Hiking in the Bavarian Alps

I have seriously no idea why I thought this would be a good idea. Maybe it was the sensation of a sunny public holiday. Maybe it was my easily sparked high spirit. Maybe it was sheer… oh crap I don’t know. Fact is I don’t like to hike but somehow yesterday Stefan and I ended up on a hike in the Bavarian Alps.

I didn’t see that coming!

And as it was a fun day and as I already planned to write a bit more about travelling on here, I thought it might be a good opportunity to take you with us on a day trip today.

Get your hiking shoes, rain cots and daypacks ready. Off we go…

7.oo am – I wake up, drink coffee, watch youtube and make a mental list of the things I have to pack for our planned sauna spa day. The list is short. All I will need is a towel. I look forward to dabble a bit but actually the thought of sweating appalls me today.

8.30 am – Stefan gets up and I can read in his face that he doesn’t want to go either. We play the ‘but-we-can-go-if-you-want-to’ game for a couple of minutes where we both find reasons not to go but assure the other that we will still be on board.

8.50 am – I don’t know how this happened but somehow we settle for going for a hike in the alps instead. And we both indeed think it’s a brilliant idea. This particular gorge is on my want-see list for forever but we never made it there before together.

10.00 am – We are finally dressed, have packed all the stuff and are ready to go. But we have to top up the car first and get some bottled water. Oh the joys of having brilliant drinkable tab water.

10.15 am – At the gas station I discover the freezer and whimper a bit until we get some ice cream. After careful consideration I decide to go with Bounty ice cream. Stefan picks Oreo which was my second choice.

10.17 am – Stefan forgot to take his allergy pills and we have to go back home to get them. I use the time to start eating my ice cream. It’s delicious!!!

10.19 am – We are finally on the road with an estimated (by me) arrival time around 11.20. I feel the need to sulk a little after trying Stefan’s ice cream because it is just way better than mine! We swap ice cream for a little until I feel sick and so I let him have the rest of both. 

10.45 am – We are stuck in traffic in Munich and are a bit behind schedule now. Sometimes it’s annoying when you always have a schedule in mind. Yet I am in the highest of spirits, I am singing and dancing along the radio – poor Stefan – and I need to keep reminding myself that we are not en route to vacation. Technically we’re heading towards Italy.

11.25 am – We are massively stuck in traffic just outside of Garmisch. And I mean massively. Like 100 meters in 20 minutes. But the sun is shining, we are surrounded by middle aged men in their midlife crisis purchased convertibles and families in their mini vans and nothing can bring me down. Not even when I bang my hand really hard as I give my impressive Just Dance 4 performance of Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call me maybe’. I am sure this time I would have gotten all gold moves right! I am so sure!

12.55 pm – After getting lost in tiny Garmisch and consulting the sat nav we finally arrive at the parking lot. After gearing up and peeing we are ready to go!

1.20 pm – We are on the way to the gorge. It is hot and there are so many annoying teenagers around us. I start to break a sweat. I tell Stefan that I am over hiking already and he admits that I kept up longer than he thought. 

1.35 pm – We arrive at the entrance of the gorge and pay 4 Euros each to enter.

1.36 pm – The gorge is very cool, wet and gorgeous. I only shiver a little when I get some dripping water in my collar. 

1.40 pm – I find myself really enjoying the hike. The view is amazing! I love how cool the gorge is. The river has a gorgeous blue color and makes a nice gurgling sound. I could definitely walk here for a bit. 

1.45 pm – We exit the gorge! What???? We have been in there for maybe 10 minutes. And have payed 8 Euros! We consult the info board. Now we can either go back through or take a round trip which leads to the Partnach Alp. There’s supposed to be a restaurant and we get a bit hungry. So we decide to go for the restaurant. The hike is supposed to take 30 minutes. Well that doesn’t sound too bad!

1.55 pm – It is sunny and warm. We walk uphill and uphill only. I complain and Stefan asks if I am familiar with the concept of an alp. Apparently it’s always on top of the hill. I kinda knew but didn’t take this into consideration though. To be honest my ulterior motive was to get a Schnitzel at the alp restaurant and I didn’t think any further. 

2.10 pm – I am panting and I am soaked. So much for not wanting to sweat today! I also have to stop several times to catch my breath and declare my feelings towards hiking and complain about my short legs. I also get me a little break by suggesting to take a few pictures from time to time.

2.15 pm – The trail goes downhill now just to lead us uphill again after the next corner. I just repeat my new aquired mantra in my head: I hate hiking, I hate hiking, I hate hiking, I hate hiking, I hate hiking, I hate hiking, I hate hiking, I hate hiking,….

2.30 pm – Suck 30 minutes!!!! 45 at least! And this has nothig to do with my approximately 400 breaks. We sit down at the terrace and wait for the waitress.

2.45 pm – Finally we can order and find out that they serve food only until 2.30 pm. Fuck my life! We order Radler instead – a beer and lemonade mix. The view is breathtaking and I find my cheery mood again even though this alp restaurant denied me my Schnitzel. I don’t think that has anything to do with the alcoholic beverage I am consuming!

3.30 pm – A little boozed up (due to a lot of hinking uphill and no lunch) we head towards the parking lot. Now the rest of the trail goes downhill. I am grateful for that.

3.35 pm – Walking downhill sucks! My knees don’t like it at all. The trail is not very nice either but it doesn’t take us too long to get back to the car. I appreciate that.

4.15 pm – Back in normal shoes we sit in the car and google for restaurants. We are both positively starving and I need to pee like I haven’t peed in a day or two. There’s no such thing as TMI in my world!

4.35 pm – We find a restaurant with a parking lot that serves food at 4.35 pm and has a restroom. I don’t even bother sitting down and head there directly.

5.00 pm – Our Schnitzel arrives and it is glorious! I eat both and only leave a few fries for Stefan. I also enjoy a glass of Pimm’s. I am deadbeat and only out of sheer politeness I don’t take a quick nap right at the table. 

8.15 pm – We arrive back at home. No dancing in the car, just trying to hold my eyes open. We quickly shower and the evening ends quite early.

10.00 pm – We both agree that we had a fabulous day. We laughed a lot and had apretty good time together. Besides the actual hiking part obviously. Before I fall asleep I wonder if hiking is more fun on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. After all we already have planned a few days of hiking in the US this summer…..