gone totally over the top.


A statue of Christ supposedly wept in 1765 and the humble little chapel that held the statue could not cope with the crowds of pilgrims that flocked to see the statue so the church fathers commissioned a new, larger church; the building of which coincided with the height of the Baroque fashion. It is absolutely amazingly astonishingly astounding.

These two sites lie at the southern end of the Romantic Road and it was this that we followed for the rest of the day; stopping at Landsberg am Lech, Freidberg, Augsberg and Donauworth of which Freidberg was not worth the detour. Other towns at the southern end of the Romantic Road were just drive-bys.

Of the ones we stopped at, Lansdsberg am Lech was the nicest although they all would have looked better in the sunlight rather than in the intermittent rain.

The Black Forest - 1 August 2009

This morning we bade farewell to our companions for the last week on the car tour and and set off on our own to explore Germany. After crossing the Rhine back into Germany we took the autobahn to Baden-Baden to find the beginning of the Black Forest High Road as all the guide books, and some of our fellow drivers from last week, highly recommended it.

The first stop was Mummelsee, a tiny lake at the top of a pass, again recommended in the guide books but we thought it a highly over-rated, tacky tourist stop-off so we drove a little further down the hill to the next cafe as we thought we had better sample the local Black Forest gateau; it was, frankly, disappointing; we have had bettter in Auckland.

It was not long until we arrived in Freudenstadt, the end of the Black Forest High Road; we were totally under-whelmed by the drive, there are many better forest drives in NZ, bur I guess these things are all relevant to one's previous experiences.

But, getting off the tourist route, things did get better. The next stop was at a stunningly beautiful town, Shiltach. The old half-timbered buildings in the centre of this medieval town, nestled in a valley, were at their best in the glorious sunshine.


Schramberg, our next stop, was not worth the detour so we pressed on to Rottweil, which definitely was worth a detour. Home of the Rottweiller dog; the old town centre is a pleasure to walk around.

Then it was time to hit the autobahn for a high speed run down to Bodensee on the Swiss/German/Austrian border to visit Meersburg. Meersburg is built up the cliffs from the lake shore and has a lower town, an upper town, several castles and squillions of tourists arriving by car, ferry, lake steamers and possibly even by zeppelin, as there was one flying overhead. There are two zeppelin museums nearby and also the Dornier museum so clearly aviation has played a large part in the recent history of the area.

But, it was time to find a campsite for the night. Optimistically, we tried a few dotted along the lake shore but they were all full so we set our sights further afield and headed out into the countryside. Quite how far out we had not bargained for! The road became not much more that a private driveway and when we finally arrived at Reidholz, the only sound was the the cow-bells tolling (all night). We discovered that we had arrived on the night of the annual village feast so during the evening we were serenaded by Bavarian music until the wee small hours.

Stelvio Tour, Day 7 - 31 July 2009

Today the route took us out of Switzerland and briefly into Germany, to have a small taste of the Black Forest, before entering France.

We choose to take a diversion to Strasburg, before arriving at our hotel in Colmar.

Strasburg has a beautiful old centre, with a large cathedral, and two squares. But best of all is Petit France, which is an area of waterways, and picturesque old half timbered buildings.

Colmar is like a miniature size Strasburg, and its picturesque area is called Petit Venice.

Stelvio Tour, Day 6 - 30 July 2009

After two days of solid mountains passes, Thursday was scheduled as a rest day. We took advantage of this to leave the MG at the hotel, and joined others in the party on a circular tour, taking in the best of the area. The first leg of out tour was a boat service to Lucerne. It made many scheduled stops at tiny villages around the lake, and almost two hours later, arrived in Lucerne.

The main feature of Lucerne is their two old bridges, the most attractive being the 14th century Chapel Bridge. After admiring these, and having a delicious lunch, we climbed the wall fortifications and two towers in the walls.

Time for stage two of the tour, the local bus to the cable car terminus. From here, there are three stages of cable car. After stage two, most of the group choose to take a diversion, and go tobogganing down the mountain side. The toboggans run in a chute, and at the bottom, the driver, plus toboggan, are towed backwards to the top.

The final cable car ride, took us to the top of the mountain, but unlike the previous two days, we were in the cloud, and unable to see the apparantly marvellous views. But the best was yet to come, from the top we decended in the steepest cog railway in the world. It is an amazing 35 minute ride, with gradients that get to 48%, and a brilliant way to end the fun day.

Stelvio Tour, Day 5 - 29 July 2009

Could we have two perfect sunny days in a row, driving alpine passes? Yes, it appears we could: today was another wonderful mainly cloudless, hot, sunny day. Leaving St Moritz we popped over a barely noticable pass, the Majola (Pass 7: 5955ft,1815m) before crossing into Italy and heading over the Spluga Pass (Pass 8: 6932ft, 2113m) where we crossed back in to Switzerland. Avoiding the main road we also avoided the San Bernardino Tunnel, instead taking the San Bernardino Pass (Pass 9: 6775ft, 2965m)

The height loss on the far side of the pass seemed much greater than the gain on the ascent as we wound down to the valley floor. Passing through a number of villages we finally turned north to tackle the Sankt Gottard Pass. This was a challenge in that there are three ways to get over the pass: a motorway; a new highway and the the old original road. It was not clear which of the last two we were meant to take, or indeed which one we were on until the road became cobbles. Surprisingly they are in the process of cobbling the entire ascent – who knows why, the cyclists must hate them for it. Eventually we rattled our way to the top and ticked off Pass 10: 6860ft, 2091m.

Down the other side we found the pretty village of Andermatt were we stopped for refreshments before setting off to climb the Furka Pass (Pass 11: 7992ft, 2436m). From the top the you can see the road snaking down, then along the valley floor and a road climbing out the far end of the valley. Was this to be our route?

Indeed it was; after driving along the valley floor we ascended the Grimsell Pass (Pass 12: 7103ft, 2165m) leaving us one last pass for the day; Pass 13, the Brunig Pass, 3307ft, 1008m, from where we headed for Alpnachstad and our hotel for the next two days.

13 apline passes in two days: not knowing the altitude of the valleys we cannot say how many metres we gained and lost over the two days and we certainly did not count the hairpin bends; but the weather was wonderful, the views were stunning and the driving experience fantastic.

Stelvio Tour, Day 4 - 28 July 2009

Today, the fun began: Matrei am Brenner is at the foot of the Brenner Pass thus our alpine passes day began immediately. We took the B182 to enjoy the drive, while alongside or above was the motorway with all the heavy trucks grinding slowly up the incline. Pass 1 was completed at 4495ft 1370m and we crossed into Italy, dropping down to Vipiteno and then on the S44 over the Passo do Monte Giovo (Pass 2: 6870ft, 2094m) and down to Merano.

From Merano we headed for Sponding where the Stelvio Pass begins. Fortunately Laurence in his TR5 and I had a fairly clear run without slow traffic in front and so enjoyed a wonderful romp up the hairpin switchbacks, a truly fantastic drive. (Pass 3: 9045ft, 2757m)

The Stelvio Pass is the second highest paved road in the European Alps and as you go over the top you skirt a corner Switzerland. The 60 hairpin bends on this pass make it one of the most challenging roads in the world.

Down the other side to Livigno before heading off over Passo di Foscagno (Pass 4: 7516ft, 2291m), Forcola di Livigno (Pass 5: 7595ft, 2315m) which took us into Switzerland; and finally over Passo del Bernina (Pass 6: 7801ft, 2378m) where we saw the Bernina Express coming down the mountain, the train we had ridden nearly 8 years ago.

And so we arrived at St Moritz, at the end of a fabulous day's driving and enjoyed a walk around the lake that we last walked on, in the middle of winter.

Yesterday the weather was wonderful but as we relived the day over dinner the thunder pealed and the heavens opened making us wonder what our alpine pass day was going to deliver. Being woken during the night with more thunder and heavy rain, we were quite apprehensive about our chances of seeing the Alps. However the scattered low clouds present when we awoke cleared quickly and we were privileged to see the Alps and drive the passes in glorious sunshine all day.

Stelvio Tour, Day 3 - 27 July 2009

As soon as the Hotel restaurant opened for breakfast we were there, ready to go, as we were on a mission this morning. We had been well advised that the way to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle was to be at the ticket office when it opened at 8 a.m. and secure a place on the first English speaking tour. So, we were duly there at the head of the queue when the ticket office opened its doors and were able to secure places on the 9:20 tour.

We climbed the hill to the Castle and enjoyed the sun and views until our tour was announced. The castle, the inspiration for Disneyland's castle and featured in a number of films is the busiest tourist attraction in Germany so it is well worth making the effort to beat the crowds. When we got back down to the village it was overrun with tourists and the car park was practically full. (There are 4 other parks, but this one was the closest to the ticket office.)

Although looking like a mediaeval fairy tale castle, it was built in the late 1800s by King Ludwig of Bavaria who, tragically, only spent 176 days living there before his untimely and suspicious death. The castle was never finished, the third floor remains unfinished to this day and the castle was opened to the public a mere 6 weeks after Ludwig's death.

It really is worth the hassle of procuring a ticket and climbing the track from the village (you can take horse-drawn transport if you are feeling particularly lethargic) as the interiors of the finished rooms are stunning.

Leaving the castle we climbed up further to Marienbrucke (Mary's Bridge) for a view of the other side of the castle with the valley beyond; we were terribly disappointed to find the entire side of the castle that was presented to us wrapped top to toe in scaffolding and plastic sheeting,

But the Alps were beckoning so we set off from Fussen across the border into Austria to Lermoos then back in to Germany through Garmisch-Partenkirchen and on to Wallgau. Wallgau is terribly attractive with the murals on the shops, hotels and restaurants that are built in the traditional Bavarian/Swiss/Austrian/alpine style.

After a bit of border hopping from Germany to Austria to Germany and back to Austria in a few short miles we were quite glad that EU travel rules were in place and all the border posts were abandoned and closed.

We drove down the side of Achensee were we found a coffee shop to take a break; looking out over the lake and the Alps beyond. On to Schwaz where we stopped for a wander around before taking the scenic route over the hill to Matrei am Brenner and our lovely hotel for the night.