Stages that end at a river and a border have their own appeal. Day 5 from Munich to Braunau am Inn is long, quick and built for forward motion. The city falls away gradually, then Upper Bavaria takes over: villages with onion domes, quiet back roads, fields, woods and long stretches where pedalling simply clicks. Climbing barely gets top billing today. Most of the route moves in soft waves, with one more noticeable rise around the middle – short enough not to intimidate, but enough to break the rhythm in a good way. Otherwise, it is about distance. Food. Drinking. Rolling on. The closer Braunau gets, the more the day leans towards the river. The Inn, the border, the evening light – and that satisfying sense of having covered real ground.
