Book IV ~ Bonus Chapter Part 3 ~ Back to Bavaria

30-Sep-2021

After we’ve visited about half of the centres of Germany in an epic baggaged multi-day hike, we are now en-route back to Munich again. For that, first of all, we have to spend a little bit of time…

Straying to the Station

Distance: 1.0km
Ascents: 5m
Duration: 0.25h

The train station of Mühlhausen is literally just down the street. Granted, it is still about a kilometre away, but compared to what we walked these last few days, this is nothing.

We leave relatively early in the morning, shortly after 8:00, and make our way down the street towards the station.

By the way, the district of Mühlhausen where we stayed overnight is called Görmar, and is separated from central Mühlhausen by a little field, which we now cross.

Also, it’s technically not just down the road, since we also need to walk along a short and narrow footpath that is definitely not car-approved.

After that, we’re already at the station, where we are immediately faced with an impromptu decision, for an earlier train is just about to arrive.

Now, today we are faced with a bit of a conundrum, for the oh-so-convenient Quer-Durchs-Land-Ticket is only valid from 9:00 on work days (today’s a Thursday), but the train we intended to take departs at 8:59, and the next train into the same direction does not leave until 2 hours later. So, we have come up with a plan: We bought a ticket to the next station, from where the train departs at 9:09, and since that ticket is also valid for the train that is just arriving, we figure we might as well take that one and then wait at the next station. Thus, it should happen that we add another train to today’s right, and jump the gun in order to make…

A Step Forth in Time

Ride Duration: 0:11h
Approximate Distance: 18km
Average Speed: 98km/h

Our ultimate goal for today is to get back to Munich, and with this latest impromptu change of plans, our route there is once again composed out of five different segments:

1. From Mühlhausen to Bad Langensalza (“Bath Long Salta”) via the RB2 for Erfurt Hbf
2. From there to Neudietendorf (“New Boobie Village”) via the RE1 for Gera Hbf
3. From there to Würzburg (“Spice Castle”) via the RE7 for Würzburg Hbf
4. From there to Treuchtlingen (“Truce Location”) via the RB80 for Treuchtlingen
5. From there to München (“Monks”) via the RE8 for München Hbf

The first segment of that ride is rather short, since it literally only spans a single stop. The villages we pass along the way are Seebach (“Lake Stream”), Großengöttern (“Great Gods”) and Schönstedt (“Nice Place”).

We share the train with what appears to be an entire school class, so it’s pretty full. Fortunately, it’s only for one stop.

This short ride should take us across fields, and past a few forests, and that’s about it. What do you expect? It’s literally only one stop.



A few minutes later, we arrive at the station of Bad Langensalza, which is a typical little town station, much like the one of Mühlhausen.

About half an hour later, our next train arrives. This one is now a Regionalexpress, not that it makes all that much of a difference.

It is now 9:09 in the morning, and with that, our Quer-Durchs-Land-Ticket is now valid. As such, we should have no problem heading for…

Neudietendorf Next

Ride Duration: 0:28h
Approximate Distance: 37km
Average Speed: 79km/h

The route to Neudietendorf is about twice as long as the one to Bad Langensalza, which kinda makes sense considering that this time it’s two stops instead of one. All in all, it’s still a pretty short trip by cross-country standards, though it does feature a change of direction in Gotha (“Gothic”). Apart from that, the train also rolls by some villages such as Ballstädt (“Ball City”) and Wandersleben (“Wandering Life”).

This time around, the train is pretty empty, with not even 10% of its capacity, which is kinda reassuring, considering that the Green Shnolz numbers are on the rise again, and the restrictions have just been tightened again a few days ago.

Once again, this is a relatively short ride, and yet it is noteworthy, for we pass by yet another different farm of approximately five dozen windmills, which may yet be the last I see before returning to the developing country of Bavaria.



And speaking of wind, as we arrive at the station of Neudietendorf, we notice that there’s apparently quite a lot of that around here, and it’s cold too, which is of particular annoyance on an open and unprotected station such as this. Another curiosity here is the lone wagon that apparently bumped into the rear end of one of the platforms at one point.

Fortunately, we don’t have to wait for all too long, because soon after our next train arrives. This time around it’s only a pretty short train, which stands in stark contrast to the fact that this should be our longest segment. I guess not many people are bananas enough to travel this route.

And with that, we’re off, exiting Thüringen through the Mittelgebirge by means of…

The Twisting Turning Track

Ride Duration: 2:12h
Approximate Distance: 189km
Average Speed: 86km/h

This leg should clearly be the longest of today’s journey, taking us south through the Mittelgebirge. In fact, along the way we pass both Grimmenthal and Schweinfurt, which were both changing stops on our way to Eisenach. We also pass by Oberhof (“Upper Farm Yard”), which is the site of one of Robert’s annual board game meetups that he always tells me about. Up until today, I only knew that it was somewhere near the middle of Germany, but now I can finally put it on a map.

Just like the train before, this one is pretty empty, running at maybe only 10% capacity, and that despite the fact that it’s so short.

Not long after departing from Neudietendorf, we pass by the Veste Wachsenburg (“Fortress Grow Castle”) standing proudly on a forested hill near the village of Holzhausen (“Wood Housing”).

Shortly thereafter, we enter the heavily forested Mittelgebirge, and following that only see trees for quite a while. As we travel through the Haseltal (“Hazel Valley”), we pass we beneath the imposing bridge of the A73 near Mäbendorf (“Seagall Village”). And then, we emerge on the Bavarian side of the mountains, and promptly find ourselves beneath the stereotypical white-blue sky.



We arrive in Würzburg with over 45 minutes to spare. I for my part would have no qualms about spending that time waiting at the station. However, Robert’s idea of how to spend this time is more along the lines of this:

And thus, it happens that we should surprisingly spend our stayover here…

Whimsically Wandering Würzburg

Distance: 2.0km
Ascents: 25m
Duration: 0.5h

Now, Würzburg is – after Munich – the city with which I am most familiar with in Germany. That is owing to the fact that my uncle Jörg (whom I accompanied on his 60th birthday hike almost two years ago, see Book III ~ Chapter 10 ~ Sinntal Skirting)lives here, and since I visited him a lot when I was still a child, I got to know my way around. Also, during college I spent half a year living here while completing my practical semester at a nearby company in Giebelstadt (“Gable City”). As such, charting an impromptu stray through the city is relatively simple, even if I have to make up the route along the way. Thus it should happen that what was originally planned as a short stray around the vicinity of the station eventually turns into a stray all the way to Würzburg Süd (“Spice Castle South”), the next stop of our train.

However, all that is not yet known by the time we step out onto the station square. Where to? Well, for starters, downtown seems like a good idea, since I know there’s a bunch of nice churches and other historic buildings there which I think Robert might enjoy seeing.

True enough, our way soon enough leads us across the Stift Haug Sankt Johannes Kirche (“Monastery Haug Saint John Church”), which is a church from the 16th century that was severely damaged in WW2, and the renovation of which was only fully completed in 2005.

The other notable building that we come across on this improvised stray is the Würzburger Residenz (“Spice Castle Residence”), a baroque palace from the 18th century which once served as the seat of the prince-bishops of Würzburg. Covering an area of 14.77 hectares together with its marvellous gardens, it was almost completely destroyed during the air raids of 1945 and restoring it took until 1987, when the house of mirrors was re-completed. The outside may already look imposing, but the true splendour only awaits within. Sadly, we don’t have the time to check this out today, and even if we had, it would be a questionable thing to do in times of the Green Shnolz.

From there, we head north into the Ringpark (“Circle Park”) – a park that marks the former run of the city wall – heading back for the station…

…but when I realize that we’ve by now covered over half the distance to the Würzburg-Süd station, I reconsider. Robert quickly checks to make sure that our intended next train stops there too, and then we turn around and head south instead. In terms of trail conditions, this makes little difference, since the Ringpark naturally also runs into the opposite direction.

We can get pretty close to the station just walking in the park, but in the end we still have to walk through a few more modern blocks of Würzburg before we finally reach it.

We arrive at the station with a comfortable 10 minutes still to spare before our train arrives. This station is pretty much just a stop, and the two tracks we see are all there is to it.

It is here that we run into some unexpected company. You see, almost a decade ago, while I was living in Würzburg during my internship, my uncle Jörg recruited me to help his godson Manuel and his wife Ramona move house, and though I had long forgotten what they looked like – what with me having travelled the world and met several hundred new people since then – it appears that I at least left a lasting impression, for Ramona, who by sheer chance happens to come to this station on her way back from home at just this time today, does still recognize me and greets me merrily. And though it has been a long time and I have both forgotten her name and face, I quickly conjecture who she must be on accord of me not knowing that many people of her age in this area. As such, we happily catch up with one another while waiting for the train to arrive. Talk about an unexpected reunion!

And arrive it does. Once again, it’s a short train, and this time around it’s a more leisurely Regionalbahn as well. Ramona boards the train as well, though she only accompanies us for a few stops before getting off and covering the remainder of her way home by bike.

As such, it should just be the two of us again who complete the full length of…

The Treuchtlingen Transit

Ride Duration: 1:46h
Approximate Distance: 138km
Average Speed: 78km/h

The route to Treuchtlingen takes us pretty much straight to the southeast. First we follow the Main for a bit, but soon we leave it behind and the train proceeds across the landscape in a more or less direct fashion. Along the way we pass the towns of Ochsenfurt (“Oxford”), Steinach (“Stone Stream”) and Ansbach (“To The Stream”).

At first, the train is pretty full and we only get a makeshift seat, but a few stations past Würzburg it starts getting emptier, and we manage to secure a proper place.

The route to Treuchtlingen leads us across a mix of farmlands and forests, with some occasional valleys in between. We also pass by some of Bavaria’s rare and hidden wind parks and solar farms, though the meagre number of windmills we spot along the track cannot compare with the dozens upon dozens that Thuringia proudly displayed for everyone to see. And while Bavaria produces more total energy from wind than Thuringia (2,559MW VS 1,657MW), if you factor in the much larger area of Bavaria, then Bavaria produces only a meagre 36 kW/km², while Thuringia boasts almost three times as much with 102 kW/km². Of course, they both lose to states like Schleswig-Holstein with 447 kW/km².



Thus far, we managed to make all our connections, which is actually quite astounding since we had some rather tight layovers. Now, however, the train arrives just a little bit late, which makes changing in Treuchtlingen a bit interesting, so we hasten down the steps…

…and reach the Regionalbahn for München departing from track 4 at 14:35.

However, thankfully Robert points out that this is the wrong one, because our train is the Regionalexpress for München departing from track 6 at 14:34, and while they share the same destination and depart around the same time, the Regionalexpress will get to München just that much faster. Good thing Robert noticed that in time, because like that we can still manage to rush over to track 6 and catch our train.

That was the final tight connection for our ride. Now, all that’s left for us to do is wrapping up our journey by…

Proceeding past Pasing

Ride Duration: 1:39h
Approximate Distance: 130km
Average Speed: 79km/h

This last leg should take us first south to Augsburg (“Eye’s Castle”), and then southeast to Munich via the same route we already came from on our return trip from Trier (see Book IV ~ Chapter 15 ~ A Harrowing Homerun). As such, it quickly takes us into the territory of my Petal Rides, though this last year was kinda slow as far as those were concerned due to a combination of the Green Shnolz and a high workload from my job. Anyway, along the way we also pass the towns of Donauwörth (“Danube Become”) and Nordendorf (“North Village”), which, as the name implies, is located to the north of… (guess)… Westendorf (“West Village”).

This time around, the train is about 30% full, which means there’s a comfortable amount of space, but already makes this the second-fullest train on this trip.

Along the way, we once again pass mostly fields and forest, as well as one last solar farm, but no more wind parks. We cross the Lech at Augsburg, and after that it is not long until we are finally back in Munich again.



This time around we get off in Pasing, and instead of taking the bus, this time around we complete the remainder of our trip to the Fox Loft by S-Bahn.

The choice between taking the bus or the S-Bahn from Pasing is always a tough one. The bus runs a more or less direct route right to my doorstep, but takes about half an hour on account of serving a few dozen stops along the way. The S-Bahn, meanwhile, has only three stops, but you have to change trains once, and then still walk about 7 STEPs from the station. The S-Bahn option theoretically is a few minutes faster, but since the S-Bahn has gotten spectacularly unreliable as of late, this is always a bit of a gamble. Anyway, today we take that chance, and find the S-Bahn from Pasing to Laim (“Glue”) refreshingly empty. Also, it is one of the older trains that you rarely still see in use today.

In Laim, we then change into the S2 for Petershausen (“Peter’s Housing”). Here, the station is already considerably fuller…

…and so is the train. Running at what I’d say is 200% of its comfortable capacity, I am glad that we only have to ride it for two stops. In times of the Green Schnolz, I don’t exactly feel comfortable being this close to this many people. Well, at least all of them are properly wearing their masks.

All, that is, except for one very chill person, who not only leaves his nose uncovered but also carefreely sips coffee from the S-Bahn floor.

The good news is that the S-Bahn does not experience any delays, and so we soon arrive back in Untermenzing, from where it’s only a relatively short walk through the neighbourhood…

…until we are back at the Fox Loft again.

And that, my friends, marks the end of my adventures in Germany. The next trip should yet again take me across an ocean. However, that is not only a story for another day, but for another book entirely. So stay tuned, be of great cheer, and look forward to the next book of the Travelling Fox Blog.