Woods, farms and cold nights

Bikepacking the lower Bavarian forest

The Bavarian forest in the south Germany might be better known for its mountains and protected forests close to the Czech border but does spread to the west up to the city of Regensburg. This western part is dominated by commercially used wood- and farmland but is still quite wild and “out there” as this trip showed.

The route that I chose started directly in the city of Regensburg, famous for its medieval city centre and a world heritage site, into the Bavarian forest through farmland which changed into woodland. The forest tracks and trails I used often followed the small rivers running down the hills into to the valley of the river Danube. My return trip to Regensburg did mostly follow the Danube. In the end I had covered 2500m of climbing and 185 km of distance.The conditions of forest tracks in Germany are mainly very good (I like to call them forest Autobahns) and you can easily cover a lot of ground quickly.

Germans love there camping and a there are many cheap and quaint campgrounds around. Wild camping is forbidden and I would suggest being careful here because you are either on private land or in a nature protection area and you might find yourself discussing with a humorless forest ranger or worse the police. Be also warned that if you go in the shoulder seasons (May in this case) the days may be pleasantly warm the nights can get bitter cold - I measured 4 degrees C that night while shivering in my 10 degree C sleeping bag.

Besides the start town of Regensburg there is nothing of note on this trip besides the many beautiful river valleys, endless seas of trees and the occasional wide view into the Danube valley. But that is fine with me and very much worth the trip. You could easily do a longer trip starting from Regensburg and traveling all the way through the Bavarian forest up to the Czech border and beyond. This would be a great alternative to the more busy and technically harder trips across the Alps.

Adventurer: Bengt