Geographically embarrassed and good Samaritans!

What a few days! Leaving Schongau we walked for eight kilometres, including a spot of serious cross country bush bashing, and ended up two kilometres behind where we started!  We were seriously lost!  Mind you it was pleasant walking, including a spot of uphill, and even our cross country venture was interesting.  We had to cross a gully to get to a deer hide, which we assumed hunters also had to access fairly easily, and therefore should be able find a landmark.  We did - a busy road, just the wrong one!  I was following Joan down the hill to the road and I could barely see her shoulders poking above the long grass!  She is a little shorter than me.

 The mossy, easy part of the cross country!

Joan emerging from the grass onrothw landmark road!

In the end we accepted an offer of a ride to Lechbruch, the days destination.  The woman we bailed up in the middle of her Nordic walking lap got so frustrated trying to describe where we were and how to find our way that she pointed to her house and said she would get the car and take us.  An offer we couldn't refuse!

This is obviously a landmark character of Lechbruch, stands guard at the end of the bridge.

The Lech.

We had so much time in Lechbruch that we were able to do a side tour to Marktoberdorf where we had a good mooch around before heading back to our B & B. 

One of the churches at Markoberdorf.

It was a day for being organised by others.  Even when it came to getting our room.  We went into a guesthouse asking for a room and the lass we asked scurried off to ask someone else, who in turn scurried somewhere else, with the original lass coming back every couple of minutes saying "one moment please"! Someone eventually decided the moments were enough, came out with a piece of paper and directions on how to get to our room (they had organised somewhere completely different for us to sleep)

Our hosts obviously felt we were incapable of finding our way, and so the next morning they sent us back to the Rathaus, where we could turn left and follow the signs!  They were right and we did, and we didn't get lost once yesterday!  A lovely straight road following the old railway, and then up and over a couple of small hills, where on top of one we found an old Roman Milestone.

The first Via Claudia sign - it just says VIA.

Joan checking the map at the Roman milestone, before we wander into the distance.

On the way to the Roman Milestone.

We followed the path around Forgensee, catching a ferry part way down to Fussen.  An interesting trip as the bow of the ferry nosed into the shore, put a ramp down and passengers got on and off this way.  It meant that, other than a concrete boat ramp down into the water, there was no need for infrastructure like a jetty to be maintained.

On Forgensee, not a natural lake but a reservoir used for hydro power and to help control flooding.

Last night and toady we have been doing touristy things, exploring the town, and today visiting the castles of King Ludwig ll.  He was the King that was declared insane and died of mysterious circumstances in the Lake near Starnberg (there is a photo on a previous post of the chapel marking the spot). He lived in a fantasy world, and the castles reflect that.  He was good mates with Richard Wagner and the walls in both castles were littered with paintings / frescoes of the Wagnerian operas. Saw the bed that Wagner slept in and the piano he played while at the castle.

A shopping street in Fussen.

Schloss Hohenschwangau

The lake at Hohenschwangau.

Schloss Neuschwanstein.

A scary bridge ( that I didn't venture on!) at Neuschwanstein.

People always ask how many pairs of shoes I wear - well have just had to buy new ones!  The old ones had plenty of tread left on them, but the lining has worn in several p!aces, and it has given me a blister, so new shoes to cross into Austria tomorrow!  Joan said price reflects quality, but I actually had to get a cheaper pair as they were the only ones that my orthotics would fit.

Internet has been hard to find, and sometimes slow.  Hopefully it might get better as I head south.  The Alps tomorrow!