6 a.m. That’s when you’re being woken up in pilgrimage places because the church bells just love to announce that time of the day… 🙄 It also doesn’t help when your accommodation is right next to the church, mind you.
Breakfast at the Hotel Grüner Baum was nothing special but it was food so we stuffed ourselves and started today’s two stages of the trail…
Since today’s stage would only be 7km we just combined it with the next one, too, because what can one possibly do in Aggsbach Markt the whole day?
The morning was cool and cloudy but no rain so far so we started off at the Maria Laach pilgrimage church (photo from the cemetery backside).
The track immediately lead us uphill passing meadows.
Again, we were all alone, it was very quiet and even the sun showed itself for some moments. Soon, we entered a forest and hiked without any ups and downs quite comfortably along. It would have been perfect – we even saw a replica of the Venus of Willendorf and already had a good view down to Aggsbach:
But then, 2km before Aggsbach it began – the path of unspeakable horror! Obviously, the whole hiking path is being redone (probably made larger by killing the vegetation on both sides) and currently was in a state of disarray, hence: totally torn open.
Due to the rain last night it was not only earthy but muddy, hard to walk and provoked quite some stumbling. We nearly ran down the path just to get it over with!
I wouldn’t have thought I’d say it but I was really happy when we reached a paved street again.
Aggsbach itself also was no highlight, one big building site it seemed. We just headed through and were very happy not to have to stay for the night. The only photo I made was of the church there:
Soon enough we were lead out of it and uphill through the forest which suited us just well!
Around midday we decided to make a lunch break just before a tiny village called Zintring, and because we couldn’t find a bench to sit we just used some wooden beam next to the path (of course, just 10m ahead there really was a bench after all! 🤦). We ate our beloved Mohnzelten which obviously are religious here 😉:
Then, we just sat 10 minutes, it began to rain. Yeah, if course. 🙄 We got packed, got our umbrellas out and continued. Another 10 minutes later the rain stopped but we continued our hike because we wouldn’t be fooled, no, Sir! 😤
After passing through Zintring we headed through a forest again, a little down first and up again. But it was very enjoyable and relaxing hiking.
After emerging in an even smaller village called Felbring we headed through meadows and – as very often today – through “Christmas tree land”, areas like orchards where Christmas trees are cultivated.
Yes, believe me that’s a thing in the Wachau. If you want to read more on it: https://www.christbaum.at
Then the descent to Emmersdorf began. Only like 2km before Emmersdorf we found a sign saying “Burgkircherl Gossam” and since it was only a small detour we left the trail for a short time and headed there.
We nearly ran past it because it was so hidden:
The ruins of this Romanesque style church were magical like a lost and long forgotten place but it also had a very sad story to it, too. 😥
After a short break we headed back and continued the descent to Emmersdorf which, funnily, started with an ascent first:
But it was great to hike, all through the forest. After 1km we emerged at a plateau called Mödelsdorf which mainly consisted of farms with fruit orchards and a riding stable. But along the way we found this lovely surprise:
We donated some coins and got us a muesli bar and ice cream. 🥰
And then finally we got the first glimpse of Emmersdorf and even Melk which just is on the other side of the Danube:
After reaching Emmersdorf and finding our accommodation for this night, the lovely Pemmerhof, we showered and went to hunt for food. At first we wanted to enter the local supermarket Nah&Frisch but then we saw that there also was a Bauernladen like in Maria Laach (“Genussladen” – check it out: https://www.facebook.com/Genussladen-Emmersdorf-105910874894482/) and we got something for the evening like regional yogurt, crackers, grape juice etc. And then we had a great early dinner at the Donauhof and finally had Marillenknödel as dessert, a must eat in the Wachau! 🤤
Total in numbers:
- 23km
- 800m up and 1050m down
- Hiking time: 5h 50min
- Total time: 5h