Markt Rettenbach to Bad Grönenbach, 26Km
There was no breakfast at the pilgrim house but that was fine because the bakery opens at 5:30. However, my world was upset when I arrived at 7:30 to find the place locked. I held the Google translate app over the note on the door which yielded the disappointing news, “Daily except Wednesday”. However, another shop along the road was ready to support the people of Markt Rettenbach and breakfast was served.
All the schools in Bavaria returned yesterday and I watched the children meet each other and take the school bus. It’s the same September feeling as in the UK when you find yourself in the year above and everything is getting serious.
A British telephone box caught my eye. It belonged to a classic car dealer who had some amazing vehicles including a Ford Escort Mk1 in rally trim and a DeLorean.
I thought I might walk along the cycle way to Ottobeuren but there wasn’t one so I stayed with Jakobsweg which led me backwards and forward across wet fields, adding unnecessary kilometres to the walk.
The only thing you notice as you approach Ottobeuren is the huge Benedictine Abbey (764AD). Whatever your feelings about Baroque architecture, like me you would have been blown away as you opened the heavy wooden door and stepped inside. It reminded me of the grand Harrods Christmas grotto. I can’t think of any other words to describe it. The best thing about it were the saints. Unlike most other countries, the saints are on display in glass cabinets. So you can get right up close to the skeletal remains of St Januarius or St Boniface or the other two who I couldn’t decipher. I stayed in the abbey a long time, mesmerised by it all.
A wind was blowing when I left the Abbey and I put on my fleece and down and waterproof and then encountered the worst section of the entire Jakobsweg. The path was seriously overgrown and descended a very steep valley side. Several sections were arbitrarily “closed” with notices that began “Achtung!” I scrambled over landslides and fallen trees, brambles and thick undergrowth and a wasp slipped down the back of my neck and stung me.
In the middle of all that chaos, I lost the Jakobsweg and never found it again. Never mind. I’m in a spa hotel in Bad Grönenbach for two nights and the rain is lashing down on the glass roof. I’ve booked a foot massage for tomorrow; I might upgrade it to the full mind and body recovery experience.
Bad Grönenbach
Pilgrimage 
The abbey looks amazing, Tim. Thanks for the insight. I just visited the Mesqitte in Cordoba and like the abbey, the sheer scale and ceilings are transcendent.
I hope the wasp suffered 🙂
Take care, Torin
I gave the wasp a decent burial. The Mesqitte in Cordoba is one of my 7 wonders of the world. Isn’t it amazing?
Enjoy your foot massage tomorrow and back to school and starting college is going well here, from next door.
That’s a relief, another chapter opens…
The spa hotel sounds just the job after that nightmare of a path with the wasp! It’s chilly in London tonight.
It was just the job too. Back to work tomorrow
You have just added a new category to my funeral options. I will see if the grandchildren approve. Sweet dreams…
Thank God we have a law against it
Kia ora, Tim, an amazing day of contrasts. A British phone box and classic cars followed by that Abbey with an interior which ranges from the gorblimey to the grotesque. The interior decoration with its conspicuous display of wealth and opulence combined with skeletal remains of saints is horrid. Enjoy your zero day. Kia kaha
Guess what happens when you put a euro in the slot
Oh Tim I’m impressing by th monastère and the saints in the glass cabinets… I’ ll show that to our priests. I hope the forecast ‘ll bé better thé next days without waps🤢. Didier suffers for your 😉.
Take Care of you
A truly spectacular church with nothing left to the imagination