Maria Kirchental - Tue, Sept 16 (UK trip day 35)
Over the past couple days we'd seen these signs, generally near the yellow pathway signs that showed 50 minute hike on "red" or intermediate difficulty trail. Yesterday we'd asked the energetic young man in the outdoor shop about it and he said it was worthwhile but be sure to return by Trail #1 to see beautiful waterfalls.
GERMAN - Each day we're getting a bit better at understanding some German. Especially since Jim pointed out that they string several words together into one. like wallfahrtskirche means pilgrimage church.
Maria Kirchenthal is a small baroque 300 year old pilgrimage church called "Pinzauer Dom" and is situated in a high valley 900 meters above St Martin bei Lofer.
7 different pathways lead to this valley of "heavenly calm" . We couldn't read the German and I've only just now translated them. But we were able to figure out the gist and go the correct trails.
- Wallfahrer Weg or Pilgrim's Way (Wanderweg -hiking trail) starts at the toll both in St Martin. 1500 m long (1 mile) 40 minutes. It has 19 information panels along the way - in German of course - with the history of the church. We came back DOWN this trail.
- Olberg-Weg (Wanderweg - hiking trail) from the toll booth in St Martin. 1500 m long (1 mile) 40 minutes.
- Tiroler-Steig (Wanderweg - hiking trail) from Hochmoos to Kirchental. 2000 m long (1.25 mile) 50 minutes. We went UP this trail.
- Luftenstein Weg (Forstweg - forest path) from Liftenstein to Kirchental
- Kirchental Strasse (Mautstrasse - toll road) A paved road from the toll booth in St Martin to Kirchental. Many shrines along this road.
- Salzburger Stein (Alpine climb) from Lofer, just looking at the map we could determine this was NOT for us.
- Schardinger Stein (Alpine climb) from Schmidt. Only for mountain sure-footed hikers.
Woke to sun - as opposed to the rain of the past few days - and forecast of warmer weather. Dressed in layers with tee shirts as the first layer, packed water and peanuts then crossed the road into Hochmoos to take the more level of the paths up. (path #3). "More level" yes, but we still had to ascend the 247 meters vertical height so between stopping continually to take pictures of our beautiful surroundings and me taking short but regular rest stops it took us double their posted walking time. Oh well, we didn't have any specific agenda for the day so no reason to hurry.
It started out cool in the morning and became more so as we entered the forest and ascended the mountain so I was glad for my layers. It was so quiet and peaceful as we hiked along the small trail thru the forest with tall trees, huge boulders and moss covered rocks. I wondered how anyone found this path and how they brought up the materials to build the church in 1697. We also realized that it was off season and a weekday, so we were alone - didn't see anyone until we approached our objective.
The valley and church were indeed beautiful and after walking around we ate lunch on the outdoor patio of a small cafe. We found the waterfall path for the return trip back down the mountain. It was much more steep than the other path but we were careful and stopped often to take pictures and videos. The path zig zagged down the mountain staying near the waterfalls so we were constantly amazed at the beauty and sound of the rushing water. This path landed us back in St Martin where we wandered around for a while.
WANDERGOLF - As we strolled around St Martin we came across 2 of the minature golf holes - made from scrap wood and recycled farm implements. (see video below) I'd picked up a brochure yesterday about this 18 hole golf course "of a different kind" with holes scattered along walking trails in St Martin and Lofer played with balls and mallets you can pick up from the visitor centre. Unfortunately we won't have time to actually play it as we have plans for each of our remaining days.
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL - The trail we selected from St Martin back to Grubhof took us through a field of dairy cows. These were "fenced in" by spaced posts with thin rope wrapped around them - which we discovered by mistake is actually electrified! Still somewhat daunting to be right next to a huge unknown cow.
BAD HOUSEMOUSE - After a few hours back at our room and wine on the patio during "sunset", we headed to Gastaf - Bad Hochmoos for dinner. This pathway is all paved as it goes thru neighborhoods that we'd previously traversed in daylight but on the way back in the pitch dark we were glad to have the flashlight on our iPhones to help us past a few places without street lights.
STARS - I've never seen so many constellations and stars. On the walk back in the dark, Jim stopped so we could look up at the sky. Without any city lights for miles and miles and miles and miles, the sky was covered in stars. Truly amazing.