2019 - Day 17: On the road to Fussen

The summation of today is thank goodness the weather man got it wrong again!

For the last few days and right up until going to bed we'd been watching the forecast for today knowing that it was a day with a number of outdoor activities planned and without fail everywhere you looked showed rain and thunderstorms, so we tentatively opened the curtains to see a rather pleasant looking day, a little overcast, but far from what was predicted.  The forecast had also changed overnight with the large band of storms crossing Europe a little further north, so we decided to stick with plan A, starting with a trip to Partnachklamm Gorge.

The gorge is located close to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a short 20 minute drive from where we were staying in Mittenwald.  Parking is at the Große Olympiaschanze, the Great Olympic Hill built for the 1936 Winter Olympics, and to save the little legs of Forrest and Paloma, we decided to take a horse and cart up to the entrance of the gorge.  At a little over 700 metres in length, the gorge is a 20 minute walk from end to end, taking time to take a few photos on the way.  It reminded me of being in Death Valley in the USA, there the gorges had run dry many years ago, but the landscape was similar.  The noise and spray also makes you really appreciate the power of water.

Forrest loved using his head torch.

Paloma enjoyed her ride in the sling.

The far end of the gorge, before making our way back.

Once we'd back tracked through the gorge and then back to the car, this time walking whilst Forrest had an ice cream and Paloma napped in the sling (it was the safest way to get her through the gorge), it was onwards to Lake Plansee, a picturesque spot for a picnic lunch.  There was one problem however, being a Sunday all of the supermarkets in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were closed, however fortunately in one of the small towns en-route to Plansee we found a nice little deli that was open that sold bread and cold meats, so the picnic was still on.  On reaching Lake Plansee, which is back across the border in Austria, we found a nice location to stop, but decided it was a little too cool (and close to the water) for a traditional picnic, so a car picnic it was!

A nice spot for a car picnic, the photo doesn't do it justice.

The final stop before returning into Germany was at a relatively new attraction called Highline179.  Built in 2014 and at an impressive length of 403 metres, Highline179 is a Guinness Book of World Records holder as the longest pedestrian suspension bridge.  The bridge spans between the ruins of Ehrenberg Castle and Fort Claudia, across the B179 road, at an altitude of over 100 metres.  Fortunately there is a recently installed inclined elevator from the visitors centre up to the start of the bridge that only opened in April this year.  What the photos don't show is that the bridge is constantly moving, up and down, and from left to right, so it's an interesting experience to say the least.

It's a long, long way down.

Made it to the far side.

The view looking back with the highline, funicular and castle.

Paloma in the sling to speed up the return journey!

Back safely on solid ground and having returned to the carpark by the Ehrenberg Liner elevator, we had the short drive to our hotel for some food and hopefully a good nights' sleep before exploring the famous Neuschwanstein Castle tomorrow.

Blogged by Matt.