The Romantische Strasse

It has been a lifetime ambition for me to travel the Romatic Road through Germany south to the Alps and beyond. I first heard of this road many years' ago and I resolved to one day when time permits to follow this road as couples have done for many years. The fact that I am doing this trip on my own is to my eternal regret, or maybe as you will see.

I made my way after the Rhine Gorge to Wurzburg and camped in travelling order in a wooded site near the start of the famous road.

My target start village was Dinkelsbuhl

It is very nice wandering about such a place but they have been so strict with the regulations that there are no signposts and no means of knowing where anything is. I wanted the Tourist Information Office to buy a map of the Romantische Strasse in English, but couldn't find it as there were no directions

Pretty places abound

I left Dinkelsbuhl going south and was somewhat surprised to see that the Romantic Road was just another trunk route teeming with heavy trucks and tractors/ mud spreaders. In fact it was a disappointment. Whilst the scenery was typically German, there were no great vistas, no stunning views and nothing really to make up for the heavy truck congestion. I wasn't inclined to see more ancient towns, I live in one anyway and I had just done one of the more famous. So I steamed south into Bavaria.

But travellers familiar with this part of the world will know that it is always exciting catching the first glimpse of the Alps. The mountains appear all of  a sudden, it is the same every time. There in the distance rising quickly from the valley floor are the huge snow capped peaks that are so ominous.

Could the Romantic Road somehow redeem itself after such a disappointment?

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