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STAGE 1

Munich to Wolfratshausen

Start	Marienplatz (521m)
Distance	34km
Ascent/Descent	140m/90m
Difficulty	Easy
Walking time	8hr 10min
Maximum altitude	574m
Refreshments	There are plenty of places along the route to stop for lunch but if you’d prefer a picnic then Pullach has a particularly good baker and tempting local cheesecake.
Routefinding	The route is flat and easy to follow and there are several types of waymark providing direction to Wolfratshausen. Beware, however, no single set of waymarks leads to your destination and a wrong turn, annoying on what is a long day, is possible. The most helpful signs are the yellow Isartal Verein markers. Also useful are the Jacobswege signs (part of the trans-European St James’ Way network).

Despite the fact that Stage 1 starts right in the heart of the third largest city in Germany this first stage is an enjoyable one. Making use of a long green finger that follows the River Isar through the city, it doesn’t feel urban and makes a pleasant way to warm up for the journey ahead.

The walk starts at the Marienplatz (521m), Munich’s main city centre square.

The square is dominated by the ‘new’ City Hall, a huge neo-Gothic building constructed towards the end of the 19th century. In the summer the square is generally packed with tourists, so taking unobstructed farewell pictures can be a challenge.

Leave the square on its southeast side and head along the Tal past Macdonalds, Burger King and the Schneiderweiss Brauhaus, one of the city’s best known drinking establishments. Pass the old city gates (Isartor) and after crossing a potentially busy junction continue southeast down the Isartorplatz into the Zweibrückenstraße and to the bridge over the River Isar. Don’t cross the bridge but turn right, heading down the Erhardstraße. After 300m turn left over a bridge and pass through the courtyard of the Deutsches Museum and then over another bridge (the museum is on an island in the river). Turn right after the bridge (1) onto a footpath running parallel with a cycle path and head southwest. Although you are still in the city your hard surface walking has now finished.

Continue southwest along a riverside walkway for 4km. Don’t stray onto the cycle track which can be busy with cyclists rushing into the city. These cyclists take no prisoners. The massive church on the opposite side of the river is the late 19th-century neo-Romanesque Maximilian Kirche.

After passing underneath five bridges the route reaches a wooden footbridge, the Marienklausenbrücke, and crosses to the other side. The bridge is a local version of the more famous Pont des Art in Paris where devoted lovers leave engraved padlocks.

A sign of Renate and Fredi’s love on the Marienklausenbrücke

Follow a gravel path running south southwest between the river and the Isar canal. After 2km the route passes under a railway bridge and, at the same time, crosses a bridge over the canal (2) continuing south on its right hand side.

After 2km (3) a sign points right to a path that heads up a bank and into the centre of Pullach where food can be found if needed. Follow the canal path for another kilometre to the Gaststätte Brückenwirt (reached after passing under a road bridge).

Continue south for 1.5km along the side of the canal until the path reaches a road (4). Turn right and follow the road for a short distance up a hill. Cross to the other side of the road to join a path that climbs up and around a very elegant hydroelectric power station. At a junction at the crest of the hill (5) take the left fork and follow a gently descending forest road through trees back down to what is now the river rather than the canal.

The forest road you’ve been following now turns into a narrow forest path (with limited waymarking) that can be muddy in places. Continue south to join another forest road and climb gently along it to a metalled one. Turn left onto the road and follow it down into the village of Schäftlarn.

The large and impressive building in the middle of the village was a Benedictine Monastery founded in 701 and is now a school.

The Klosterbräu Stüberl (www.klosterbraeustueberl-schaeftlarn.de, tel 49 8178 3694) is a traditional Bavarian gasthof specialising in the local cuisine (in particular duck and carp dishes). It also provides accommodation.

Continue through the village alongside the road and southeast back to the river. Before crossing the bridge have a look at the installation in the car park and display boards on the River Isar.

On the other side of the bridge is the Gasthaus Brückenfischer (www.bruckenfischer.de, tel 49 8178 3635) another traditional Bavarian gasthof providing both food and accommodation.

Turn right after the bridge and pass through the car park in front of the gasthof. Follow a path that runs between the wild river and the banks of the elevated canal (a path also runs along the bank of the canal). Various boards describe different aspects of the river’s natural history but the best is the last where a series of boxes with buttons emit bird songs. This installation marks the point where the route climbs to the top of the canal bank and joins a path heading south to the Ickinger Weir (6), reached after 2km.

Choose your birdsong along the River Isar

The weir has to be crossed. To do this you have to go through a metal door which opens onto concrete stairs and a footbridge through a wooden superstructure that covers the workings of the weir. It’s an unlikely route but a sign to Wolfratshausen on the other side provides the reassurance that it’s the right one.

Continue for 3km into Wolfratshausen passing the beauty spot at Riemerschmidt Stein after a kilometre.

WOLFRATSHAUSEN 574M

Wolfratshausen sits at the confluence of the Isar and Loisach rivers and has been a significant market town since the 13th century.

It has all the key services including a railway station. Most German walkers stay at the Gasthof Humpbräu (www.humplbraeu.de, tel 49 8171 483290) near the church on the west bank of the Isar. Apparently Ludwig Grassler, designer of the original Munich to Venice route in 1974, now lives in Wolfratshausen and can sometimes be found there welcoming walkers. Also good, and very comfortable, is the Hotel Isartaler Hof (breakfast only, www.hotel-isartaler-hof.de, tel 49 8171 23 88 122) located to the east of the train station.

STAGE 2

Wolfratshausen to Bad Tölz

Start	Wolfratshausen railway station (574m)
Distance	28km
Ascent/Descent	240m/170m
Difficulty	Easy
Walking time	7hr 10min
Maximum altitude	574m
Refreshments	There is nowhere to stop along the way today so plan for a picnic lunch. There are plenty of places to buy provisions in Wolfratshausen.
Routefinding	The ITV waymarks provide useful reminders that the right route is being followed although again you need to watch out for cycle route signs that at times, would take you in the wrong direction.

Another day and another walk along the River Isar. The highlight is a particularly beautiful stretch, halfway along, where the route climbs above the river and looks down on it through ancient beech and pine.

From the train station head south over Sauerlecher Strasse and follow a path along the side of the railway line south and then southeast for 1.3km. Turn left into Heidestraße and immediately right into Margeritenstraße. Continue southeast for 700m to a footbridge over the Loisach-Isar Canal. Don’t cross it but turn left and head east along its northern bank.

After 800m walking alongside the canal cross a footbridge and follow a footpath southeast along the western bank of the River Isar for 2.4km towards Gartenberg. When the footpath finishes continue along the Straße Isardamm for about 100m (1), join a path on the left hand side and follow it through trees down to the river. This path then rejoins Straße Isardamm and follows it south for a kilometre. At an ITV waymark (easily missed) (2) turn left and follow a forest path (look out for some World War II bunkers in the woods along the way) southeast for a kilometre to where the path splits (3). Turn left here and head east along a smaller path through trees, now small and scrubby, down to the river again. At the river a short stretch of the original path had been washed away in 2014 but if it has not been reinstated it can be rejoined after a short detour through the trees. Follow the path for 1.4km to a road and cross it.

From the road continue south for another 1.4km through trees (the path is cutting across a meander in the river) to where the path starts to climb through beech trees up a relatively steep path. After a 60m climb (4) (690m) turn left onto a forest road and follow it south for 200m before turning left onto a path (5). The views north from here are excellent and perfectly positioned benches make it a good place to stop for lunch.

Steep descent through beech trees

From the benches follow the path steeply down the hillside, cross a bridge over a stream and head east across a meadow towards the river. Turn sharply left (6) from what looks like the main trail and follow a narrow path to a stream. With luck the log ‘bridge’ that was there in 2014 will have been replaced by something more substantial. After crossing the stream turn right and follow a pebbly road down to the river and then south, mainly along the side of river for 3km to a sign (7) (630m) offering two routes to Bad Tölz. Turn right and follow a path through trees and across a meadow (there is a cross in the meadow, the Seidlkreuz) to a road.

On the other side of the road follow ITV waymarks along the side of a meadow and then turn left (8) and cross it to a farmstead (Lochen) on a low hill. Pass through the farmstead and follow its access road downhill, turn right and head along a road for 800m to the hamlet of Rimslrain (690m).

The next stretch is somewhat tedious involving a road walk through rolling open countryside. For the first time however the views south to the foothills of the Alps and tomorrow’s challenge are uninterrupted.

Continue south along the road for 2.4km past the hamlet of Leitzing and on to Nodern. Turn left at the road junction and then right 100m later (9) (ignoring cycle route signs to Bad Tölz). Take the left fork at the next junction (10) and head east through the hamlet of Pröstein. At the next junction (11), turn right and head into Abberg. As the road disappears follow a track down the hill to the main road to Bad Tölz.

Cross the main road and follow a cycle path south. After 600m drop down to the river (dammed to form a lake at this point – the Isarstausee) and follow a walkway for 1.8km into Bad Tölz.

BAD TÖLZ 645M