Ok, so a train was involved here! On a beautiful sunny morning we cycled into Salzburg and caught the train to the start of the day’s ride. The idea was to avoid the suburban exit from Salzburg, (airport, railway, motorway), and start, in Germany, close to the Chiemsee.

And this proved every bit as good as billed. The hills were gently rolling (rather than steep), all the farms are covered in geraniums, and the fields are a shade of Irish green that only a really wet summer can produce .

The bike route round the north shore of the Chiemsee was extremely popular – danger of collisions on the narrow, off-road path. But the views across the lake to the mountains beyond were beautiful.

We finished the ride at Rosenheim, on the river Inn, and hopped on another train to Bad Tolz. This misses out a section of steep, off-road, climbing in the forest. Bad Tolz has a typical Bavarian high street, very familiar from our ride down the Danube four years ago.

Helen’s track of the day:
Moving by Kate Bush.
Unlike any other trip and entirely because of my I-phone, I am much more aware of what is going on in the UK than usual, reading the paper online everyday. That has meant trying to keep track of football transfer news and the like till the season started rather then major political or social debate on the whole, though in all seriousness the events in Gaza could not be ignored, so shocking was the impact of war there. Anyway, the major event for some of us this week was the return to live shows by Kate Bush after 35 years. I saw rave reviews and would love to have been there but instead listened to a few of her tracks last night. I have to strictly limit what Kate Bush music I listen to or it sticks in my head for days and really drives me crazy. This was the track that stuck most today, same title as yesterday, but very different sound.