Following in the Pope's wheeltracks

Altöting - a focal point for pilgrims - and cyclists

When Sepp Ratzinger was a lad, he probably wasn't much into cycling as a hobby. The pilgrimage town of Altötting wasn't far from his birthplace along the river Inn, and it is possible he rode there. So, it is curious now, when Sepp is in his 80s, that a 250km bike route has been created in his name. This is the Benedikt Radweg (bike route), a circuit around the places in Bavaria where the present Pope Benedikt spent his formative years.

Bavaria has a veritable web of these long distance bike trails which follow the many small lanes and also farm and woodland tracks. There is the Salt Trader's route, the Salt and Lakes route, the “From Tree to Tree” circuit, the Inn Radweg and so on. The directions are marked with symbols at every junction and the trails interconnect, cross each other, run parallel, split up and re-join.

The Benedikt Radweg's symbol is a bishop's mitre and though the bike route is a circuit, it is best to follow it clockwise. If you do this, Pope Benedikt's symbols will show you the way, if you take the wrong path, his pointers will mostly show the way you have come – and maybe the error of your ways.

Pope Benedikt XVI is not the first well-known person from the region to have his own bike route. The Mozart Radweg takes in both the Salzkammergut (Salzburg's lake district) as well as much of the area of the Benedikt route. It is pretty certain that the great composer didn't ride a bike, but he did travel a lot and may well have followed on horseback or in a carriage, certain of the trails now followed by cyclists from all over Europe.

The Benedikt Radweg is doesn't cover new ground, it merely links places of relevance with existing bike paths and much of it follows in Mozart's hoofprints. The composer's ride was established long before Sepp Ratzinger took the top job in the Vatican, is over 400km long, meandering across meadows, through farmyards and bringing riders into corners of the countryside they would never have found otherwise.

When it comes to bike paths, Mozart was way ahead of Benedikt. However, whomsoever you choose to follow, you will enjoy rolling hills, rural peace, huddling hamlets, and, of course, this being Bavaria, some excellent local beers. And all this is just a local train ride away from Embach.