Neuschwanstein Castle

Blazing 29°c sunshine and a massive wanderlust took me and the trusty motorcycle for a 260 mile ride north through Switzerland to the southern tip of Bavaria. My first stop on this journey was Hohenschwangau Castle, which was even more of a disappointment than my visit to the town of Tittisee a couple of days earlier.

Right next to it (or rather looming over it) is the magnificent fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle, which juts out of the cliff face above the trees with its enormous shining silver spires. It’s a jaw-dropping sight when seen from the Marienbrücke bridge above.

I’m pretty sure this is the castle from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and quite possibly the one that inspired Walt Disney; all the old Disney movies from his era were filled with Bavarian-inspired landscapes and architecture.

After checking out Ludwig’s digs, I spent the next three hours thrashing the bike along immaculate black-tar rivers, bereft of any traffic, right across Bavaria to Austria.

I loved Switzerland, but there’s just something about Bavaria that makes me go all gooey. Maybe it’s because it reminds me of an enormous never-ending Northumberland, with perfect roads and no traffic cops.

These photographs were taken with my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and the extraordinary Canon 35 mm f/1.4 L II USM .