CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
300 km from Steingaden to Steingaden, about 5 h 18 of riding. On the way it passes King's House on Schachen, Linderhof Castle, Rose Island and back through Linderhof Castle. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
For 45 km this is German Alpine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it — expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
27 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
In a meadow at the foot of the Ammergau Alps, surrounded by fields, cows and a few farmhouses, stands one of the most extraordinary churches in Europe. From the outside, the Wieskirche looks fairly plain, a white building with a modest tower. Step inside and you are hit by a wave of light, colour and movement: white and gold stucco, pastel frescoes, columns and galleries that seem to float, and a ceiling painting of Christ's return that opens the roof into heaven. It is the masterpiece of the Bavarian Rococo, built between 1745 and 1754 by Dominikus Zimmermann, with frescoes by his brother Johann Baptist, and it was listed by UNESCO in 1983.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of Wies write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pilgrimage Church of Wies is where the day begins. Next is King's House on Schachen.
This is one of the few royal residences in Europe that you cannot reach by any road, and King Ludwig II of Bavaria would have liked it that way. The King's House on Schachen stands on a high alpine meadow at about 1,866 metres in the Wetterstein mountains, south of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, below the jagged walls of the range that culminates in the Zugspitze. Ludwig had it built between 1869 and 1872 as a mountain retreat, and from the outside it looks like a modest Swiss chalet. Inside, upstairs, is a fantasy: the Turkish Hall, a room of blue, gold and red, with a fountain, peacock-feather fans, divans and stained glass, where the king liked to celebrate his birthday dressed in oriental costume while his servants smoked hookahs.
Read the complete King's House on Schachen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
King's House on Schachen comes up 46 km in. Next is Linderhof Castle.
Of all the palaces King Ludwig II of Bavaria dreamed up, Linderhof is the only one he saw finished, and it is the one he actually lived in for long periods. Hidden in the Graswang valley in the Ammergau Alps, it is a small, extravagant rococo villa inspired by Versailles, with gilded rooms, a hall of mirrors and a dining table that rose from the kitchen below so that the shy king could eat without seeing servants. The park around it is full of follies: a Moorish kiosk, a Moroccan house and, most famous of all, the Venus Grotto, an artificial cave with a lake, a shell-shaped boat and coloured lighting, built so Ludwig could imagine himself in a Wagner opera. Linderhof belongs to the group of Ludwig's palaces recently listed by UNESCO.
Read the complete Linderhof Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
92 km in you reach Linderhof Castle. Next is Rose Island.
Lake Starnberg, south-west of Munich, is the lake where Bavaria's Fairy Tale King met his end. Ludwig II drowned in its waters near Berg in 1886, in circumstances that are still debated, and a cross stands in the lake where his body was found. On the opposite shore, near Feldafing, lies the small Roseninsel, or Rose Island, the only island in the lake. Ludwig's father Maximilian II had a little villa built there, surrounded by a rose garden, and Ludwig used it as a retreat, sometimes meeting his cousin, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sisi, who spent her childhood at nearby Possenhofen.
Read the complete Rose Island write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Rose Island, about halfway. Next is back through Linderhof Castle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Linderhof Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Linderhof Castle sits at 183 km, about halfway. Next is back through King's House on Schachen.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete King's House on Schachen write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through King's House on Schachen comes up 229 km in. Next is Pilgrimage Church of Wies.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of Wies write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pilgrimage Church of Wies closes the day.
Pilgrimage Church of Wies → King's House on Schachen is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
King's House on Schachen → Linderhof Castle is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Linderhof Castle → Rose Island is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Rose Island → back through Linderhof Castle is 66 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Linderhof Castle → back through King's House on Schachen is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through King's House on Schachen → Pilgrimage Church of Wies is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.