Guest blog: John Tatam
Today showed what Bavaria can offer - sunny weather, varied terrain, big climbs and descents, green green vistas, wonderful mountain huts, beer, very bad food ... and all completely German- we have not seen any other English people in 4 days.
Having carried out some delicate blister surgery (John on Chris) - well-at least that is what they claimed to be doing when I went into their room - we all set off renewed and reinvigorated after a long tough previous day (though shocked and saddened by the news about Roger's metatarsal (2nd)).
According to John's guide we had a straight forward, if long, climb up and then a descent. As ever it turned out a little differently with two sub peaks before our summit - Hochries, at 1568 m. As with yesterday there were lots of people at the top who had arrived by cable car though the compensation was the availability of beer and noodle soup.
We then had a long walk down to c, a charming village dominated by a schloss in the middle.
Conversation had begun promisingly with critiques of Thatcherism, an analysis of the impact of the failure of German unification in 1848, the calibre of recruits to the British army, the difference between the focus of men's and women's gaze when first entering a room of strangers and why Chris had been engaged four times (all of which John had learned about from his podcasts - except the last one obviously) but increasingly John and Chris became fixated by farming and, in particular, in breeding in rural Lincolnshire - topics on which, in fairness, they spoke with considerably more authority than the earlier ones (except the one about Chris, obviously). This did at least mean that I felt freed from the constraint of trudging along at their pace.
We have been told that from tomorrow the weather will begin to deteriorate again with rain returning on Thursday Friday and Saturday. I return to sunny London.
John's facility with languages has, if anything, been overplayed. I wish him luck in Hungary.
Today showed what Bavaria can offer - sunny weather, varied terrain, big climbs and descents, green green vistas, wonderful mountain huts, beer, very bad food ... and all completely German- we have not seen any other English people in 4 days.
 |
Having carried out some delicate blister surgery (John on Chris) - well-at least that is what they claimed to be doing when I went into their room - we all set off renewed and reinvigorated after a long tough previous day (though shocked and saddened by the news about Roger's metatarsal (2nd)).
According to John's guide we had a straight forward, if long, climb up and then a descent. As ever it turned out a little differently with two sub peaks before our summit - Hochries, at 1568 m. As with yesterday there were lots of people at the top who had arrived by cable car though the compensation was the availability of beer and noodle soup.
 |
| Looking back to Wendelstein |
We then had a long walk down to c, a charming village dominated by a schloss in the middle.
 |
| Hohenaschau |
Conversation had begun promisingly with critiques of Thatcherism, an analysis of the impact of the failure of German unification in 1848, the calibre of recruits to the British army, the difference between the focus of men's and women's gaze when first entering a room of strangers and why Chris had been engaged four times (all of which John had learned about from his podcasts - except the last one obviously) but increasingly John and Chris became fixated by farming and, in particular, in breeding in rural Lincolnshire - topics on which, in fairness, they spoke with considerably more authority than the earlier ones (except the one about Chris, obviously). This did at least mean that I felt freed from the constraint of trudging along at their pace.
We have been told that from tomorrow the weather will begin to deteriorate again with rain returning on Thursday Friday and Saturday. I return to sunny London.
John's facility with languages has, if anything, been overplayed. I wish him luck in Hungary.
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