At night, the rain that was predicted the whole afternoon finally came. It was quite some downpour but no thunder. So much for precise weather forecast. 🤣
We didn’t rush to breakfast this morning because we had a short trip ahead today but since we went to bed rather early we were hungry and awoke before the alarm. And so we were the first ones at breakfast again… 😉
There was an elderly couple up as early as we and we had a nice chat all through breakfast. The selection of food was again very nice, Sonnentor tea, various vegetarian spreads, home-made jams and even banana bread. After an hour – much longer than we intended – we finally started our today’s tour.
The weather was nice, cooler than during the last days, sunny and the air smelled of fresh rain. It was only a few 100 metres before the track led us through the forest again. First we crossed the Spitzer Bach.
And then uphill it went through a rain-wet forest. No kidding, it was no smooth comfortable uphill hiking, more of a “how steep can we make the path before hikers tumble backwards” style. Though, to be fair, in not even 1,5km we made 300m uphill and reached our first highlight, the Trenning which even had a summit cross. And best of all: a gorgeous view!
Then a rather rocky path lead us down from the summit and after a few 100m again into the forest. After a few minutes we emerged into a wide meadow and hiked through a small village before we went uphill again, at first through beautiful flowery meadows before we entered the forest again.
At first, the path was again very steep but after reaching the height of about 800m it began to smooth. Up to now we haven’t met a single person and had the quiet of the forest all to ourselves. It smelled so good after the rain – why can’t I bottle up this smell? 😌
Then we suddenly were at the Naturparkhaus Jauerling (the Jauerling being Austria’s highest peak in the Wachau) where we had again the best view down on the Wachau.
It was only 10 a.m. and we were the first ones up there. We ordered coffee and cake and had a great time all alone up here with no other guests around and chatting with the innkeeper for more than an hour about hiking adventures. We also learnt a lot of the region and the Jauerling and really had a hard time to continue.
And btw, the cakes were delicious! 🤤
So delicious that mine didn’t even make it onto the photo in one piece. 😂
Then we hiked to the “false Jauerling peak” which was a beautiful green meadow surrounded by the forest. False because you would think that’s the top of the Jauerling but it isn’t. 🤣 After 5 more minutes we reached the real Jauerling peak which looked like this:
Yeah, I’m not joking – that’s the highest point up here. Inside this piece of art there was a beautiful short ode to the Jauerling:
But to do it justice – we got our good view down… After continuing on we reached the Aussichtswarte after a few minutes and climbed up the 200 stairs to be rewarded with views as far as the Ötscher, Traunstein, Rax, Schneeberg… 🤩
After climbing down again we chatted a few minutes with the nice lady at the Aussichtswarte before we started our descent on Maria Laach.
It was a smooth and wonderful hike through the forest and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more!
With Maria Laach already in plain sight the trail took a mean turn and guided us all up again to get a “panorama view” on Maria Laach before finally descending into the town.
After this great day Maria Laach was more of a “lean back and relax” kind of town where there wasn’t anything to do so we visited the pilgrimage church with the painting “Maria Sechsfinger” (Marie being painted with 6 fingers on the right hand) and a beautiful altar.
One great thing in Maria Laach is a very well stocked farmer’s shop opened 24/7 where you can buy regional products of all kinds and just leave the money in a box.
Dinner tonight was at our accommodation since there really isn’t anything else in Maria Laach. 😉
Today in numbers:
- 14km
- 900m up and 650m down
- Hiking time: 3h
- Total time: 5h 35min