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Maximiliansweg

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Walking on the "Maximiliansweg", a long-distance hiking trail from West to East through the Bavarian Alps. As always, sheep are among my favourite photo subjects.
"I am gone" or the "I am" path.
Looking back over Lake Constanza on the first day.
The Grünten (1 738 m), one of the more popular mountains of the area.
The Allgäuer Alps are not very high, but still pretty. Even in cloudy weather.
Walking into a speed camera...
Lush green hills.
Fox hunting chicken on a schoolyard.
A very strange way of building a new basement...
Typical stone formation of the area: a conglomerate called "Nagelfluh".
One of the narrow ridges of the Nagelfluh mountain range.
There’s an astonishing variety of flowers up here.
And that’s good, because you can’t see anything that’s not close to the path.
Another narrow part of the ridge.
Looking back toward thepeak of the Hochgrat (1 834 m)
Bad weather makes for impressive clouds...
... and muddy shoes. They were new a week ago!
Baby donkey.
Thankfully they sell postcards so you know what you’d see if there were no clouds.
More green hills.
My luxurious hotel room at Landhotel Rehbach. They even have a sauna in the basement!
There were many butterflies everywhere.
The ruins of castle Falkenstein. Thankfully (for the finances of the Bavarian State), King Ludwig II died before he could spend more money he didn’t have on the construction of a castle even bigger and fancier than Neuschwanstein in this place.
Looking down from Falkenstein.
The sign reads "Old Salober Alp (=name of the hut), every Monday until 10 p.m. traditional get-together for people who have nothing to do", written in Bavarian dialect.
Waterlilies on Lake Alat, a small lake in the mountains that was very popular with locals and tourists for bathing.
On the evening of the 6th day.
Waterfall of the river Inn that runs towards the Danube. Somehow, this was advertised as a spectacular view.
First view of Castle Neuschwanstein in the distance. Apparently the western (my) side is under construction.
Castle Hohenschwangau, built by the father of Ludwig II, King Maximilian II. He’s the guy whom the trail is named after.
And here it is, Germany’s most famous building, from the north-east. Castle Neuschwanstein. Commissioned bei King Ludwig II, it wasn’t even finished when he died at age 41.
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Looking down from Neuschwanstein towards Hohenschwangau.
And looking back towards Neuschwanstein while on the path towards the Tegelberg.
Often, trees were blocking the way.
On the peak of the Branderschrofen (1 879 m). In the back, you can see the Tegelberghaus, a mountain hut where I spent the night. And the lakes in the distance on the left are the Alpsee and Schwanensee, between which lies the Castle Hohenschwangau (not visible).
Sunset.
A small chapel in the valley hat it’s 1000th birthday, and they lit up 100 torches on the mountain to celebrate.
The Forggensee and city of Füssen in the evening, as seen from Tegelberghaus.
On the peak of the "Krähe" (Crow, 2 010 m). The first really sunny day on the trip.
View from the peak of the Hochplatte (2 082 m), the highest point on the whole trip, towards the Zugspitze (to the left of my head), the highest mountain in Germany. The view today was really amazing. Unfortunately, when crossing narrow ridges and ledges, I could always see exactly how deep I would fall if I slipped...
At this altitude, there’s still snow left over from last winter.
A landslide!
Schlosshotel Linderhof has royal prices, which at least got me a royally golden dustbin.
The grotto of Castle Linderhof, an artificial cave that King Ludwig had fitted with stage designs from Richard Wagner operas so he could enjoy his private performances in the appropriate atmosphere.
The Morroccan Kiosk in Castle Linderhof park, from the outside...
... and inside.
Intricate patterns of garden design.
And the castle with fountain. 5 kilograms of gold were used for goldplating in and around the castle.
A small fox, a rare sight though they are said to be very common animals.
Georg and me on the ridge between Heimgarten (1 791 m) and Herzogenstand (1 731 m) mountains. Some people suggested I might meet my soulmate on the path, and Georg is at least very close: favourite colour green, likes to be outdoors, pretty white teeth and always a warm smile (though it doesn’t show very well in this photo), well-dressed (there’s some stitching on his shirt), and he never naggs nor grumbles :-)
One of the more obvious waymarks for the long distance hiking trail "E4", The Maximiliansweg.
I met "Jonathan the Salamander" again.
On the morning after the thunderstorm and downpour near Tutzinger Hütte and Benediktenwand (1 800 m), the sun tries very hard to get through.
Best friends.
Fun on the summer sledge track at Lenggries. I rode it three times.
The "heavenly cake" served at Jaudenstadl alp.
In the evening sun on the way to Tegernsee. Note the walking stick --- I picked up some wooden pole every now and then, and reliably forgot it somewhere along the path at most a day later.
Washing the socks.
Evening over Tegernsee. The next day, I got caught in another thunderstorm and got completely wet, including water in my shoes that they squished with every step. I decided to go back to Munich that night so I could dry my stuff properly (I wasn’t very far from it anyway). When I checked the weather forecast the next morning, it predicted more thunderstorms and rain for the next days. As I knew there were things to do in other places that are more fun than walking in the rain, it wasn’t difficult to decide not to continue for now...

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