Pilgerfahrt an Andechs

The day after Stefan's accident, before we had figured out how to use the hospital's designated smoking section to circumvent no-visitors rules (and before he was mobile enough to scoot himself there), and after I had emailed or phoned everyone who needed emailing or phoning with updates, I headed off for a long walk to Andechs. What was previously a one-way hike with a ride home at the end has morphed over the past two visits into an 18-mile roundtrip hike. 

We joke that the walk begins just outside of Auing by turning right at the goats.

A few km later, climb up to Schloss Seefeld...

...through the judiciously forested woods behind the Schloss...

...up to Widdersberg...

The 2019 Maibaum is still up; 2020 and 2021 were presumably
skipped because of Covid. I'll check back for 2022 after May 1.

...and up onto the trail over Herrsching...

...where the wood anemone were blooming in full glory...

...and then to this little creek. This creek crossing is the way to avoid getting onto the wrong trail--the one that ends in broken beer bottles and trash. Happy to have finally figured this out thanks to a Komoot.com map.

Up ahead, Kloster Andechs.

Getting closer, the trail becomes steep enough that photo ops offer a welcome chance to pause and catch one's breath. 

A quick stop inside the Baroque church to refresh my memory about the decor...

...a quick look toward the town of Andechs and the mountains to the south... 

...then up to the Biergarten to bow my head before the heilige Breze, Obazda, und Sprudel.

After this repast, I headed to the gift shop. They had a rack of guardian angel charms for every birth date of the year--but Stefan's birthday was sold out.

I took a different route back, down through the Kienbachtal behind Herrsching...

Past the reminder that not all bicyclists are as lucky as Stefan...

On 28 May 1911, 35-yr-old Georg Dilnertshofer from
Winkl-Egling had a bike wreck here and died shortly afterward.

The trail ends in Herrsching...

...where I passed this Eastcoast-living shop.

I tanked up with lemon gelato and a quick look at the Alps beyond the lake...

..and headed toward Hechendorf. I had never noticed the smiley face on the church in Hechendorf until I looked at this photograph. Up close and in person, the sundial doesn't look like a mouth at all, but now that I've seen it, I'll probably never un-see it...

Through the fields behind Hechendorf, heading back toward the goats, I thought about how nice it would have been to be able to skip these last few km. At the same time, this hike was longer and had fewer breaks than any single-day hike I've planned for an upcoming multi-day trip, so I'm feeling well prepared.

Ta da!

The next day, when Berthold and I met up with Stefan in the Weilheim hospital's designated smoking area, I gave Stefan a box of essentials and goodies, including this pewter leg from Andechs, tastefully paired with a blood-red ribbon and proportionately long nail from home. (Leibniz butter cookie included for scale.) 

And then I walked 14 miles from Weilheim to Herrsching--so I'm feeling pretty confident that I can walk long distances on successive days.