On the Water, again

It is very hot in Bavaria, Germany: 32C almost every day. Sometimes 35C! That is hotter than Istanbul. Thankfully I come from the lake region “Fünfseenland”, were my family still lives, and we can cool down in Starnberger See every day. One of my dad’s friends has a canoe, which we took on a river excursion the other afternoon. We only had to paddle across the bay of Starnberg into this little Marina, where I have been many times before. But neither my dad, who has lived here all his life, nor me have ever explored the little river called “Würm” that leaves the lake at the end of the marina. Maybe because the dark narrow tunnel channeling the river under the Autobahn does not look too inviting. But what a surprise when you come out on the other end!

Thick reeds line the shores, so high, one can not see any signs of civilization. The crystal clear water flows leisurely over long streaks of river grass floating direction downstream. The bottle green splendour is moving in slow motion under water and looks like a giant mermaids mane. I found this mesmerizing and best to watch from a standing position on the Standup paddle board (SUP).

On it’s way into the “Würmtal” direction Munich the river forms two ponds covered with water lilies. This is were we had a refreshing and solitary swim. They are called Silver- and Goldlake. We saw some ducks, a pair of swan parents with their young and lots of beautiful turquoise and golden shimmering dragonflies. Once we advanced more into the swampy part of this nature reserve the Mosquitos and Horseflies had a feast from us; given their ferocity and the fact that we only saw two other people, I am assuming this is not a much travelled part of the river.

After about an hour of paddling we reached another bridge and knew this must be Leutstetten, a village well known for it’s chestnut tree shaded beer garden. A 5 min walk brought us to “Spezi” (a coke and lemonade mix), “Apfelschorle” (apple juice and sparkling water) and “Radler” (beer with lemonade) as well as Brezen, cold roast and Speck. We really needed all these Bavarian favourites to get our strength back for the return. After all we had to paddle upstream this time – which took 30 min longer – and win the paddling race between three man canoe and one man SUP.

3 comments to “On the Water, again”
3 comments to “On the Water, again”
  1. Great adventure story, discovering new places after all those years passing right by the entrance to this natural wonderland.

  2. What a cinematic description! I want to go there right now…except for the horsefly part. Last week when it was hot, we had a swim/air mattress outing on a lake that hosted hundreds of dragonflies. Some were the electric blue variety and others had black and white stripes. Summer is glorious:)

  3. That sounds so nice! Kayaking on rivers can be magic.. Our polish treat is one of the most beautiful kayaking/canoe trails in the area of Masuria, the Krutynia river, that leads you trough undeveloped landscapes in the north of Poland, visiting swans, ducks, cows on the river beds – and they have lots of stands with home made blueberries pancakes, pierogis, fresh lake fish, etc.. But I am sure we find also a great river to kayak on in Canada!:)

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