The Northernmost Point of Switzerland and the Purple Lady-Slipper Orchids

Wednesday June 1st, 2022 -- Again due to a previous appointment (Urs this time) we could only start on our excursion rather late in the day, a bit of a disappointment as we knew it would get very overcast in the afternoon. We could have stayed closer to home as the weather was better here, but we had long wanted to go see the endangered purple lady-slipper orchids in the protected region called Tannbüel and a call to the local forest ranger indicated that the time was ideal.

(Note, we have been in other regions before, where the lady-slippers are more abundant than in Tannbüel as it turns out, but it was a region we also wanted to visit, as the trail takes you to the very northernmost tip of Switzerland, and that was a fascinating idea as well).

There is an official 14-km loop trail called the "Nordspitze Panoramaweg", or "Northern Apex Panorama Trail", starting and ending in the tiny community of Bargen (Canton Schaffhausen) and which encompasses the area along the German border in the northernmost part of Switzerland. From the trail you can take a detour to the Tannbüel protection area, but since we thought we would not have time to do the whole loop, we headed straight to the flowers, and then to the northern tip of Switzerland, returning via the "Border Trail". (As it turns out, we ended up walking 13 kilometers anyway).

We could have managed with overcast skies, as there was no rain in the forecast, but as it turned out, for the entire second half of the hike walking along the Swiss/German border back to the town of Bargen, we had to contend with a light drizzly rain, annoying really, and also preventing us from the otherwise nice views we should have gotten over the pasturelands of Germany all the way to Lake Constance....

Heading North by bus from Schaffhausen, we pass through the village of Merishausen. Between here and the northernmost community of Bargen where we are headed, the bus passes through a small section of Germany

The borders here north of Schaffhausen are so convoluted, that you are often crossing from one country into the other and back. Here the bus crossed a small section of Germany (less than 1 km), before re-entering Switzerland. The bus stops are in Switzerland, though. 

After the bus stop at the border, we cross for a few seconds into the hamlet of Schlauch in Germany. Perhaps the security personnel are guarding the border crossing?

We arrived in Bargen at noon. This is the northernmost community in Switzerland 

It seems like every village or town in Switzerland has a hotel called "Löwen" (Lion) and one called "Krone" (Crown). These two in Bargen are no longer in business. 

Before we headed out on our hike, we did a small tour of the village of Bargen

A very pretty colouring of this columbine

Schoolhouse in Bargen

Instead of doing the entire Panorama trail, we took a direct route to Tannbüel to see the lady-slippers (in the circled area), then headed to the northernmost point of Switzerland (through German territory) and returned on Trail no.593 along the German-Swiss border. The thick pink line shows the border between the two countries.

There is always something interesting to see along the way (???)

A lot of agriculture here. The farmers were very busy...

We took a shortcut through a farmer's property (he said it was OK) on our way to the Tannbüel forest, and this deer came bounding out of the tall grass near where we walked. We figured she might have been luring us away from a small one in the grass.

There were several of these forester observation posts, which means there are usually a lot of deer to observe!

It hadn't started to rain yet, and we could see Lake Constance (Bodensee) in the distance

We arrived at the Tannbüel park on its South end (the regular way is from the North along the official path, whereas we crossed the farmer's fields.) Apparently a large variety of orchids grow here. 

The park is done up very nicely with looped walking paths where you can admire patches of lady slipper orchids without actually walking over them and damaging them. 

Bunches of the protected purple lady-slipper orchid. The plant is an endangered species because of loss of habitat and people picking them to transplant (unsuccessfully) in their gardens

Looking across a stretch of meadow to the forester's seat which we had passed earlier

Another looped side-trail showcased even more of the unique flowers

The endangered purple lady-slipper orchid. This is really quite a unique-looking flower. 

And a whole bunch of them! They look like spiders...

The Tannbüel protection area is partly in Switzerland and partly in Germany. This is border stone number 611, erected in 1839 which was the year when the border here was fixed. Urs is standing in Germany, and I am still in Switzerland. CS stands for "Canton Schaffhausen".

Below us is the customs building for entry into Switzerland from Germany on the left. The fields behind that are all in Germany, and we are going to walk along the trail to the point in the circle, which is the northernmost point in Switzerland. 

Some beautiful grain fields (rye maybe?)

As we got to the top of the hill near the northern tip, a look back across the fields, all in Germany. We will head back along the border, which is the road iin the center of the photo at the back. 

Last few steps as we approach the northernmost part of Switzerland from the north. Basically, the table, information sign and border stone are in Switzerland, whereas the forest road ahead once again forms the border between Switzerland and Germany. 

My favourite photo: Urs with his finger on the northernmost point of Switzerland. I am still in Germany, and behind him is also Germany. "GB" stands for "Grossherzogtum Baden" which was what this part of Germany was called in 1839 when the border was officially set. Border Stone no. 593 (also the number of the trail) was called the "Black Stone", as undesirable people were expelled here from Canton Schaffhausen at the time. 

A coffee break at the northermost point of Switzerland. This is when it started to rain. I had a nap in the protection of the forest, and then we returned to Germany along the road on the right (the official panorama trail no.593)

This tree, an official natural monument, is a 500-year old oak tree, which broke apart in 1955 and was repaired with trusses. It has a name: "Buchener Stumpen".

Even with the rain, it was a very lovely landscape. 

Here at the small smattering of houses called Neuhaus (in Germany), we continued along the border trail, part of the official Northern Apex Panorama Trail (Nordspitze Panoramaweg)

Climbing up the road away from Neuhaus, a look back again at the Northernmost point of Switzerland on the left (the rest of all that's in this photo is Germany)

Heading east on the higher trail now, a look back down at Bargen where we started on this hike. We are doing a loop now and coming back down to the village from the left. The entire forest South of here is called the Randen. 

Borderstone no. 622. GB means we are on the German side of the border. 

I was definitely happy to have my plasic "cape" along! An inexpensive gift from my sister, it is always in the backpack. Sometimes it is used on a wet bench. For rainy hikes I've used it four times in the past 9 years!

From afar I thought this was just a piece of the branch, until it flew away....

Even though this road along the German (to the left) and Swiss (to the right) border was paved, it was comfortable walking, as it wasn't a hot day. 

Our final approach back to the village of Bargen, the northernmost community in Switzerland. The entire forest south of here is called the Randen. (Side note, we made it back to the bus station with two minutes to spare). 

The northernmost point of Switzerland, as seen on the Google Satellite Maps

The northernmost Point in Switzerland  (We've already been to the southernmost).