Fussen Castle at night.

Had a spare day in Fussen, a delightful but busy Bavarian town. The old medieval part of town is overlooked by the Hohes Schloss castle and has a delightful mixture of colourful Bavarian ‘town houses’. Fussen is known for lute and violin making, and I passed a statue reflecting this. Cafes are busy serving the hordes of tourists who come to town mainly to visit the two nearby castles associated with King Ludwig II. The hotel I stayed in even had a couple of Japanese waitresses, dressed in busty Bavarian costumes, to cater for the influx of Far Eastern tourists.

Time to escape into the hills.

I walked out of town westwards, heading for the Alatsee. The path soon entered the beech forest and switch-backed along a ridge. There were paths everywhere, all well-signed and well-used by the locals for recreation. Further up the valley, I merged onto a busy cycleway leading to the lake. Cycling seems to be very popular in these parts. Ignoring the possibility of coffee at the lakeside gasthof, I continued up the steep jeep track, which brought me to the Salober Alm restaurant in a little alp. People seemed to appear from all directions, heading for the hut, so it soon became quite busy serving meals and drinks. There were great views back to the Schwangau area, the Ludwig castles and the surrounding Alps. Over coffee, I plotted a circular route back using a different valley. This involved plunging into the woods in a southwesterly direction. I found the path which dropped down a very steep slope in a series of tight hairpins, a bit like a walker’s Alpe d’Huez. Halfway down was a ruined tower overlooking the valley; the information board indicated it to be an old castle [13thC] controlling the area. This had been an important communication route through the Alps. A Roman road, Via Claudia Augusta, came this way as did a salt road in the Middle Ages. The notice said Ludwig II and his brother visited this castle as children.

Vilsegg Castle.

It was while reading the notice that I realised I was in Austria; I thought the signs were different. Checking the map, I see that the Salober Alm was already over the border.

Once down in the valley, I skirted the large industrial limestone works and followed tracks that led back to Füssen. On a quiet lane, I heard the characteristic clinking of carabiners and spotted a couple of climbers on the cliff above. A short scramble up revealed a very compact, steep limestone face with numerous bolted lines. The climbers explained it was very technical climbing, and there were certainly no cracks. Unfortunately, they were just having lunch, so I saw no further action.

Steep technical bolted limestone.

My path became the Laendeweg. I think I noticed the border on my way back, a defunct customs shed. Gentle forest tracks lead back above the glacial River Lech to Fussen in time for tea, or rather coffee, in one of the cafes.  On my last night in Bavaria,  I enjoyed a superb meal in a quiet restaurant away from the main tourist area, accompanied by a dark beer from King Ludwig himself.

    Prost !!!

                                                             Trauchgau. –  Fussen

Remember King Ludwig.                                                                                                                        Today I am walking to his famous castles – the family one he partially lived in, Hohenschwangau and the one he fantasized about and brought into existence, Neuschwanstein.

Neuschwanstein in the distance.

But first, I have to find a way out of the Halblech area as I seem to be off route. Incongruously walking through a paper mill, I pick up some local footpath signs heading to St. Peter’s Church, which I see on the map. This involves a bit of hill climbing at first, but rewards me with superb views towards the Fussen area. I even think I can pick out Neuschwanstein on its hill. The extra little climb up to the isolated church was worth it for views to the Allgau Alps and over the countryside and villages that make up Halblech. On through Berghof to eventually find a KLW sign pointing down a lane through the delightful little farming hamlet of Greith…

Peaceful Greith – Maybe shouldn’t have taken this photo!

… and then on to the expansive Forggensee. Cyclists, in all shapes and sizes, on all manner of bikes, started appearing from all directions. I was getting nearer the tourist traps. A stop by the lake ended up with me feeding the ducks most of my lunch.

Shortly, I was at the bottom of the ski lift near the top of Tegelberg, 1720m. Paragliders were performing tricks in the sky. [This was the scene in 2011 when one collided with the lift cable and left a gondola hanging in mid-air, necessitating a dramatic helicopter rescue.]  I was tempted to go up, but the low cloud base put me off, and I had places to go. One of the places was the climb up through the Pollat Gorge but when I arrived I was disappointed to find it was closed off due to rockfall, even I didn’t go against the signs and security fencing. So I took the road to Hohenschwangau and arrived at the massive car park, where thousands of day-trippers were milling around. There were queues everywhere, and tickets for the castles had long sold out for today.

It gets worse …..

Nevertheless, I trudged up to the fairytale turreted Neuschwanstein Castle, where you are able to wander around outside without a ticket. This ‘shrine to Wagner‘ was King Ludwig’s passion for most of his adult life and, in fact, wasn’t completed until after his death.  Some of the views were spectacular… … and the crowd watching even more so. Far Eastern faces were in the majority, and our gentle sarcasm of Japanese tourists is being replaced by an adverse reaction to the new breed of brash, pushy Chinese tourists. The Marie Bridge above the Pollat Gorge was mayhem, so I found my own way down through the forest to the Neo-Gothic style Hohenschwangau  Castle. There was slightly less hysteria here, and you could imagine Ludwig’s wealthy and privileged family living there in the 19th century.   I had no ticket for an inside view, will have to find a virtual tour on the internet; however, I enjoyed the grounds with views back up to Neuschwanstein.

In typical German efficiency, this famous royal castle had its own street number …To avoid the crowds, I took to the forest trails and within 50m, I never saw another person for the next two hours. By now, the clouds had come down, and there were some spots of rain – the first on this trip. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed the roller-coaster walk. Through the magnificent beech woods, over ridges, down to lakes and a fitting end to the day at a three-cross viewpoint, a Calvary, high above Fussen. The two castles could be seen through the gloom in their romantic settings. Then it was down the track passing all the stations of the cross in reverse order, presumably, you receive no redemption for this.

Sorry for such a long post; it could have been even longer as I had walked 28 km in addition to all the sightseeing.

                                                     Rottenbuch  –  Trauchgau.

Most long-distance walks have a section just to get from A to B using the least painful way. On some previous routes I’ve cheated and hitched across dreary road sections. Today, with one exception didn’t promise much. Progress at first was slow and hesitant, little lanes going everywhere through traditional farming land. The signs and map didn’t agree, re-routing?, but I came out eventually near Wildsteig with views over Schwaig See with alpine peaks in the background. As you can see the weather is average. Navigated more lanes out of Wildsteig and through a nature reserve to head for Wies with its famous church. I’ve certainly had the paths to myself and mostly the churches too, therefore it came as a shock when a coach park appeared discharging hoards of international humanity to the cafes and souvenir stalls around the church. After all the hype that this was the height of Bavarian Baroque I didn’t appreciate this church as well as others. Maybe the crowds put me off. Shame they have allowed trees to grow so close to the front as they hide the architecture of the doorways which incidentally were being renovated.Met Uli the pilgrim outside for a catch up, he was eagerly waiting to go inside. I went for the popular Bavarian  ‘kaffee  und kuchen’ in one of the nearby gasthofs.

The afternoon was on a traffic free lane accompanied by the tinkling of the occasional bike bell and the continuous cow bells – the alps were getting closer. My hotel for the night was well situated in the countryside outside Trauchgau in the Halblech area and as a bonus had a pool and sauna which were greatly appreciated after a day in no man’s land.

                                              Hohenpeissenberg  –  Rottenbuch.

Had such a good breakfast that I seemed to be in a daze for the first hour, fortunately I was on easy to follow tracks. The church up on Hohenpeissenberg ridge wouldn’t go away.The only decision I had to make was when to turn right in the dense forest. Then it was steeply down to the Ammer River at times going through prehistoric vegetation. There was an hunting lodge at the bottom where I sat relaxing in the sun for awhile. I was joined by a hot and sweaty pilgrim, Uli whom I kept meeting yesterday, he had missed that right turn!

Pilgrim’s Rest.

I walked alongside the river till I reached an interesting wooden roofed bridge.

I expected to continue into the base of the gorge, but the path climbed up the side of the gorge. It then traversed high in the trees for a couple of hours,with sparse views to the river below. The path hugged vertiginous slopes often with the aid of ramshackle wooden bridges – certainly not ‘vorsprung durch technik’. At one point a steep slope was negotiated using an old climbing rope as a handrail.

Safely down I found a little beach for a late lunch. Then it was back up to the top of the gorge, out of the trees and into meadows leading to Rottenbuch. You enter through the monastery complex with the prominent church and its separate belltower. I thought that the Baroque interior of the church was probably the most impressive I’ve seen so far. As you entered there was an immediate ‘wow’ factor. The colours were more subtle and the stucco work more detailed than elsewhere. Out of interest I wonder how sinful the 18th century congregations were, there were 5 or 6 confessionals down either side of the church. A really worthwhile visit to end the day. Now off to the simple cafe/hotel for the night and typical Bavarian fare.