Blog Posts in Category: Germany

Jochberg

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

With a fairly uncertain forecast we decided to head to Jochberg for Rich’s last day in Munich. Given my poor nights sleep and the rain on the approach, it is safe to say that I wasn’t convinced about the idea. However by the time we had met Rich in Kochelsee and driven to the start of the walk it was looking much better. The ascent was relatively quick up through the forest, and when we emerged we were greeted with a wonderful atmospheric view over the Walchensee. The views from the ridge up to the summit were very enjoyable and we were pleased to be at the summit in 1h15mins, the sign at the bottom said 2h15. After enjoying lunch at the summit we made the day out a loop by descending via the Hütte and then continuing on down to the Walchensee. The descent was definitely quieter than the ascent, and when we arrived at the beautiful Walchensee we were regretting not packing towels. A short walk back along the lake and we were back at the car in time for a cold drink and some ice cream.

Mountain biking in Regensburg

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Mountain Biking Short Link

Having ridden my mountain bike once in the last 4 years, I was persuaded to go to a bike testival at Regensburg by a friend. This was a fairly harsh re-introduction to mountain biking as it was all technical trail riding, with the brakes the wrong way around! We did three bike tests from the test centre, two of which were with lightweight e-bikes and the third with normal bikes. The lightweight e-bikes were barely heaver than my normal mountain bike! I now certainly understand e-bikes for this type of riding, as my heart rate average was very similar for all three outings, just with the e-bikes we covered an awful lot more ground and there was much less anaerobic use of the legs, which meant less time recovering at the top before the descents. Unfortunately lightweight e-bikes are somewhat out of my price range at the moment, but the day out certainly made me want to repair my mountain bike so that I can actually use it.

2023 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Germany, Italy, Landscape, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Slovenia, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Walking Short Link

All to quickly it was once again the end of another year and time to reflect on the year. This year we really started to settle into our routine of living an hour from the Alps, with travel being much easier and having settled into Munich life, both professionally and socially. Unfortunately at the start of the year Becky had an accident and badly broke her wrist which was also misdiagnosed which delayed her recovery. This significantly impacted our year as we were unable to climb, klettersteig or ride our bikes for most of the year. The highlights of the year for me have to be Becky’s continued progression at skiing with her initial foray into ski touring, my ski mountaineering adventure on the Ruderhofspitze, my continued paragliding progression with my first flight over 100km, our wonderful holiday together to Slovenia and a beautiful walk near munich with a combination of snow&autumn colours. Winter Winter continued with lots of weekends away skiing with family, friends from the UK and friends from Munich, it seemed like we had a constant stream of visitors which as wonderful. Becky’s progression continued and she. Read the full article…

Autumnal Eibsee

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

With a very difficult forecast we decided to head to the Eibsee, not really knowing what to expect. When we arrived there was cloud just above the mountains which was blocking the sunlight and facilitating nice light for photography. While the cloud was there we certainly made the most of it, with a beautiful mix of autumnal trees and snowy mountains. As the day progressed the cloud thinned out and it turned into a beautiful sunny day, which was lovely for the scenery, but terrible for photos. So once the sun came out we just enjoyed the walk around the lake before heading back to make (unsuccessful) plans for sunset.

Munich U-Bahn Stations

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

When the weather is bad and one has a friend visiting with the purpose of photography, ideas on what to do can be somewhat challenging. We ended up deciding to go exploring some of the more interesting U-Bahn stations in Munich, as it turns out they can be quite varied and interesting, just not the ones which I normally. We ended up spending two days underground taking these photos, they end up taking a lot longer than you might expect. As finding a moment with nobody in the photos can be very challenging, and when you have to wait 10mins between trains, the photos with trains in can take a while to get right. The photos are in the order in which we visited them, which was purely logistical. It was certainly a fun way to spend a few days, and I will certainly go back for another go at some stations, perhaps in the less sociable hours of the night in an attempt to capture trains and no people. Marienplatz Oberwiesenfeld Olympia-Einkaufzentrum Westfriedhof Böhmerwaldplatz Candidplatz Josephsburg

Schellschlicht

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Walking Short Link

We had planned on doing the Gartnerwand traverse, but due to wind gusts in excess of 100km/h on the Gartnerwand while we were heading there on the train, we decided to abort to a plan b (or was it c) to head up the Schellschlicht, hoping that the larger mountains to the south would protect us from the strong southerly wind. The walk up was mostly in the forrest, which was surprisingly still full of beautiful autumnal colours, and when we were treated to glimpses out of the forrest the views were wonderful. As we ascended we eventually climbed out of the forest and were able to appreciate a view uninterrupted by trees, which just became better and better as we climbed up. The summit provided us with an excellent panorama, where we enjoyed (a quick) lunch while everyone appreciated the view. The reason for the quick lunch is that despite the wind being significantly weaker than to the south, it was still fairly strong and was very cold. The descent was down a relatively gentle ridge, which provided us with a lovely backdrop looking south to the larger Austrian. Read the full article…

Berlin Landscapes

Alastair BegleyGermany, Landscape Short Link

After a last minute change of plan due to poor weather at Lake Garda, we decided to head to Berlin for a long weekend as the forecast was nice there where we booked the trip. Unfortunately the forecast changed before we went and resulted in Thursday and Friday being inside days, however did this provide an opportunity for reflections on the wet ground. Thankfully Saturday and Sunday were very nice days, which enabled us to explore Berlin.

Autumn in Munich

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

After an aborted trip to cycle in the mountains due to a broken down car, we decided to make the most of the sunny autumnal day with a walk along the Isar and then down through the Englischer Garten. Due to the very warm weather we have had until recently, it was still a little early for the full autumnal colours to be out in Munich, however there were still some lovely colours around.