Sometimes I wonder about people who undertake a long and strenuous long-distance hike. And all alone in the first place.
I am one of them, but I still don't really know the answer. All I know is that I never feel better, I never feel less stressed, I never be able to focus better on what really matters.
But it's a bit strange.
But what the heck - you might do dumber things than hiking.
A stage entirely on the side of the Stanserhorn, which you almost surround. In Stans there is the Winkelried monument. The hero impaled himself in the battle of Sempach in 1386 to make a breakthrough for the Confederates.
Length 17 km; rise | descent 520 m | 780m; Hiking time 4 hours
Length 22 km; rise | descent 1015 m | 1315m; Hiking time 8 h 07 min (as always no idea where the deviations come from)
The first thing to do is to descend into the gorge, to the chapel and to the hermitage where the hermit lived.
I'd like to find out if it's true that he used a rock as a pillow, but it's probably a fable. But as a narrative, one would say today it's a brilliant idea. It is questionable whether he chose the hard pillow as punishment for deserting his family.
Anyway, the hermitage appears to be closed, so the pillow story remains in the dark. And that's where it better stays.
Strange people
I leave the pious place and climb up the slope towards the non-existent sun. The ascent is steep and wet, the night's rains have left their mark.
Is it inappropriate to say that there are some very strange people walking the Via Jacobi? Not only long-distance hikers, but above all pilgrims from all over the world who stay here in groups or individually.
There's nothing wrong with these people, they're on a quest, for God or whatever, and that's not bad per se. But they are a bit strange. A lady, according to her language from our northern neighboring country, crosses my path, we get into conversation.
She is enthusiastic about the area, about the pilgrimage site of Flüeli-Ranft, about Bruder Klaus. "His Call has reached me, I can feel it." At the same time, a smile of such great emotion glides over her face that I have to believe her.
Even the old cynic can't help but nod in agreement.
Strange? At least a bit …
If the rain comes...
I'm barely two hours on the road when it becomes clear that my luck with the weather has abandoned me.
Well, it doesn't really matter, I'll face even the worst weather attack without blinking. But let's wait and see, I'm ready in any case.
It starts quite dramatically. With cloud towers gathering menacingly above the mountain peaks. Black and gray, colors from hell.
And so it runs its course ...
As if the weather intended to show once and for all what it is capable of, it takes the form of a torrent falling from the sky, it somehow reminds me of the waterfalls of Iguacu in Brazil, only wider, higher, but noiseless, at least for the moment.
Next to a chapel, the first heavy drops hit the road, there is hardly time to put on the rain cape. Then I march off foolhardily, right into the torrents, until the rain blows the water into my face and around my unprotected legs, so that I have to look for a shelter as quickly as possible.
Full rivulets run down my face, but there, a house under construction, no one to be seen, an open garage, just right.
And so I spend the next half hour in the garage under construction, while the weather is raging and the rain spreads in all directions.
It continues rather wet
Eventually, after what feels like hours, the rain lets up a bit, the longed-for impetus to leave the stupid garage.
It's all pretty wet now, even the trees showering me with heavy drops, or the path resembling a swamp. And again and again the rain starts the next attack. Sometimes I have no choice but to take refuge in a house entrance until the worst is over.
But I'm making progress, albeit less cheerful than usual, and the goal for the day Stans comes closer.
The first human traces around Stans go back to the 2nd century BC.
The Stans town fire destroyed two-thirds of the town in 1713. Stans owes its stately baroque houses, the Winkelried fountain and the town hall to the drastic building regulations that were subsequently passed.
And not only Stans awaits me, but also a cozy home for the night, the Gasthof Schützenhaus in Oberwil, just outside Stans, where I am greeted by an extremely friendly host couple.
That's all it takes on this particular day.
Matching song: AC/DC – Thunderstruck
And here the trail continues ... to Seelisberg
