Along the Isar river

For two days from Wednesday 2nd May we followed the Isar river upstream.  Mr Dengler kindly spent about three-quarter of an hour guiding me all the way down to the river path in his car on Wednesday morning.  From here it was a beautiful peaceful ride along the river's edge, with nothing but the sound of birdsong to break the quiet...

                         

 Our friendly hosts near the little town of Dingolfing were Robert and Evelyn of the Poco Hill Ranch  http://www.pocohill.de/   The horses were given perfect accommodation knee deep in grass in one of their fields. As Zorbee heartily dislikes being stabled, we have found this is the best way to keep him happy where it is possible.  And Mike and I were treated us to a delicious barbecue.
I must mention here that when I talk about being hosted, I mean that we have not been charged for accommodation or food.  It is the genorosity of many people who have hosted us that has made such a venture viable and I will be eternally grateful for the support we have had along the way.

Robert and Evelyn are in the process of revamping the premises, which should be ready fairly soon.  They provide Western style trail riding in a welcoming atmosphere.
I had had to wing it a little during the day as I did not have maps beyond Aholming, so I was very glad when Robert kindly gave me some detailed maps of the area which the next day enabled me to take a more adventurous and scenic route than would otherwise have been possible.

Over the hills to Landshut..............

Did you really make me come down that bank?  A resigned Zorbee.

Our hostess with the mostest in Landshut, Barbara Neudecker.  A lady with her hands full, not only with a large stables to run, but a toddler and a new-born baby.  But she still found time to help sort out some maps for the next couple of days, and Slovakian stable hand Guran drove me down to Landshut to buy them.

It is very tiring travelling by lorry and eating grass all day ......

An Extraordinary Garden

Friends Alison and Franz now kick-started into action in organising the itinerary across Germany, and found us somewhere we could rest up for a day, so on the morning of Monday April 30th, Zorbee and I plodded off through the German countryside . As usual the route was a little unplanned due to the vagaries of map reading....

 Crossing the Danube for the third time - here by bridge at Winzer....

 .....to stay at the Sunshine Ranch of Helmut and Sabine at Aholming.  Germans evidently start training their children to down a swift half at an early age .....

 ...and their daughter Jo is also already following in her farrier father's footsteps by practising on the dog.....

 ......in this case a Dalmatian that they rescued from certain death as he was spotless, and I don't mean clean.

The horses were quartered in a small wood with access to a shed, and Mike had use of a cabin to sleep in.  This was in the extraordinary garden of the Dengler family who also lived in part of the large house at the stables.  They have created an eccentric wonderland out of old rubbish and it is full of constant surprises.  Below is Mike on our day off relaxing on the little balcony outside his cabin with Zorbee in the background.  Note the tin man fishing from the right side of the pond, and the watering can on the side facing the camera - when we accidentally flicked the wrong switch in the cabin, water came spraying out of the spout.

 An exhaust pipe tortoise, sadly minus a head ........

 A flower of  worn horseshoes, tended by a flowerpot man....

 A guitarist with a bird's nest hairdo .......

 The figures could be slightly unnerving after dark, in particular this ominous character in the sheep pen, drinking himself to death judging by the bottle of beer he is swigging .....

 One of the creators of this amazing place - Mrs Dengler with daughter Eva.

They kindly washed a load of my stinking clothes for me, and let me use their Wifi connection to try and catch up on my blog.

And in the evening Franz and Alison came round to take us out to dinner. This turned out to be at a lovely little restaurant I had seen while riding along the Danube the previous day...........

..... amazing Fixer Franz had been hard at work researching routes and places to stay, so I was able to relax with a large glass of wine safe in the knowledge that ride planning was in extra capable hands..

Bolashak's Bison Buddies

On Friday April 27th I set off from Vordernebelberg, where the horses stayed overnight at the Ramlhof guesthouse, to cross the border from Austria into Germany,.  I was joined by John Miskich, a journalist from the German equestrian magazine Cavallo   http://www.cavallo.de/   . As he is quite tall, he rode Zorbee, while Bolashak got his first taste of work when I saddled him up for the morning.  We were also accompanied to the border by a group from the guesthouse, led by owner Max, who just happened to be riding to the same destination of Pullman City, of which more later.

 A group photo at the Austro-German border.  John and Zorbee are on the far right, while I am the little rider to the left of him.
And here we are crossing the border into Germany........

 Udo the photographer followed us on his bicycle for part of the way through the forest - here he is up to his knees in water displaying real committment to his job taking photos of Bolashak drinking from a river! .........

 John, Zorbee and Udo strike a pose next to an unexpected but oddly relevant sight in a German village. According to a sign it is purportedly from outside Buckingham Palace and used by the queen to phone when she forgot her key, which I think can be taken with a large ladle of German salt...........

 A relaxed lakeside lunch - Mike, John and Udo....

Children in Germany are obviously of a tough breed - this slide near where we stayed that night apparently shoots them straight into a rubbish tip.....

 On through the woods on the two day ride to Pullman City..

Pullman City seemed to figure prominently in Austrian trail riders' talk of riding into Germany as an obligatory and almost mythical destination - it turned out to be an extraordinary sort of mock Western town where they drive cattle through the streets at intervals.  It is populated by characters in Wild West costume, and even the visitors dress up and swagger down the street or slouch in chairs outside the bars. The entrance fee is prohibitive, but it is free if you have a horse!  However it is also free in the evening, and Mike and I ventured in later on without our four footed friends for a very expensive beer and nachos, while the horses grazed by the bison pen.
Bolashak is not impressed by this attempt to steal his supper.....



Along the Austro- Czech border

The next couple of days took us through yet more superb countryside. There is a good network of marked riding routes in this part of Austria, and you can just see the bridleway sign with direction arrow on the post that Zorbee is tied to below......

 

A couple of Haflingers.  These flaxen maned ponies are a traditional Austrian breed - tough, sturdy and surefooted for climbing the Austrian hills and mountains.



In Rainbach we stayed with Tomas and Ilona at their Stoeglehner stables  http://www.stoeglehner.com/  .  Tomas provided loose boxes for the horses and gave us a large sack of oats.  Here he is with Mike and me.  I know one shrinks as one gets older but am I really such a dwarf?

The ride from here to Unterafiesl took me north along the Austrian border with the Czech republic and over 1000 metres above sea level -  there were still patches of snow lingering......

 I was just about to take the wrong path in the middle of the forest when I fortuitously came upon the very first riders I have met out riding in the EU - Dora, her sister and a couple of men friends.  They had actually taken the wrong track themselves and were having to retrace their hoofsteps. Even more happily they were from my destination of Unterafiesel, so they were able to accompany me for part of the way and set me on the right track.  Their horses were a rather impatient bunch and this was the nearest we could get to an organised photo line-up ....

 At times we were able to ride right along the Austro-Czech border with its rather meaningless opposing border warning signs - ACHTUNG in German on the left, and POZLOR in Hungarian on the right.

Austria is a very neat and ordered country where the word 'Verboten' is a common word on signposts, but it appears that even the grass has been trained to grow in an orderly fashion!..........

Zorbee with public spirited Unterafiesl resident Jasmin .....

.......who kindly invited us in to use the shower in her house, while husband Gregor plied us with beers.  We were also visited by enthusiastic trail rider Josef with his two delightful daughters, who discovered we were in town and came to give us advice on routes.

Bolashak Runs Away

From Obergrunbach the country became considerably hillier and steeper - a new experience for Zorbee.   We also rode through some extensive forest areas which made map reading more of a challenge as the tracks on the ground constantly bore no relation whatsoever to those on the map....

......about, which is what I spent a lot of time doing in the woods, generally complaining bitterly in choice language over my mobile to a resigned Mike..... 

 Lost again?  But at least the route is scenic. 

 ......Mike tries to convince a sceptical Zorbee that this sculpture of a cat is harmless to horses.

 ....but he is fascinated by this little chap.

 .... I thought I had seen the last of useless signs in Kazakhstan.  Do they really think no-one will have noticed the village sign twenty metres away?

...There are stunning views up here - the Alps were clearly visible in the distance though you cannot see them in this photo. 
A secluded track along the river...

 ....before climbing up the last hill to Schonau on the evening of April 23rd ....

...where we took a day off to recuperate in a small guesthouse with lovely views, comfortable rooms and excellent food. 

We had a little bit of bother with Bolashak the next morning when we made the mistake of turning both horses out in a paddock with an electric fence for the first time. Everyone here uses electric fencing and Austrian and German horses are all quite used to it, as is Zorbee.   Unfortunately Zorbee decided to fling up his heels and mess around, frightening Bolashak who ran into the fence, panicked, jumped out and disappeared over the hill and into a forest.  As this is an unfenced region with deep wooded valleys I feared it could be days before we recovered him.   However Mike brought his tracking skills into play and hunted him down to a neighbouring farm where we soon enticed his ever eager stomach with a bucket of feed.

We Drink Gruner Veltliner in Heurigens

The following morning April 20th, riding friends Edith and Hans turned up with their horses to escort me to Krems; Edith on her little arab mare, and Hans on his Tennessee Walking Horse.  Western riding is very popular in Austria and Germany, and I have been surprised at how many American breeds I have seen - many of them imported directly from the Americas - Hans' horse had come from Canada.

Unfortunately my camera battery ran out so I was not able to record the ride, the highlight of which was stopping at a little wine cellar in the hillside to drink Gruner Veltliner, a delicious local white wine, this being an notable wine growing area.  And we also stopped at a little restaurant for a most civilised lunch in the garden.  Bliss!

Near Krems we were generously hosted by Emmerich and his wife Renata who provided comfortable boxes for the horses at their stables   http://www.psv-krems.at/   and took us out to a heurigen for a lavish supper with yet more Gruner Veltliner. Heurigen are Eastern Austrian wine taverns where wine growers can sell their wine without licence for a limited number of weeks a year - neighbouring heurigen will open in rotation.  They are also allowed to serve cold food.

Planning HQ - Erich and team organise my route for the next few days .........

About to set off for Obergrunbach on April 21st - Mike and Zorbee with Emmerich (far right) and English speaker Wolfgang (second from left) who very kindly put Mike and I up in his house overnight at very short notice......

 Through the vineyards...

What sort of person lives in a house with a skull on the gatepost and a plane crashing into the roof?!

 We start to ride through more wooded and hilly countryside ....

We had said our goodbyes to Erich, but he turned up again at our next stop - here he is chatting to an Austrian Noriker. On the right is Harry who owned the stables where we stayed.

Mike shows local landlady Helga my route from Beijing, or Peking as they still refer to it in this part of the world....don't ask why the map is on the ceiling.