Three Monasteries on short hikes near Mellingen (Aargau) and Menzingen (Zug)

February 29 and March 1st, 2020  Two short weekend walks = one of our normal 12 km hikes, but over two days. Because we just wanted some fresh air, and didn't have any long weekend trips planned.

On Saturday we walked about 5 km along the Reuss River near the city of Wohlen, starting in a small and quaint medieval-looking town called Mellingen. The interesting thing about this stretch of the Reuss River between Bremgarten and where it flows into the Aar River at Brugg is that in a popular vote of 1965 it was decided that there should be no more construction along this section of the river, no motorboats, and no dams or blockages so that the river can flow as it will. We even saw evidence of beavers (they do try to tackle some very large trees!). It was slightly cold and windy, but we really just wanted a bit of an afternoon walk.

On Sunday we had no big plans, as the weather was supposed to be bad. But as the day was shaping up to be sunny we headed nearby to Menzingen in the direction of Aegeri again for another short walk through pastoral landscapes and around monastery grounds so we would be back home early in the day.

The main feature of both these walks was that the trail was mostly paved or forest trail, which was interestingly not too annoying but ideal for this time of year as it has been raining a lot and our preferred trails are simply too muddy.

(Photos of the 6-km walk from Mellingen along the Reuss River are HERE). 


Ca. 6 km walk from Menzingen to Aegeri (near Zug) on Sunday:
(30 minutes by bus)

A 6-km Sunday afternoon stroll in the area between lakes Zug and Aegeri, just a 30-minute bus ride from home. We started in Menzingen and walked via Gubel Monastery to Unterägeri

There is a very large working monastery in Menzingen, the main feature of this town. That's where we started on our walk. 

Close up view of the monastery in Menzingen, with its copper dome

The landscape is slowly starting to look spring-like

A view westward toward Lake Zug and the town of Cham

The Gubel Monastery. It was a popular walking destination for this Sunday afternoon.

The first fleabanes? (Tiny daisies)

We sat on a bench on the monastery grounds and admired the landscape to the South, with the back of Mount Wildspitz, and the forested area that we are going to cross before heading down to Unteräegeri behind that.

Cute little shed?

A typical farmhouse of this area

There used to be a sandstone quarry here, and this house was built in 1874 to replace an old barn to serve as accommodation for the quarry workers. The cornerstones of the house and the stairway are all made of the sandstone from the quarry across the road

 

Looking down at the town of Unterägeri before descending to the bus

This is near where we live, so we have done a lot of hiking in this area. Recently we started in Unterägeri and walked along the East side of Mt. Zug to Allenwinden. This time we started in Menzingen and ended in Unterägeri (both the yellow paths)