Via Romea Germanica Day 48: Augsburg - Scheuring

Nothing matters except eating and sleeping and walking 

- Jane Andrewes, pilgrim (2024)

A Long Walk is actually only half a matter of walking; the other half is all about where you stop to rest, eat and sleep. And  sleeping at the pilgrim accommodation in the base of the bell tower of St Jakob's church in Augsburg is definitely a highlight of the Via Romea Germanica! Mostly frequented by pilgrims on the Way to Santiago, which also passes through Augsburg - as the name of the church suggests - it is a small apartment including a kitchen, a bathroom and two bedrooms, one of which is set up with bunks for five or six people. I had the other, smaller bedroom, with only two beds, on the quieter side of the building, and I had the whole apartment to myself! All in exchange for a small donation to the church.

In the morning I made myself a pot of coffee and a bowl of porridge in the hostel kitchen, then paid a visit to the supermarket across the street, which fortunately opened early - at seven a.m.! I stocked up on fruit and some savoury pastries from the Turkish bakery just down the street - which opens at five a.m.!! - and then packed up and left behind my refuge in the tower. I exited the old city through the nearby Jakober Tor and crossed the river Lech, which I then followed for the rest of the day. 

The river Lech (from the Latin Licca) originates in the Austrian Alps and flows 255 kilometres to join the Danube just south of Donauwörth, where I began walking four days ago. There are 33 hydroelectric dams along the river; I passed several of them today. 

Dam with fish ladder

The highlights of the day's walk were the pretty little lakes beside the trail. First, Kuhsee, literally "cow lake".

Then came the Auensee, where a large family of ducklings paid me a visit while I took a break at a lakeside picnic table.

Saturday morning windsurfing and sailing lessons were taking place at the Mandichosee, where I took a long lunch break on a bench outside a concession stand that had fish sandwiches on the menu. 

In between the lakes, though, the path was rather monotonous, following the top of an embankment with a gravel road on one side and the river, again hidden by trees, on the other. After the sandwich place the route became more interesting, sometimes becoming a narrow trail through the woods, at other times heading back up onto the embankment, but always with a view of the river, and the water birds that make it their home. Swans, herons, ducks of various kinds and colours... I heard cuckoos in the woods, and a bird that the Merlin app identified as a Golden Oriole. I saw pink and purple columbines, and evidence that the local beavers had been busy!

By the time I got to Scheuring I had walked thirty kilometres without even realising it - it is so much less tiring to walk on grassy paths surrounded by trees, lakes and rivers than to walk on asphalt, through urban areas or beside a road. Today only the first kilometre or so out of Augsburg was on asphalt, and the last kilometre through the village of Scheuring to my accommodation. I am spending the night in a simple room at an organic cattle farm, Biobauernhof Eisele, which I found by simply following the trail on Google Maps and looking for accommodation symbols nearby. I looked at their website, which advertises beef, dairy products, holiday apartments, a camping area and my accommodation, the "Garagenspitzdach", meaning the attic room over the garage. Which is exactly what it is! Proposed on the website as an alternative to tent camping on a rainy day, the room is very plain, but it comes with wifi, a sunny rooftop terrace where I can eat my dinner (which I brought with me all the way from Augsburg), and the use of a large, luxurious bathroom (which is however down the stairs and around the other side of the house - I hope I don't have to go too often during the night!😅). The room does not come with sheets and towels, but luckily I brought an ultralight silk sleeping bag liner for such emergencies, and of course my travel towel. When my new Servas friend Claudia called to enquire about the place for me during our dinner together last night, she asked if the owners could provide me with a warm blanket as well. So I'm all set!

Augsburg - Scheuring 31 km