Where's Bertie? He's still at the Stellplatz at the Abbey at Beuron.
Weather: Glorious sunshine to start, gradually clouding later. Rather hot.
The helicopter left just before 11 last night (leaving the car park strewn with hay, making it look like a tide mark from a flood). Our neighbours chatted outside our door until midnight. The monks were called to their first service of the day at 4.45, by the lengthy clanging of the bell atop the monastery building. Apparently, one of the monks failed to attend on the first call* as a few minutes after the clanging stopped, it started up again with renewed vigour. At 7.30 it was time for the second service and the clanging started over, but by then my alarm had gone off, and I had hauled myself wearily out of bed. (*This is probably not at all true, but I liked it as an explanation for the renewal of the clanging.)
Combining the disturbed night with the amount of walking and running I've been doing lately, there was a great deal of weariness as I trotted up the valley this morning, back to the restaurant we passed yesterday afternoon, and slightly beyond. On my return, Mick was met running towards me and, turning, he provided a little distraction from the weary legs for the final couple of miles.
Taken during yesterday's walk. This morning I ran along the track that was crossed by yesterday's path.
I'd really wanted to walk another circuit today, as this area is so stunning, and as the walking routes are plentiful. However, in view of the level of weariness in the legs, I had to concede that the more sensible option was a quiet day.
So, after breakfast and elevenses, we wandered up to the church, finding a service to be in full swing (being a working monastery, there are so many services a day that I reckon any visitor will have a 50/50 chance of finding one underway). We stood at the back a while and observed.
Wandering off around the village, we found it bigger than I had expected (which isn't to say it's big, but I'd formed the impression that there was nothing here but the monastery, a couple of hotels and a cafe). It's a spectacular place to live, with all those limestone outcrops around ... but you'd have to get used to sleeping through clanging bells!
What a magnificent building. No idea what it was, but it is now abandoned and starting to fall apart.
We managed to hit the church between services on our second attempt, giving us the chance for a better look around. It has the blingiest organ I can remember seeing...
...but it was the ceiling that was really striking:
The side chapel was well decorated too:
Our tour was completed with a walk back out along our running route, to grab a snap of the entire complex:
Viewed from across a field of cultivated wild flowers.
Deciding to stay here another night, we went and fed some more money into the machine. In contrast to yesterday, when it return the money and gave us a ticket, today it ate the money and didn't give us a ticket. Should have 'bought' two days yesterday! With it clearly faulty, I was loathed to put more money in, as it seemed likely that it would also swallow that, still leaving us with no ticket. We've put an explanatory note on the windscreen and hope that will suffice.
I think we could happily stay here another couple of days, to take the walk we didn't do today and to run along the river again (it's gloriously cool and shaded in the early morning), except that there are no shops nearby (not even a bakery) and we are missing some ingredients we would like (notably bread). Plus, we were meant to be heading to a city right about now to do some laundry, and at the rate we're going it's going to be another three weeks before we achieve that, which is about three weeks longer than we have clean clothes remaining.
Weather: Glorious sunshine to start, gradually clouding later. Rather hot.
The helicopter left just before 11 last night (leaving the car park strewn with hay, making it look like a tide mark from a flood). Our neighbours chatted outside our door until midnight. The monks were called to their first service of the day at 4.45, by the lengthy clanging of the bell atop the monastery building. Apparently, one of the monks failed to attend on the first call* as a few minutes after the clanging stopped, it started up again with renewed vigour. At 7.30 it was time for the second service and the clanging started over, but by then my alarm had gone off, and I had hauled myself wearily out of bed. (*This is probably not at all true, but I liked it as an explanation for the renewal of the clanging.)
Combining the disturbed night with the amount of walking and running I've been doing lately, there was a great deal of weariness as I trotted up the valley this morning, back to the restaurant we passed yesterday afternoon, and slightly beyond. On my return, Mick was met running towards me and, turning, he provided a little distraction from the weary legs for the final couple of miles.
Taken during yesterday's walk. This morning I ran along the track that was crossed by yesterday's path.
I'd really wanted to walk another circuit today, as this area is so stunning, and as the walking routes are plentiful. However, in view of the level of weariness in the legs, I had to concede that the more sensible option was a quiet day.
So, after breakfast and elevenses, we wandered up to the church, finding a service to be in full swing (being a working monastery, there are so many services a day that I reckon any visitor will have a 50/50 chance of finding one underway). We stood at the back a while and observed.
Wandering off around the village, we found it bigger than I had expected (which isn't to say it's big, but I'd formed the impression that there was nothing here but the monastery, a couple of hotels and a cafe). It's a spectacular place to live, with all those limestone outcrops around ... but you'd have to get used to sleeping through clanging bells!
What a magnificent building. No idea what it was, but it is now abandoned and starting to fall apart.
We managed to hit the church between services on our second attempt, giving us the chance for a better look around. It has the blingiest organ I can remember seeing...
...but it was the ceiling that was really striking:
The side chapel was well decorated too:
Our tour was completed with a walk back out along our running route, to grab a snap of the entire complex:
Viewed from across a field of cultivated wild flowers.
Deciding to stay here another night, we went and fed some more money into the machine. In contrast to yesterday, when it return the money and gave us a ticket, today it ate the money and didn't give us a ticket. Should have 'bought' two days yesterday! With it clearly faulty, I was loathed to put more money in, as it seemed likely that it would also swallow that, still leaving us with no ticket. We've put an explanatory note on the windscreen and hope that will suffice.
I think we could happily stay here another couple of days, to take the walk we didn't do today and to run along the river again (it's gloriously cool and shaded in the early morning), except that there are no shops nearby (not even a bakery) and we are missing some ingredients we would like (notably bread). Plus, we were meant to be heading to a city right about now to do some laundry, and at the rate we're going it's going to be another three weeks before we achieve that, which is about three weeks longer than we have clean clothes remaining.
That building is the Pilgerheim (pilgrim's hostel) which isn't that old - I think it was built around 1905. Beuron is famous for its religious art - the Beuron School (ie style) was a huge influence in the late 19th early 20th century. I only passed through for a couple of hours as I was on my way to Bern at the time. Keep up the good work !
ReplyDeleteIt appears that it is now the ex-hostel, as it is all shut up, overgrown, and falling apart - which is rather sad as it is such a magnificent place.
DeleteI knew nothing of the art connection until after we arrived in Beuron and I Googled the Abbey to see what I could find out about it. Unfortunately for our timing, the public art exhibition is only open on Sundays and Public Holidays. I did give passing thought to staying yet another day, so we could go and view it tomorrow, but too many factors were telling us to move on.