Day 5 Schwangau to Mittelber (35k)

We staretd the day feeling very lite: we left our luggage at the hotel and biked to the base of Neuschwanstein. It was great to get some speed under our wheels! Our hotel was only 2k from the base. Unfortunately, the gondola ride was 2 1/2 hours, time we did not have. So, we enjoyed the view for a bit and then headed back to the hotel to load up and roll out.

Our routine has been: 1) check in 2) remove 200 pounds of luggage 3) bring bikes to storage area 3) haul luggage to room 4) shower and eat or eat then shower, depending on our hunger level 5) update blog while kids chill 6) sleep 7) wake up and eat 8) load bikes with luggage 9) head out

Today as we 'headed out' we were, once again, greeted by wonderful weather. The good news is that it was 65 and blue skies. The bad news was, due to the light, cool breeze, we forgot the sunscreen. We weren't badly burned, but we learned our lesson - Lucas and I both have farmers' tans and our faces are pink.

We had a day of lovely paths today. I would say that less than 2k of our 35 was on gravel or rock. That said, we had some major climbs. We were close to the clouds and the kids did a great job 'spinning'. The key is biking in a low gear and keeping your breathing and heart beat in check. We all appreciated the spectacular views at the top of all of the climbs. At one (see pic), we ran through the field and sang 'The Hills are alive with the sound of music, ah ah, ah, ah'. I'm serious - it looked just like that.

Lunch...hmm...seems so long ago. Oh yes, we stopped at a pizzeria on a lake. Very lovely. In Nessling, we took a food break and had green grapes, nutella, a ritter sport and water. That helped us for the looming climbs we had not anticipated. Our recent sugar intake helped a lot and we made it without tears, but with lots of spinning and deep breathing.

We found a great hotel with an indoor pool, dinner on site, a playground which included a pingpong table and trampolene.. Saya got to pet some horses, so all is good in 5 year old land. I have not seen so much food consumed in a while. I'm not kidding. The kids ate and ate: soup, salad, wurst, cheese, grilled pork, mushrooms, knoedel, spaetzli, duck, fish, all the bread and butter on the table. Tomorrow we are going to try to start a bit earlier and see if they can handle a longer day. They key will be the climbs. It's funny how hills can impact your mood.


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