Visiting the St.Jost Pilgrim Church in Blatten (Littau) near Luzern

Sunday June 28 -- We didn't have a lot of success with our plans on the weekend.... Torrential rains most of Saturday morning kind of dampened our spirits for heading out on an excursion that day (even though the weather turned for the better) and on Sunday we headed out as planned regardless of weather (even took along umbrellas just in case) and ended up stuck for over two hours on the train when it "broke down" just minutes before our planned destination (We were not allowed off the train because of danger of electric shock on the railway line, and as we had stopped on a single line, we basically put that entire train route between Luzern and Bern out of service for a few hours!)

By the time they were able to bring in another train to pull us to the next station, and by the time they brought buses to ferry us back to a working train line, it was too late to start on our planned 4-hour hike near the Napf mountain in the Luzern Entlebuch (the skies there remained thickly overcast, so no great loss), so we just decided to head back home, back toward Luzern. But along the way the skies cleared, and we saw what looked like a historical church near Littau, so we decided on the spur of the moment to get off the train and walk along the Emme River to the church, and from there up the hill a bit and back to the train station, which ended up being an almost 9-km walk after all! So not one of our usual magnificent or varied hikes, but we didn't need our umbrellas, and the Baroque pilgrim church of St.Jost (dedicated 1511) with its 27 of the original 30 paintings on wood panels (1639/40) -- the largest collection in the world of the description of the lifespan of St.Jost (or Judoc, born 602 to the king of Brittany)  -- as well as the "ancient" adjacent buildings, still made for an interesting afternoon outing....

After a 45-minute walk along the Emme River from the train station in Littau, we head off toward the Baroque Church of St.Jost

This trail is part of the "Emme Riverside Trail" (no.527), the "Alpine Panorama Trail" (no.3), and the St.James Trail (no.4 -- this latter trail passes lots of pilgrim churches). After visiting the Church in Blatten, we decide to head to the Ränggloch ravine, another 40 minutes from here, before returning to the Littau train station

St. Jost Church, dedicated in 1511, although there was a church here alread in 1367. As with most of these churches, there have been additions and improvements over the centuries. It was converted to the Baroque style in 1767 

Among a collection of very old votive paintings hanging near the entrance is this one dating from 1600, which is the oldest representation of the church which was dedicated in 1511

I really like this walnut pulpit, built in 1630 (originally Renaissance-Style)

Ceiling painting 1752

The organ was added in 1711/12

Of the original 30 paintings depicting the life of St.Jost, three are missing, probably removed from the top row when the organ was built in in 1711

From the balcony, a view down the long narrow nave to the high altar, the centre-piece of the church, built in 1686/87 and gilded a couple of years later

A beautiful farmhouse next to the church, not sure if this belonged to the original mid-16th Century church buildings

Heading up to the hill toward the Ränggloch Ravine, a view back toward the church and the Emme River beyond

This is all we saw of the Ränggloch Ravine as we crossed the bridge before descending back to the train station in Littau

A lovely pool under the bridge in the Ränggloch Ravine... If we could have descended to it, we might have had a swim!

A little mouse on the trail, I almost stepped on it. It might have been injured, that it didn't run away....

And a new version of the Ogopogo, or possibly the Loch-Ness Monster, as that one lives closer....

A short stop to admire the St. Jost Pilgrim Church near Littau on our way home from an aborted 4-hour hike, turned into a 2.5-hour and almost 9-km walk anyway!