Immediately after leaving Rhupolding we were climbing and zigzagging on good roads and we passed a small hamlet called Vordermiesbach with lovely houses lush with hanging baskets (a very common site around here). We stopped for a break and looked back on the view of open, lush pasture.
Mounting our bikes again, we soon left the tarmac road with the path turning into a forest track. The track was rather gritty and stony and made for a few skids on the bike as we were going downhill.
We were soon in the forest which offered some welcome shade and the path continued to undulate, though we were mainly climbing! We got to the point on the route which told us to follow the signs for Hammer but we decided to ignore that and carry on climbing to the point where we could leave the bikes and take the short (but steep) climb to the peak. The peak itself didn't offer any views but we got a good view down to the valley where there was a break in the trees and there was a welcome seating area for us to rest our legs. The top was also marked by an impressive Jesus on the Cross which was certainly different from the piles of stones we get in Scotland.
Soon we walked back down, collected the bikes and carried on down (very sharply in parts) to the point in the route which put us back on track. The route continued to undulate with very steep drops and long inclines and at one point we thought we were lost as the signs disappeared and by this time we were hungry and tired and running out of water fast.
Thankfully we weren't lost (thanks to Blair's good sense of direction) and we eventually cleared the forest and descended down into Rhupolding with our final stretch skirting the immaculately maintained golf course. All in, we were cycling/hiking for about 6 hours covering 23.5 miles.
We ended the day at the Raffner Alm, a Bavarian Hut offering traditional food, beer, song and dance. We obviously couldn't understand a word but it was jolly and we got into the spirit of it - a few cold, dark and frothy beers helped of course!
