Wednesday 11th October 2023

Kirschgaten and Surrounds

It seems the summer like conditions have 3 more days to go here in the Black Forest , which see us about to head south when day time temperatures plummet by 10-12 degrees.

Kitchen kept up the high standards and we fuelled up for what was essentially a downhill run for most of the day.

It was improved even more by fact that a bus took us up into the mountains to start the 15 Kms. The area is famous for its Monastery, cuckoo clock making and being the sight of a Hitler Youth Teaining camp after the war.

Thankfully no relic of the latter exists.

Arrived at St Stephen’s Monastery, which as expected sat on top of a hill, with a double spired church that you could see from miles away.

The outside was surrounded by cloisters, which have now been converted into admin offices , residences and small business units.

Everything was pretty austere from the outside, but inside was the Catholic Church at its opulent best.

Walls were adorned with sculptures and paintings , whilst the ceiling was awash with Fresco’s

Lots of ornamental gold featured in the cordoned off altar area which was half the size of a football field. The pipe organ stood proudly over the entry way.

One quakes when you try to estimate the value of places like this.

The oversized chess set, tiny fountain and sculpture outside paled into insignificance.

Spent a bit of time wandering around before setting off for the descent. It lasted about 3 minutes before we chugged our way through the village,where houses were all neat as a pin, with many having showy flower fronts.

Then it was up and out into the meadows with the spires ever in sight when looking back, as we steadily beat our way uphill. There were plenty of walkers of our age out and about with the usual contingent of cyclists.

Reached a significant historical point – the gallows. No remnants of it other than a sign and a tree , perhaps it’s something best not celebrated when it sits right in the middle of a pilgrims way, albeit it was next to a sign about wolves.

Finally found our first bit of genuine downhill terrain and passed a few horses coming up steeply and puffing, a bit like we were on the other side, trying to manage a 35 degree ascent.

The downhill continued along the outside of the forest, which gave a great view but didn’t help the head of someone who forgot their hat.

As usual it was a myriad of signs and walking instructions we had to follow which stopped when we arrived at Lindenberg with the House of Maria and famous church.

The spot has been a visiting place of pilgrims for over 600 years and has a mantra of ‘ whatever comes with you to Lindenbetg stays here’ perhaps a modern day translation might be ‘ what happens on tour stays on tour’.

We couldn’t get into the church because a service was in progress, so we plonked for a morning break. Fed and watered we headed off, until 800 meters down the track I realized my phone was on the bench. Broke a few records on the way back but with a bit of divine intervention it was still there. As I reflected later in the day it might have been fortune used too early.

The way markers on the way down included a series of chapels which got increasingly smaller as we progressed. The second last one was a one person affair and the last was obviously a bit of German humour.

The next hour or so saw us wandering in and out of forests, up and down very narrow tracks and waiting for the first sound of a cuckoo bird- the only one to date was on a clock. We did see a field mouse as compensation who was cunningly avoiding the black eagles who frequent the area.

Such was the concentration we ended up lost and in some farmers back yard. Given our last recalled marker was a kilometer up the hill , where we chatted with a few locals, we decided to throw away the instruction book and defer to our back up app.

An hour and 3.8 kilometers later we finally reached a point where the real track and our misadventure reunited. Thankfully it was at a railway station and we decided on a 5 minute train ride instead of an hour walk.

Back in town we had a celebratory coffee and Black Forest cake before having a wander around town.

Later we ran into our Welsh pals who got lost in exactly the same place. On reflection we think some recent forestry work may have removed markers – well at least that was our defence.

We decided to have a one course meal for dinner in a pub like establishment and that was exactly what got served up.

It was home to bed with tomorrow’s challenge another ‘downhill’ walk of only 12 Kms which starts at the bottom of a chair lift.