Day 53 Schongau to Rottenbuch - 17km. Total km: 864

We walked out of Schongau this morning through the Frauentor and around the outside of the old town wall.

We crossed the River Lech again. The colour of the Lech can't really be seen in my photos - it's t's colour reminded me of the Hokitika River - is due to the high mineral content and the low water temperature. 

Not far out of Schongau we walked through a massive industrial plant site. We kept expecting someone to stop and ask why we were there, but nobody did.

From there it was a steep climb up, at one point our map said we were at 816 metres asl ...but I've no idea how high we were before starting the climb. 

Then we were out in the open and the sun was  already heating up - it wasn't even 7.30.

I felt sorry for this cow having to wear a bell which rang at the slightest movement. Also, most of the stock we saw today were troubled by flies - this one not so much.

Peiting was the only town we walked through today. 

It was a long town and seemed to take quite a while to walk through. When nearly through we stopped at the church Mariä unter der Egg for a while - I haven't been able to translate it.

Leaving Peiting, we were out in the open with distant views of the Alps again. 

By 8.45 the sun was scorching. 

We were so relieved when we entered a nature reserve area as the shade brought real relief. The air was still warm but we didn't have the direct heat from the sun.

It was a very challenging section though. The track took us high above the River Ammer, and zigzagged vertically as well as horizontally! And the track was rough with many trees roots, stones and rocks, muddy in many places due to all the springs. There were also many steps and board walk areas.

We realised later that it had taken us over three hours to walk just 2.5 kilometres. 

There were several warnings about the state of the track:

Here's a very rough translation:

What is this creature? It was reasonably small, and green with gold eyes.

 This could be in NZ.

We couldn't take photos of the truly challenging parts as we were too busy trying not to trip or slip. 

In many ways we could have been walking a 

NZ West Coast track through beech forest, especially with the constant sound of the river and the trickling of the many springs. 

We had a short break down by the Ammer and, once again, it could have been anywhere NZ river.

While we were there a father/son duo walked up river fly fishing. The son caught a fish - looked like trout - while we were there but let it go as it was quite small.

Finally, after a steep climb, we were out in the open - and the heat hit us.

Nearing Rottenbuch, the end point of our day. 

Suddenly we had to walk through a gate in an old wall.

And we came out into a settlement just before Rottenbuch which included a closter and church.

The Rottenbuch Rathaus. 

This was the first drinking fountain that we've seen. All other water points have said not drinkable. 

The Closter and Church of Mariä Geburt - the Nativity of Mary.

This would have to be the most ornate church we've seen. 

Looking up to the organ. 

Leaving the church we came across an open café which was good as we couldn't check in at our accommodation for three hours.

It was still so hot it was wonderful to sit outside with a beer (always alcohol-free) and cake - lemon cake for me and chocolate for Jeff.

Later we went inside and ordered a very early dinner of Käsespätzlen mit Salat. It was perfect, and meant we didn't have to walk back later.

 

Having successfully waited out the time until we could go to our accommodation we left the café - only it had started to rain so we had to dig out our ponchos. 

This sign was on way to where we are tonight. I was very interested to see it as all day people had been greeting us but I couldn't catch what they were saying - but realised it was on this sign, Pfia Gott. It doesn't seem to be directly translatable. 

We're in a wonderful place tonight. A guesthouse run by a family. We were told to give our clothes to them for washing and that homemade elderberry cordial drink and cake would be waiting for us outside after our showers. It had stopped raining by then.

We're also going to be given a packed lunch for tomorrow. 

Our home for tonight:

The weather app warned of a severe storm during the night, we've already had thunder, lightning, rain and stormy wind. Tomorrow the forecast is for lower temperatures and rain on and off.

Rottenbuch is a municipality in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is the site of Rottenbuch Abbey church. Its name stems from a beech tree clearing; it is common in Germany to find place names based on tree clearings. The first historical mention appears in 1073 when Welf I gifts the by then already built Augustinian monastery large lands on both sides of the Ammer river. Supposedly, since around 950, some "Einsiedler" (hermits/ascetics) were already living in Rottenbuch together and following a monastic way of life.

Population 1,833

Source: Wikipedia