It doesn't take long to drive from Munich to Lake Garda. Four hours in light traffic. My mate Stephan usually sits next to me in the Bully and we start thinking about which trail we're going to tackle first on the lake. But then we cross Bad Tölz and immediately think the same thing: a quick stop at the Beni Wall? Of course.
In Benediktbeuern, directly from the car park of the Alpenwarmbad, we head up. A gravel road runs through the forest up to the Tutzinger Hütte. Nice and shady. Depending on your fitness level, the ascent takes around three quarters of an hour. Smaller ramps, but also lovely moments to rest on a mountain pasture, Benediktenwand view included.
Stopover at the Tutzinger Hütte
We secure our bikes with a lock at the Tutzinger Hütte material cable car and climb up to the hut on foot. A detour that for us is inseparable from the Beni Trail. It takes ten minutes to walk through a mountain forest, where you expect a few trolls and hobbits to hop over the strangely mossy rocks at any moment. Or at least the robber Hotzenplotz - his mate Stephan really does look a lot like him. Then the trees suddenly recede and it stands before us in all its splendour, the landmark of the Tölzer Land, made for eternity: the Benediktenwand. Even during the Ice Age, its massive rock face defied the grinding glacial streams.
But now something else fills our nostrils. The sweet, irresistible aroma of Kaiserschmarrn. Nobody makes it airier than the host of the Tutzinger Hütte. The layer of icing sugar dusts up again briefly before the warm pieces of dough are pulled through the fresh apple sauce ...
But then we really get going. Back on the bikes, we first shoot down the gravel road we came up. But only briefly, because soon a path branches off to the left across an alpine meadow. And from this path, we plunge straight into the first trail, which dives into the forest on the right. Green, green, green - bushes, ferns, grasses. This forest really is like a sea of green and the trail winds through the trees as if it wanted to show us all its colour nuances.
Then the path clings to a stream. This is where the first stumbling blocks lurk, which can be slippery depending on the water level and humidity. Some of the stones even have the character of full-blown steps, but with momentum and courageous riding technique, everything is rideable. Then the path separates from the stream again and bushes grow out of the thicket into the path. Overtaking is definitely impossible here - Stephan also has to realise with a jolt.
But overtaking would be pointless now anyway, because now comes the small uphill section of this descent. Just a few minutes uphill, then we hit the gravel road of the ascent again. Here, too, there are a few more turns of the pedals uphill, otherwise you would miss a very rewarding downhill section: The trail that branches off first bumps over loose rock and then pushes us over a few larger boulders. No matter what happens: Holding on to the handlebars is the top priority here.
We then rejoin the gravel track from our ascent, but shortly afterwards turn into the next forest track downhill. The ground is very soft here, the bends less sharp and the gradient gentler. Finally, the gravel starts to crackle under the tyres and the car park comes into view.
A real day brightener, but one that certainly makes you sweat. Theoretically, you could hop straight into the Alpine warm water pool afterwards, but we prefer to head for the nearby Ostersee to cool off. Completely satisfied and with a big grin on our faces, we continue on to the lake.
