The plan for today was to hike, then travel to Rathen on the other side of the Elbe river from Krippen and stay at the Steiger Hotel Rathener Hof, the only 4-star hotel during the trip. So, we had to pack and leave our luggage in the lobby of the Hotel Erbgericht in the morning. Luggage was to be sent to the Hotel Rathener Hof by taxi. We donned our rain gear and Daphna, our guide, led us to the bus stop. By bus, we crossed the river to Bad Schandau, and then changed to a different bus for the Brandstufen and the first set of stairs.
The weather was, again, very rainy day and we took very few photos, but here's one from Komoot, which is a European equivalent of AllTrails (all the hikers we met had it on their phones).
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| Brandstufen |
Fortunately the stairs were in great shape. The first set were wood and often with a railing. While the hike uphill was a tad exhausting, we all arrived at the top eventually, then enjoyed a long walk through very picturesque forests with views. The route we took was really on the Malerweg (Painters Path), which is what the title of the trip said we would hike. It rained almost continuously, but Daphna knew of a dry overhang, where enjoyed our lunch out of the rain. Here's James having lunch and demonstrating how well the rain hats work.
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| Lunch during Brandstufen hike |
We had mostly been happy with our gear, but the hats were the envy of some of our fellow hikers. Renate had remembered how well they worked during the Frankenwald (Franconian forest) hike we took with the Sierra Club several years ago. She bought one after that hike, then gifted it to James after it proved too big for her, and bought another one that fit better.
Here's another picture of the view from our lunch spot. It was very picturesque with the cliffs, the green forest, the moss-covered rocks.
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| Brandstufen hike - View from lunch spot |
After lunch, the steep downhill was not too bad because it was mostly rocky. Renate was glad her poles were working. Then another set of metal steps, and from there it was mostly a gentle downhill.
Just before we arrived in Rathen, we passed an outpost of the Sächsische Schweiz Bergwacht (Mountain Rescue). There's a documentary about the work of the Bergwacht on German TV (ARD) here. Renate watched all of the episodes, and James watched a few of them. Here's a picture of Renate posing with the Bergwacht van.
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| Renate posing with Bergwacht van |
The Steiger Hotel Rathener Hof in Rathen was an amazing place, with sparkling wine to welcome the guests, a Wellness Center with 2 saunas, a steam room, and two pools, and great food -- we enjoyed the breakfast buffet and the dinner buffet there. The meals had a slight emphasis on Wellness, and you could drink nettle tea or prune juice if you liked. Renate especially enjoyed the homemade rolls and breads.
Meanwhile, the rains were much worse to our east, and we saw newspaper reports of very serious flooding in the Czech Republic and Poland as well as southern Bavaria and parts of Austria. Even where we're staying, the Elbe had risen significantly, and was expected to get to Alarm Level 3 or 4 (out of 5) in Dresden. The ferries were no longer running, and next day we discovered that the hotel was cut off from car traffic because all the streets around it were flooded. For us, the flooding was an inconvenience but many to our east lost their livelihood, and in a few cases, even their lives.
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| Flooded Elbe from our hotel balcony |
