Irschenberg is the hill that every driver on the Munich to Salzburg motorway knows, the long ridge where the road crests and the whole Alpine front suddenly appears, a row of grey peaks across the green foreland. On a clear day, the view from the old church on the hill, the pilgrimage church that is the village landmark, takes in the Wendelstein, the Kaisergebirge and the faraway Zugspitze.
Bad Aibling is a spa town, with a park and a thermal bath fed by mineral springs and, from the nineteenth century, a mud treatment from the local peat. The Mangfall river runs out of the Tegernsee through a deep gorge and across a wide, flat valley, and the land here is a patchwork of meadows and moor, with the famous Rosenheim basin to the east. The soil is damp and green, the farms are big, with wide-eaved wooden houses and flower-hung balconies, and onion-domed churches stand in every village.
The Ammergau mountains, named in this stop's label, lie to the west, a very different part of the Alps with Ludwig II's Linderhof palace and the Ettal monastery. Here, in the east, the riding is gentler. The roads cross the low hills of the foreland, with quiet bends, farm lanes and glimpses of the mountains, and the surface is generally excellent. Traffic is heavy on the autobahn and the main road, so the back roads through Irschenberg and Hausham are better. Cold air pools in the hollows on autumn mornings, and the first snow dusts the peaks in October.
For practical matters, fuel stations are in Bad Aibling and Bruckmühl, with supermarkets and bakeries, and a number of inns and cafes in the villages. Gasthäuser serve Bavarian roast pork with dumplings, weisswurst in the morning and strong local beer. Parking is easy, and the spa town makes a good place for a gentle stroll. Bring a jacket, because even in summer, evenings turn cool.