Day 2 Weissenbach am Lech

I got to Weissenbach am Lech but somehow without going along the route of the red variant of the Via Alpina. What I hadn't realised when I set off this morning is that the Prinz-Luitpold-Haus is actually on two variants of the Via Alpina and I set off on the wrong one. In my defence both variants are marked red on the map it was only when the gap between the route I was following and the trail on my GPS (no maps on my GPS) got so large that I started to get suspicious.

On the pass at Bockkarscharte (2149 metre)

I suspect that, although it was longer, the route I accidentally took was better. The weather was fantastic and once I had climbed up to pass above the hutte the route stayed high and above the tree line for the rest of the morning. Essentially contouring for about 8 kilometres, with just the occasional bit of "via ferrata" where the trail was either steep or treacherous, the walking was excellent. Amazing views back to the Hochvogel which dominated the horizon to the south.

View back to Hochvogel

I finally decided that my variant of Via Alpina was taking me too far north and near a feature called the Lahnerscharte, I left the Via Alpina Trail and headed east following the signs to the Landsberger Hutte. Still wonderful open scenery spoilt only slightly by the fact that I didn't know where I was. After a hour or so I arrived at the hutte, full of walkers drinking beer, bought another map (a different publisher) and low and behold on this map the Via Alpina I had been following was marked grey/blue. Not to worry, the route to Weissenbach was easy to spot and following the slightly longer route I got to the Hotel Florence at about 4.

Approaching Landsberger Hutte

In turned out that the correct route involved crossing the pass north of the Prinz-Luitpold-Haus and then heading straight down and along the side of a river to Weissenbach, definitely an easier route but I don't think as pretty.

Survived my first night in the dormitory and got some sleep but not a lot. Was missing an essential piece of kit - earplugs. After tonight I have three nights in huts so I'm hoping there might be a shop in Weissenbach that sells them. If not I'm going to be totally knackered when I meet up with Christine on Sunday.


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