Monday Oct.19, 2020 -- For something different, we left work early on Monday to enjoy a sunny afternoon walk nearby in Canton Aargau, walking from Muri in the Seetal Valley down to the Reuss River at Rottenschwil to finish off Stage 6 of the Aargauer Trail, having done the Bremgarten-Rottenschwil stretch in December 2018 (for photos of that stretch, CLICK HERE). It was just supposed to be an afternoon stroll, but we ended up walking almost 10 km in 2.5 hours.
We started with a visit to the fantastic monastery church in Muri, an edifice with over 1000 years of history and a very pompous Baroque interior. Our walk down to the Reuss River passed through several farms and marshlands, ending at the section of the Reuss River called "Stille Reuss", or "Sleeping Reuss", because it is a section of the original river which got cut off when the river was redirected, and now is a bird sanctuary.
This area is where my Grandmother grew up, and we passed just a couple of kilometers away from her home town.
And this time the weather worked in our favour, as the morning fog cleared in this region in particular by the time we got there for our walk. On a really clear day, though, you can get some very nice views of the Alps from here, which was unfortunately not the case this day.
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First some photos of the fantastic church in Muri, one of the most important cultural monuments in Canton Aargau. Founded in 1027, it exhibits a variety of architectural styles from the Romanesque to the Baroque periods. Of particular interest are the organs.
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After a look in the church, we headed northwards down to the Reuss River, passing through farms and along canals and marshes until we got to the bird sanctuary at the Stille Reuss in Rottenschwil.
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Our afternoon walk turned into almost 10 km on this lovely sunny afternoon. Starting with a look at the monastery church in Muri, we headed down to the Reuss River at Rottenschwil, from where we caught a bus back to Muri, and then the train home.
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One of many barn structures we passed along the way.
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A small section was on a forested trail, plenty of sunlight even in the forest
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At this spot we were only 2 km away from the town of Besenbüren, where my Grandmother grew up and my Dad's siblings spent summer holidays.
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Very nice red colour among the rest of the green
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Barn overgrown with ivy
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We are walking along Trail no.42: "Aargauer Weg" or "Aargau Trail". This particular stage is from Muri to Bremgarten. But we have walked part of that already.
The southern part of Canton Aargau is called the Freiamt, and there are many additional official trails.
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We are being observed.
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Passing through the village of Althäusern
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| An interesting little structure |
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Above this archway is the road into the barn. Typical of many farms here.
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Walking along the canal toward the Reuss River
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More canals
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There is a colony of storks here in this area, we saw them a year ago as well. Several poles in the area have stork nests up high
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Typical autumn birds here: swans, blue herons, storks, grey geese.
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This body of water called "Stille Reuss" used to be a river, but was cut off from the original river when it was rerouted.
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Bird sanctuary "Stille Reuss"
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Stille Reuss
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Town of Rottenschwil. Large oak tree. We passed lots of oaks, crushing loads of acorns underfoot.
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And this is a hot-air balloon we saw as we got back to the Muri train station!
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From Bremgarten to Muri is Stage 6 of the "Aargauerweg". We did part of it in 2018, the other part this Monday.
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