Arriving in the small town of Bad Schussenried yesterday, I thought we would only stay a day. Then, during yesterday afternoon's wander around the town, I came across a map of local walks. That, in turn, led me to do some Googling, resulting in me downloading a booklet from the local Tourist Office, setting out 8 walking routes, all with the common start point of the Market Square.
Our stay thus got extended, and having perused the routes, I selected No. 5 ('Panoramaweg') as looking the most interesting.
We didn't get off to a flying start. Initially a missing waymarker had us going back and forth around the old monastery...
...and once I'd consulted the map and got us onto the right line, we were faced with this:
Perhaps that explains the missing waymarker, as we clearly couldn't go that way.
Not to be defeated, I set about navigating us around the closure, adding about 1.5km onto the route in the process - a good job it was a relatively short route to start with.
With the sun beating down on us, we were more than ready for a bit of shade as we started ascending gently (and not for long; this is not a hilly area) to a bit of woodland. I was a little jealous of the swimmers I could see in a nearby lake. Their exercise looked far more sensible than ours in today's heat.
Leaving the tarmac behind us is usually a good thing, but today it marked the point where we started encountering horseflies. Hungry horseflies.
The occasional sound of a slap was accompanied by an exclamation of 'You bastard!' and we both incurred multiple bites.
In view of the insect activity, it seemed unlikely that we would be able to stop for elevenses, but when a bench-with-a-view appeared before us, nicely in the shade, it didn't seem to be blighted by flies. Appearances can be deceptive. Mick got three more bites whilst we were there.
My most painful bite came as we stood at a viewpoint a while later...
...from where none of the Alps were visible on this sunny, but hazy, day.
Coming to a level crossing a while later, the sign posts didn't just point across it, but also along the lines. This is a disused railway, and whilst the tracks haven't been removed, a footpath has been instated alongside them:
We abandoned Route 5 for a few hundred metres here and took to the tracks instead, rather than wiggling through the adjacent woodland.
Arriving back in town we had walked 10.5km, against the advertised 8.8 (the closure at the beginning accounting for most of the discrepancy; the out-and-back from Bertie to the start/end point accounts for the rest), with very little ascent.
It's not going to go down as one of the most interesting walks of the trip, but (aside from the biting insects) there was nothing offensive about the countryside and woodland through which we walked. I'm not tempted to sample any more of the local routes, though; tomorrow we will move on.
Our stay thus got extended, and having perused the routes, I selected No. 5 ('Panoramaweg') as looking the most interesting.
We didn't get off to a flying start. Initially a missing waymarker had us going back and forth around the old monastery...
...and once I'd consulted the map and got us onto the right line, we were faced with this:
Perhaps that explains the missing waymarker, as we clearly couldn't go that way.
Not to be defeated, I set about navigating us around the closure, adding about 1.5km onto the route in the process - a good job it was a relatively short route to start with.
With the sun beating down on us, we were more than ready for a bit of shade as we started ascending gently (and not for long; this is not a hilly area) to a bit of woodland. I was a little jealous of the swimmers I could see in a nearby lake. Their exercise looked far more sensible than ours in today's heat.
Leaving the tarmac behind us is usually a good thing, but today it marked the point where we started encountering horseflies. Hungry horseflies.
The occasional sound of a slap was accompanied by an exclamation of 'You bastard!' and we both incurred multiple bites.
In view of the insect activity, it seemed unlikely that we would be able to stop for elevenses, but when a bench-with-a-view appeared before us, nicely in the shade, it didn't seem to be blighted by flies. Appearances can be deceptive. Mick got three more bites whilst we were there.
My most painful bite came as we stood at a viewpoint a while later...
...from where none of the Alps were visible on this sunny, but hazy, day.
Coming to a level crossing a while later, the sign posts didn't just point across it, but also along the lines. This is a disused railway, and whilst the tracks haven't been removed, a footpath has been instated alongside them:
We abandoned Route 5 for a few hundred metres here and took to the tracks instead, rather than wiggling through the adjacent woodland.
Arriving back in town we had walked 10.5km, against the advertised 8.8 (the closure at the beginning accounting for most of the discrepancy; the out-and-back from Bertie to the start/end point accounts for the rest), with very little ascent.
It's not going to go down as one of the most interesting walks of the trip, but (aside from the biting insects) there was nothing offensive about the countryside and woodland through which we walked. I'm not tempted to sample any more of the local routes, though; tomorrow we will move on.
Sorry to hear Mick is a bit crook. Hope he improves quickly.
ReplyDeleteIt's a problem that has long been recurring and, even after physio consultations, it's still a mystery as to why
Delete