Ammergebirge mountain bike lake tour: 2-day tour in the Ammergau Alps

Snoring. Farting. Dream farting: That's the nightly triad in a dormitory for 26 people. The fact that there are only 19 people in the Brunnenkopfhütte in the Ammergau Alps today doesn't really comfort me. A kingdom for your own bed! Ludwig II's royal mountain hut can be so idyllically enthroned below the Brunnenkopf. The nasty final ascent from Linderhof Castle to the well-deserved overnight stay in the hut had squeezed out the last of my energy. The cheese dumpling in the evening couldn't make up for it. 600 metres in altitude sounds like a piece of cake. But the quad-wide track was probably a tad too steep. And I was a tad too motivated. Now I really only want one thing: to sleep peacefully.

But it gets worse. A creak, a rumble and a loud clatter - two or three shocking seconds of silence in the darkness - then a Bavarian "Zefix! Zefix! Zefix!". Someone must have fallen out of the bunk bed. But the old paramedic rule: if you can still swear, you haven't hurt yourself worse. Just as calm is about to return to the room, one of the schnapps crew's mobile phone goes off. Accordion music as a ringtone. At two thirteen. I wonder who's calling now? Never mind, I carry on dozing.

Three hours later, my inner clock wakes me up. It's already light outside. I sneak out of the tiny dormitory, where the feet and beer flags of 17 other mountain vagabonds compete in odour. Out into the fresh air! Watch the sunrise. Manu is already outside, he couldn't sleep either. We watch the sun rise eagerly over the Ammergebirge. Far to the east, the Laber, Ettaler Manndl and the striking peak of the Kofel are enthroned in the backlight.

We set off from Füssen in the late morning yesterday. We set off on our bike and swimming tour from the Königswinkel in the East Allgäu through the Ammergau Alps to Murnau. Thanks to the Würm. More precisely: the last great ice age in the Alps, named after the little river. 10,000 years ago, it gave us the most beautiful bathing lakes east of the Iller in the area known today as Ostallgäu, Pfaffenwinkel and Blaues Land. Around Füssen alone, you don't know what to do with all the water: Bannwaldsee, Forggensee, Alatsee, Schwansee, Alpsee. So what could be better than a mountain bike ride through this mountain landscape on a hot midsummer weekend?

Multi-day tour means: everything has to go

Thanks to the 9-euro ticket, you can even organise a stress-free and environmentally friendly journey to and from the destination. We don't have a round trip in mind, but a tour from A to B - from Füssen to Murnau. The only challenge: for this tour, we also have to somehow cram swimming gear and a towel into our already full rucksacks. Preferably ready to hand so that we can start our two-day tour with a good arse dive into the Alpsee. But because the tourist buses in Schwangau spit out their tour groups every minute, Manu, Leoni and I lose interest in water sports for the time being. So let's get away from the tourist hustle and bustle around Neuschwanstein Castle!

Between steaming horse droppings and lost face masks, we slalom uphill towards the fairytale castle, but after just 200 metres, a security man waves us away from the beautifully asphalted bus and horse-drawn carriage road onto a steep gravel track. The good thing about steep roads: You get to the top faster. And just 200 metres after the turn-off to the Marienbrücke bridge, all the tourists have disappeared. Past the Bleckenau mountain inn, the gravel road also seems to want to get rid of us. Through the lonely valley of the young Pöllat, it repeatedly throws up the steepest ramps. So steep that Manu and I prefer to push the last few metres to the Jägerhütte. The last time I cycled this classic Moser tour number 40 "From Füssen around the Säuling" was more than 30 years ago. I must have forgotten that it has such steep sections. However, Elmar Moser's words are now hammering through my head again: "Wonderful, sometimes extremely steep ride from Bleckenau to the Jägerhütte."

The Ammergau Alps are the perfect area for bikers who are more into views than hardcore trails. I like the solitude - away from the castles. (Manuel Fuchs, personal trainer and biker)

At the top, at the gentle pass summit, things get exciting: not because of the Schützensteig itself, because it is pure flow from top to bottom. Or as the touring pope once described it more eloquently: "... the Schützensteig, a fantastic, not too difficult trial trail through a bizarre little stream valley down to the Hotel Ammerwald." The ground is firm, the hairpin bends are nice and wide, and the roots and rocks are a real treat in dry conditions. Nevertheless, Manu is now clearly tense. We are heading for "his" spot. The place where an avalanche almost ended his life in February 2019. Three ski tourers were buried at the time. Two died, one barely survived.

Manu stops at a completely unspectacular spot in the forest - we're there. No crying fit. No chills. No anxiety attack. Manu looks around, takes a quick look inside himself and tells his story in a matter-of-fact way. If he had a heart rate monitor, his heart rate would go from 50 to maybe 53. That's what I call resilience. He is signalling to us that we can go on. It's still a long way to go anyway. Down at Hotel Ammerwald, we don't head off into the sunset at full throttle like Elmar Moser in '94, but turn eastwards: towards Linderhof and up to the royal Bavarian Brunnenkopfhütte. And thus also to the night in hell in the mattress dormitory.

But even the longest night ends at some point. And with the hearty breakfast that the friendly hosts at the Brunnenkopfhütte serve us, the sleepless hours are quickly forgotten. Speaking of fast: at Mach drei, Leoni, Manu and I - wearing all the clothes we have with us - dash down the shady path to Linderhof and on to Graswang. However, the "Sonnenweg" trail lives up to its name and leads us to Oberammergau in an energy-saving way. Jesus is dying there again at the moment. Except for Mondays and Wednesdays, when he is off. The world-famous Passion Play in Oberammergau only takes place every ten years. Today would be the day, but unfortunately without us. We treat ourselves to a quick cappuccino in Krach's shop, I stock up on two lemon sodas for possible low points, and the gentle ride continues up to the Bärenbadflecken, the last tough nut to crack before the flat final spurt through the Murnauer Moos.

The sign with the inscription "Kill Moser!" at the top of the Bärenbadflecken, which an anonymous mountain biker used in the 1990s to vent his displeasure at Elmar Moser's tour number 13 "From Eschenlohe around the Ettaler Manndl", has since been removed by a zealous forester. However, the jungle-like crossroads, through which countless Moser disciples have carried their bikes for half an hour, still exists and is only fun for real cracks on the way down. Everyone else pushes downhill for five, maximum ten minutes on a slippery, steep wilderness path. The Murnauer Moos can be seen flashing through the forest again and again. At the very back, the UKM, the Murnau Accident Clinic, gleams in surgeon's white. Three and a half years ago, they put Manu, the human scrap heap, back together again. "The last screws only came out six months ago." Now it is also clear why he wanted to cycle via the Bärenbadflecken and not further north via the Drei Marken to Murnau. With this route via his neuralgic points, Manu has finally come full circle.

However, the moss still awaits us. There is no path through the largest contiguous moor in Central Europe, so we have to go round the outside. Only in Grafenaschau is there a fine gravel path that leads through the orchid and bird paradise to the Ähndl-Kircherl. A Michelin-starred chef may be cooking in the small inn next door, but Leoni now insists on a bath. One last moraine hill from the Würm Ice Age still arches between us and the Staffelsee. We find a few more hidden trails within sight of the cultural highlights of the artists' community - the castle museum, Münter House and Seidl Park. And then we're finally there. At the most beautiful lake in the south of Munich. The seven islands are what make it so special. People live on one of them all year round, while another is home to what is probably the only island campsite in Bavaria. Car-free, but with its own mini ferry.

The arse bomb at last! After two days of a midsummer heatwave between Füssen and Murnau, over 80 kilometres of nature and culture and almost 2400 metres in altitude, we have more than earned a proper cool-down.
metres in altitude, we have more than earned a proper cool-down. That's why we don't head for the jam-packed Bay of Pigs, but for a secret private jetty that would definitely have appealed to Kini too.

Stage 1: Füssen - Brunnenkopfhäuser

• Length: 34 kilometres
• Uphill: 1446 metres in altitude
• Downhill: 653 metres in depth
• Difficulty: medium

The two-day tour starts with an environmentally friendly train journey to Füssen (information from Deutsche Bahn). From the railway station, it's just a few minutes to Schwangau, where the avalanche of tourists is almost overwhelming. But soon after the very steep ascent to the Marienbrücke bridge, hardly any trainers get lost in the Pöllat valley. Through the lonely high valley, the route leads to the Jägerhaus - and down to the Hotel Ammerwald on the Schützensteig. On tarmac, you purr for half an hour to Linderhof Castle - and struggle along a steep track to the Brunnenkopfhütte.

Key points: Uphill, the hardest nut to crack awaits at the end: the long and steep track to the Brunnenkopfhütte. Downhill, the Schützensteig trail with its flow is great fun for good downhill riders.

Retreat: On the way to the Schützensteig: Bleckenau mountain inn

Bathing stops: Schwansee and Alpsee

Stage 2: Brunnenkopfhäuser - Murnau railway station

• Length: 50.5 kilometres
• Uphill: 910 metres in altitude
• Downhill: 1917 metres in depth
• Difficulty: medium

Dress warmly! Because early in the morning, a long, shady descent down to Linderhof Castle awaits. But you quickly warm up again on the sunny path from Graswang to Oberammergau. After a stop in the Passion Play village, the only longer climb of the day is up to the Bärenbadflecken. You descend the Ammergraben on a wild track. After a few minutes, you can ride again. The descent ends at the edge of the Murnauer Moos. Over tarmac, gravel and a few nice trails, you reach the Staffelsee and Murnau railway station.

Key points: The descent into Murnauer Moos. About five minutes of pushing downhill

Retreat: Oberammergau: Krachs Laden; reward dinner at Staffelsee: Restaurant Al Lago at Seehausen lido

Bathing stop: Staffelsee in the Bay of Pigs

All information about the Ammergau Alps MTB area

The precinct

The Ammergau Alps are a mountain range measuring around 30 by 30 kilometres in the border region between Bavaria and Tyrol. The small mountain range lies between Füssen, Garmisch and Oberammergau. Due to its topography, it is more pristine and less frequented by tourists than the neighbouring Werdenfelser Land, the Tyrolean Zugspitz Arena or the Ostallgäu. Since 2017, parts of the region have been part of the Ammergau Alps Nature Park, where bike tours are highly regulated. Mountain bikers are therefore not offered too many, but all the more rewarding tours in the Ammergau Alps. The Säuling circuit from Schwangau to Plansee and back again via the Dürrenbergalpe and Schluxen (41 km/1300 metres in altitude) is the most popular. Generally speaking, the Ammergau Alps are not for hardcore bikers looking for the next S4 section. This is a more leisurely and scenic route - with the occasional cultural or swimming stop.

Arrival

The tour starts in Füssen and ends in Murnau. It is therefore a good idea to travel there and back by train. This is also easy on your nerves and the environment. From Munich: Depart main station at 7.39 am, arrive Füssen (with change in Buchloe) at 9.39 am. If you end up forgetting the time while watching the sunset at one of the beach bars on the Staffelsee, you can take the train from Murnau to Munich every hour until 23:55. Journey time: 55 minutes, without changing trains.

Overnight stay

Situated almost exactly between Füssen and Murnau, the Brunnenkopfhütte is a cosy place to spend the night high up in the Ammergebirge mountains. The Alpine Club hut is tiny, has only one bedroom for all 26 guests and exudes the flair of bygone royal days. It is situated at an altitude of 1602 metres, high above the Graswang valley. It can be reached by bike from Linderhof on a steep, narrow track. The hut is open until mid-October.

Bike shop

Best address at the starting point in Füssen: Radsport Zacherl & Müller. And if something should get stuck in Oberammergau, the first stop is Radl Reiser

Eat well

If you want to feast in style, head to the Mundart restaurant in Oberammergau. And finally to the pizzeria Il Duetto in Murnau.

Culture

Neuschwanstein Castle tends to put people off with its long queues. Instead, head to Linderhof Castle, where you can also get tickets at short notice. Worth a visit in Murnau: the castle museum and the Münter House.

GPS data for the tour