We left Spiegelau after a fantastic breakfast that had every option you could possibly think of – including sausages and mustard!

Our route for the day was not an official bicycle route – Kris once again found us small roads to travel on between little towns – Kirchdorf am Wald, Rinchnach, Regen, Sohl, Kaikenried – to Patersdorf.

Regan was the biggest town we passed through and we paused in the town square. It was very hot.

Regan

Regan maypole

We ended up doing a shorter route than we expected – only 40km – as we zig zagged across the countryside we found some excellent bicycle paths that are not advertised.

The entire day was through gentle hill country – so we had our share of climbs as well as nice downhill runs. It soon began to get too hot – which makes the uphill climbs difficult.

It was also a festive Sunday (maybe people are still celebrating Pentecost?) – we rode past a couple of tents filled with people, some in traditional dress, and the sound of Bavarian Brass Bands emanating from inside.

We arrived at Patersdorf just after 1pm, and were pleased to see that the Gasthof includes a restaurant and a terrace where you can sit and drink beer. They kindly let us check in early and we had a restful afternoon out of the heat.

Weizenbier

Later on we had a delicious and reasonably priced meal on the terrace. We are enjoying these traditional German Gasthofs – they are great value and very comfortable.

We chatted with the couple sitting at the table beside us – they are doing a shorter tour, and on electric bicycles – their bicycles cost E4,000 each! We are not doing too badly on our cheap Declathon bikes…

A half a dozen older, obviously local, men sat at another table, drinking beer and chatting. We were later told that this is a “Stamtisch” – a group that meets regularly for conversation.