Day 2 Munich to Venice - Bad Tolz

27 kilometres 6-45 mins

Tonight we are in Bad Tolz in a lovely half timbered hotel, with huge quirky rooms and a balcony and set in a tree festooned garden up above the river.  Perfect but no Internet.

We walked 28 km to get here with a chunk of grizzly road walking towards the end.  It was supposed to take 7 hours but we did it in 6-45, and beating the schedule  meant a double beer ration at the end.  I'm  even getting a taste for wheat beer despite its soupy appearance.

We left Wolfratshausen at 8-45am fueled by an enormous breakfast. It was cold and grey with ominous  clouds but at least it wasn't raining.  We were soon crashing along forest trails, skirting but avoiding settlements and going south through the Isar valley. 

The only downside, which became progressively more apparent as Christine's  mood deteriorated, was that there was nowhere to stop for coffee.  For the first time on the trip we checked the German guide book which confirmed that the next refreshment opportunity  was in Bad Tolz itself .  By 11-30 we had to break into the emergency rations and we still haven't seen any mountains.

Lovely woodland

The big news of the day is that we have seen some other walkers, clearly on their way to Venice.  We passed them while they were having a picnic and we didn't stop to exchange greetings but continued on, stomachs rumbling.

There was particularly  lovely stretch  of walking in the middle of day just as the sun showed itself for the first time.  We climbed high above the river through a lovely forest with great views. 

Careful!

Dropping back down to the river a bridge had been washed away and we had to make a crossing over a bendy log. Anyone who had benefited from a large lunch would have suffered from wet feet.

Lack of food and increasingly hard surfaces made the day seem very long but despite the complaints we were in Bad Tolz by 3.30pm.  The high street is traditional German with lots of painted houses, and lined with cafes selling fabulous  cake.  We stopped and Christine shot inside to choose hers; within minutes the sugar deficit had been filled and all was good with the world.

Tomorrow is the end of the phoney walk : its the mountains.

Approaching Bad Tolz

Perfect way to remove sugar deficit

PS - despite being told that the route doesn't  have its own waymarks, we saw some today, Venice  here we come