Monday 17th June: Weather: 13°C to 20°C: Morning is cool and sunny with blue skies, afternoon very warm
Mittenwald to Garmische-Partenkirchen: 20k: 8am to 3pm: 7hrs with 1 shop stop and 1 x 30 min breaks
Accommodation: Hostel der Athleten Garmische
Leaving Ferienhaus Antonio at 8am
Klotz statue in front of church
Lautersee, 10 mins from Mittenwald
Ferchensee, 40 mins further
Apple strudel wrapping in rubbish
20k walk around Chevreuse
Zugspitze appears
Schloss Elmau site G7 summit 2019
Zugspitze 2692m at end of valley
Sound of Music country again
Meadows, trees and Zugspitze
Elmauer Alm Hut
Ridge walk towards the Zugspitze
An unexpectedly great 20k day after thinking we were just walking along forest roads from Mittenwald to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. First highlight was having apple strudel for morning tea after almost 3 hrs of hiking through forest roads. Then next we stumble across Schloss Elmau Hotel, location of the 2015 G& summit. But the best highlight was walking out of the forest at Elmau and looking up the meadowed valley to see the mighty snow capped Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany at 2962 metres. And for the next hour, wherever we looked down or up the valley we could see it looming high above all else.
Awake at 6am and have our second jug boiled cup of tea. We’re still amazed at how good this place is. Breakfast is our own muesli with yoghurt, followed by a shower and packing. I’m even fussier about cleaning up this place, it’s so nice. And at 8am we’re ready to leave. It’s about 1k into the village of Mittenwald, past the church with the statue of Matthias Klotz, a famous violin maker. Then on to a Backerie to buy bread and a chunk of apple strudel, then the local Netto supermarket to buy some butter and cheese.
It’s almost 9am when we leave Mittenwald and follow the signs to the alpine lakes. The first lake Lautersee is about 20 minutes walk and Ferchensee is a further 40 minutes, both pretty as a postcard with blue skies and snow capped mountains. Then it’s another hour of walking through picturesque pine forests until finally we’re at a seat in the middle of the forest and have our morning coffee, sharing a wonderful apple strudel. The forest track takes us towards Schloss Elmau, rated as one of the world’s best hotels. This was the location of the G7 Summit in 2015 with Angela Merkel and Barack Obama among others in attendance.
But more surprising than the hotel, was the sudden appearance of the Zugspitze standing at 2692m at the end of the valley. And for the next hour, we could caught sight of this mountain at every twist and turn on the track. Following the signs to Elmauer Hutte, the ascent is very steep and sharp for several hundred metres gain in altitude. Eventually we join the ridge walk in the direction of Wamberg, but more of a roller coaster walk that a flat balcony walk. Towards the end of the ridge walk, near 1pm, there’s a seat and table with a view over Schloss Elmau. A perfect spot for lunch of fresh bread, butter, cheese and tomatoes.
From the ridge, there’s signs to Wamburg which we follow. But it’s steep. Very steep. And tiring walking downhill for more than an hour on this steep gravelly road that’s difficult to get a footing as the stones are so slippery. By 2pm, we’re in the tiny village of Wamberg, with it’s St Anna Church built in 1720, and 10 barn houses - half barn for the cows in winter and half house for the farmers living quarters.
We can see the town of Garmisch Parten Kirchen down below but there’s still another hour of walking down hill to get there. Finally at 3pm, we arrive at the Hostel der Athleten. The place is next to the Olympic Ski jump of the 1936 Winter Olympics and our twin bed room is small but ok. After dumping our gear, we immediately walk the 500 metres to Netto, the local supermarket to stock up on food as we’ll be here for the next 2 days.
Back to our room at 5pm in time for to shower and wash our clothes. Then straight down to the well equipped kitchen to put our beers in the freezer whilst we sort photos. Ay 6pm, the beers are cold enough, and dinner is 2 x sausages left from yesterday plus a huge lettuce, tomato, and onion salad drowned in mayonnaise. In bed at 7.30 and asleep at 8pm after a long few days.
Wamberg - Village of barn houses
Barn house - half barn, half house