From Murner See to Weiden in der Oberpfalz, 58.22km
Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.
Early in the morning, I woke to a rather ominous sound. Oh no, surely not… Still half asleep, I reached for my phone and checked the weather forecast. The screen was filled with dark clouds. What was tapping against our tent wasn’t bird droppings, but raindrops. After making sure the shoes and backpacks we’d left beneath the rainfly hadn’t gotten wet, I lay back down. Usually, if you waited long enough, there would be at least a brief break in the rain. But something about this morning felt different. The downpour was only getting heavier.
We got up, packed away our sleeping bags, and decided to lighten our load by having breakfast first. We finished the pizza left over from yesterday’s lunch. It was still delicious, even cold. Then we spread tzatziki over tortillas and filled them with sliced cucumber, bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes. We’d also bought two packs of drinkable yogurt the day before, but one was surprisingly filling, so we decided to save the other for emergencies.
Packing up a soaking wet tent without any chance to dry it was quite a struggle. At least I’d had the good sense to bring waterproof shoe covers.
Once everything was loaded onto our bikes, we headed to the restrooms to brush our teeth and wash our faces. The rain was coming down harder than before, and I couldn’t begin to imagine how difficult the day ahead might be. For a moment, we considered staying at the campground another night. But rather than pitch an already wet tent all over again, we decided it would be better to set off and see how things went.
To make the ride a little more comfortable, I put on padded cycling shorts underneath my clothes. Over them, I added Marco’s waterproof shorts. I made a mental note to buy a pair of my own after this trip. The bigger problem was that I hadn’t managed to find a rain jacket I liked before leaving. All I’d brought were two windbreakers. For now, I’d have to wear them both and hope for the best.
It was 11 a.m. By the time we were ready to leave, the rain had become what could only be described as a torrential downpour. There was nothing to do but start pedaling and hope it would ease up.
The day began with an uphill climb. Wearing two windbreakers, I was practically boiling inside my clothes. Between the rain and the sweat, everything felt like a mess.
At first, I wasn’t particularly happy about cycling in such weather. But after two hours, then three, then four, with no sign of the skies clearing, I eventually stopped resisting and simply accepted being drenched. Perhaps all the effort of dealing with the weather was making me hungry faster than usual.
Unfortunately, much of today’s route followed ordinary roads and quiet country lanes, where restaurants were few and far between. The hills kept coming, my stomach was growling, and the rain grew heavier still.
“There’s somewhere we can take shelter near Pfreimd! Just hang in there a bit!”
Marco called out after checking Google Maps. I was overjoyed. He’d finally found an open cafe or restaurant! The rain was falling so hard I could barely see ahead, but I figured I could endure just about anything if there was a good meal waiting for us.
After riding for some time, an underpass appeared in the distance. We decided to pull in and catch our breath.
“So, is the restaurant close to here?”
“What restaurant?”
“You said there was somewhere to get out of the rain. Didn’t you find a cafe or restaurant?”
“Huh? This is the place!”
“?!”
Apparently, the cafe or restaurant had existed only in my hopeful imagination. It was 3:15 p.m. I took off my wet outer layers and changed into a warm fleece to keep from getting cold. Oh, how wonderful it would have been to have some cooking equipment right then! Putting that wish aside, we searched through our bags for anything edible. All we had were two protein bars and one pack of drinkable yogurt. It wasn’t much, but since these were our emergency rations, we divided them carefully and appreciated every bite.
The rain showed no sign of stopping, and evening was drawing closer. Right there beneath the underpass, we decided to book a place to stay for the night. Since we were already soaked to the skin, a hotel with a sauna sounded like the best thing imaginable.
“Found one! A hotel with a sauna!”
There was a hotel with its own brewery in Weiden in der Oberpfalz, about 22 kilometers from where we stood. After calling to make sure the sauna would be available, we booked a room straightaway.
Then we put our damp outer layers and helmets back on and rode out from beneath the underpass. By this point, I’d reached a certain state of acceptance about the weather. Since I was sweating anyway, I started thinking of the rain as a free shower. It almost felt refreshing. Almost. And knowing that a warm sauna was waiting for us that evening made me considerably more forgiving of the whole situation.
At 5:50 p.m., we finally arrived at Altstadt HOTEL BräuWirt, tucked away in the old town of Weiden in der Oberpfalz. It was my first time wheeling a bicycling down into a hotel’s underground parking garage. At reception, the staff told us the sauna was ready and encouraged us to relax and warm up. I could finally feel some of the tension leaving my body.
Once upstairs, the first thing I did was take a shower. Then we pulled out the wet tent and spread it across the bathroom. We also washed our damp clothes, underwear, and socks, hanging them over the towel radiator to dry. While unpacking, however, I discovered something marvelous inside the wardrobe. A fan! I couldn’t have been happier to find it. I immediately carried it into the bathroom and set it up to help dry the tent while we were in the sauna.
After changing into sauna robes we’d borrowed for a €20 deposit, we headed to the sauna room at the end of the hallway on the same floor.
The moment we opened the door, a wave of heat wrapped around us like an enthusiastic embrace. I wondered if entering heaven for the first time might feel something like this. Not a single other guest appeared while we leisurely enjoyed the sauna. We even had the entire relaxation room to ourselves.
After such an exhausting day without a proper lunch, we decided to indulge in a little more meat than usual for dinner. At BräuWirt, we ordered the Braumeisterpfandl, a hearty skillet dish with assorted meats and accompaniments, and Ofenfrisches Schäuferl, a traditional Bavarian roast pork shoulder fresh from the oven. And of course, we couldn’t visit a brewery without having beer. We ordered two glasses of Zoigl Hell, brewed in the large copper kettles, and slowly let the weariness of the day melt away.
Late that night, I woke up and looked out the window. A light rain was still falling. the raindrops, no longer coming at us, now felt comforting and soothing. It had been a day of embracing difficult weather with our whole bodies rather than trying to escape it. Tomorrow, the most challenging stretch of our journey awaited us. Determined to do my best again tomorrow, just as I had today, I drifted into a deep sleep to the sound of the rain.