BR Radltour

BR= Bayerischer Rúndfunk= sort of Regional BBC TV/Radio channel
Radl= Bavarian for high German Rad or Fahrrad= push-bike
Tour= French I guess?

The 28th annual BR Radltour started on Saturday and finishes this coming Friday after 1100 odd men, women and children take part in a fun ride,  400 odd km, 7 days through, this year, the Bavarian-Swabian area from above Augsburg down to the Alps. Each  night a stop at a different town, a pop concert, a place on a mattress on a school sports hall and loads of cheers, beer, water and food during the Tour.

Massive organisation has grown up around it as actually about 2000 bikers take part, some doing the full week, some just a day or two. The daily participants are limited to 1100. The circus has now become cult, even the police force having to restrict the escort drivers and they have become as loved as the riders, by the public.

Today's route from Landsberg am Lech to Memmingen took them through our parish. I filmed that at one point and then moved 2km down the road to film again after they had had their afternoon watering hole stop and got freshened up for the entry to Memmingen.

Felt sorry for the police as they had their boss, the Bavarian Interior Minister riding the morning stretch to the lunch break at Bad Wörishofen and had to be in full attire. When they got to us having got rid of the minister they were down to T-shirts in the searing heat. After the watering hole, they too had to get back in to full uniform.

I have posted a bad video on Flickr

There is a much better one from the BR website with loads of aerial views of today's events.

Blip shows some of the support, naturally the police motorbikes closing off sections on public roads for the 10 minutes or so needed, the Bavarian police academy's old VW Police bus now used for recruitment/PR work, the THW, the voluntary Technical Help people who come out at crisis times eg floods, complicated rescue/cleaning up after accidents etc  with all their highly technical equipment. They sort out the transport of the things like the 1000+ mattresses etc and help load those who flag to get in to the bus while their bikes are loaded in the trailer. Ambulance naturally also along. 
Geo-marking point set on todays photo is at the watering hole stop at the sports club at Westerheim which features quite a lot in the BR video.