The Fendt Farmer Grand Tour of Germany: Back home after 1,700 km

Remigius Kirchmaier planned a total of two months for his journey from Eggenthal in Bavaria to the Baltic Sea. In the end, his vintage tractor needed 50 days, covering an average of 60 km per day. The 28 km/h tractor covered the distance using country roads, yet for this pensioner from the Allgäu, this all added to the charm of the trip: “It was really lovely to be chugging along country roads every day, and to be able to drive through small villages and tree-covered tracks along the way. People who just drive on the motorway with their caravans, see nothing,” jokes Remigius Kirchmaier.

The former school head never doubted for a second that he would have the patience needed to undertake such a trip, but the question was, would the vintage tractor make it to the Baltic? A question which Remigius Kirchmaier became very used to from people he met along the way, and he always gave the same reply: “By the grace of God and Fendt, it’ll make it!”

The former vocational college head rode almost 1,700 km through Germany. He set off from Eggenthal in the middle of May, travelling via Augsburg, Bamberg, Dresden, Berlin to the Darß, a peninsula on the Baltic Sea, with many stops in between. After 25 stages, his journey came to a close. During his 50-day journey, he visited imposing castles, towns, camp sites, farms, idyllic lake landscapes and forests, and the former East-West border. “My Fendt was always my faithful companion along the route,” says Remigius Kirchmaier. “Even the Thuringian Forest and Franconian Forest national parks with some extremely steep climbs were a piece of cake for the tractor, and nor did the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) pose a problem.” He bought the 1964 tractor from a farmer seven years ago. Since then, the vintage vehicle has proven its worth both as a utility vehicle as well as a road trip vehicle.