Squaring the circle

Our region the Allgäu in southern Germany is largely in Bavaria but also includes parts of the neighbouring state of Baden-Württemberg and Austria. It's not an "administrative area" but the powers that be have got together to form a marketing concept to promote it as a tourist area.

The area is predominantly agricultural (dairy) and the aim is to help soften the effects of the problems in that business. Most think of the area as being full of green - meadows and forests - but it was in the 18/19 centuries known as the blue Allgäu due to the flax which was the main source of income for the farmers. However in the times of the industrial revolution and the British cotton mills killing off the flax business, a visionary, Carl Hirnbein, saw the need to find an alternative and promoted the change to dairy as well, thanks to the coming of the railways, tourism.

Nowadays the state of Bavaria's Agriculture Ministry together with funds from the EU for developing rural areas is the driving force behind the push to tourism. This very British looking picnic table above Ottobeuren was placed there by this scheme. It is on the specially put together Allgäu Bike Circular Route - 450km of signed roads and tracks. The slogan they use is "The round route in the most beautiful corners". The sign attached to the table is in the Extra Photos,

I will try to do more on this theme in coming days paticularly as my son is in "training" for doing the London-Brighton MTB run in October, having successfully done the same run a few months ago on the road.

The photo was an emergency Blip taken late when Angie took me up to the agricultural workshops to collect my car. In the morning, I had got a call to say the tractor was fixed, so I drove up and returned with the John Deere, very much enjoying the cabriolet weather and 30°C. Amazing how quickly they did my work given the parts were only delivered this morning.

This style of picnic table is very rare in these parts but I guess it's solid enough to stop people taking it home as a "souvenir".