Taking the easy way up
KEY INFORMATION
| Distance | 154km (or 159km following Stage 7B) |
| Total ascent | 5320m |
| Total descent | 6620m |
| Alternative schedule | The Inn Valley can be crossed in different ways, including an option that reduces the overall schedule by a day. The alternatives are outlined in the introduction to Stage 7. |
STAGE 1
Munich to Wolfratshausen
| Start | Marienplatz (521m) |
| Distance | 34km |
| Ascent/Descent | 140m/90m |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Walking time | 8hr 10min |
| Maximum altitude | 574m |
| Refreshments | There are plenty of places along the route to stop for lunch but if you’d prefer a picnic then Pullach has a particularly good baker and tempting local cheesecake. |
| Routefinding | The route is flat and easy to follow and there are several types of waymark providing direction to Wolfratshausen. Beware, however, no single set of waymarks leads to your destination and a wrong turn, annoying on what is a long day, is possible. The most helpful signs are the yellow Isartal Verein markers. Also useful are the Jacobswege signs (part of the trans-European St James’ Way network). |
Despite the fact that Stage 1 starts right in the heart of the third largest city in Germany this first stage is an enjoyable one. Making use of a long green finger that follows the River Isar through the city, it doesn’t feel urban and makes a pleasant way to warm up for the journey ahead.
The walk starts at the Marienplatz (521m), Munich’s main city centre square.
The square is dominated by the ‘new’ City Hall, a huge neo-Gothic building constructed towards the end of the 19th century. In the summer the square is generally packed with tourists, so taking unobstructed farewell pictures can be a challenge.
Leave the square on its southeast side and head along the Tal past Macdonalds, Burger King and the Schneiderweiss Brauhaus, one of the city’s best known drinking establishments. Pass the old city gates (Isartor) and after crossing a potentially busy junction continue southeast down the Isartorplatz into the Zweibrückenstraße and to the bridge over the River Isar. Don’t cross the bridge but turn right, heading down the Erhardstraße. After 300m turn left over a bridge and pass through the courtyard of the Deutsches Museum and then over another bridge (the museum is on an island in the river). Turn right after the bridge (1) onto a footpath running parallel with a cycle path and head southwest. Although you are still in the city your hard surface walking has now finished.
Continue southwest along a riverside walkway for 4km. Don’t stray onto the cycle track which can be busy with cyclists rushing into the city. These cyclists take no prisoners. The massive church on the opposite side of the river is the late 19th-century neo-Romanesque Maximilian Kirche.
After passing underneath five bridges the route reaches a wooden footbridge, the Marienklausenbrücke, and crosses to the other side. The bridge is a local version of the more famous Pont des Art in Paris where devoted lovers leave engraved padlocks.
A sign of Renate and Fredi’s love on the Marienklausenbrücke
Follow a gravel path running south southwest between the river and the Isar canal. After 2km the route passes under a railway bridge and, at the same time, crosses a bridge over the canal (2) continuing south on its right hand side.
After 2km (3) a sign points right to a path that heads up a bank and into the centre of Pullach where food can be found if needed. Follow the canal path for another kilometre to the Gaststätte Brückenwirt (reached after passing under a road bridge).
Continue south for 1.5km along the side of the canal until the path reaches a road (4). Turn right and follow the road for a short distance up a hill. Cross to the other side of the road to join a path that climbs up and around a very elegant hydroelectric power station. At a junction at the crest of the hill (5) take the left fork and follow a gently descending forest road through trees back down to what is now the river rather than the canal.
The forest road you’ve been following now turns into a narrow forest path (with limited waymarking) that can be muddy in places. Continue south to join another forest road and climb gently along it to a metalled one. Turn left onto the road and follow it down into the village of Schäftlarn.
The large and impressive building in the middle of the village was a Benedictine Monastery founded in 701 and is now a school.
The Klosterbräu Stüberl (www.klosterbraeustueberl-schaeftlarn.de, tel 49 8178 3694) is a traditional Bavarian gasthof specialising in the local cuisine (in particular duck and carp dishes). It also provides accommodation.
Continue through the village alongside the road and southeast back to the river. Before crossing the bridge have a look at the installation in the car park and display boards on the River Isar.
On the other side of the bridge is the Gasthaus Brückenfischer (www.bruckenfischer.de, tel 49 8178 3635) another traditional Bavarian gasthof providing both food and accommodation.
Turn right after the bridge and pass through the car park in front of the gasthof. Follow a path that runs between the wild river and the banks of the elevated canal (a path also runs along the bank of the canal). Various boards describe different aspects of the river’s natural history but the best is the last where a series of boxes with buttons emit bird songs. This installation marks the point where the route climbs to the top of the canal bank and joins a path heading south to the Ickinger Weir (6), reached after 2km.
Choose your birdsong along the River Isar
The weir has to be crossed. To do this you have to go through a metal door which opens onto concrete stairs and a footbridge through a wooden superstructure that covers the workings of the weir. It’s an unlikely route but a sign to Wolfratshausen on the other side provides the reassurance that it’s the right one.
Continue for 3km into Wolfratshausen passing the beauty spot at Riemerschmidt Stein after a kilometre.
WOLFRATSHAUSEN 574M
Wolfratshausen sits at the confluence of the Isar and Loisach rivers and has been a significant market town since the 13th century.
It has all the key services including a railway station. Most German walkers stay at the Gasthof Humpbräu (www.humplbraeu.de, tel 49 8171 483290) near the church on the west bank of the Isar. Apparently Ludwig Grassler, designer of the original Munich to Venice route in 1974, now lives in Wolfratshausen and can sometimes be found there welcoming walkers. Also good, and very comfortable, is the Hotel Isartaler Hof (breakfast only, www.hotel-isartaler-hof.de, tel 49 8171 23 88 122) located to the east of the train station.
STAGE 2
Wolfratshausen to Bad Tölz
| Start | Wolfratshausen railway station (574m) |
| Distance | 28km |
| Ascent/Descent | 240m/170m |
| Difficulty | Easy |
| Walking time | 7hr 10min |
| Maximum
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