A Section of the Rhine Valley High Trail from Berneck to Rheineck

Wednesday May 31, 2023 -- The best weather forecast was for Eastern Switzerland this day, and since we were worried about early cloud cover in the mountains, we decided to head to the very far northeast corner of the country to complete a section of the Rhine Valley High Trail (Rheintaler Höhenweg) which we had already attempted to do a couple of times, but had to change plans at short notice due to fog etc.

We started in Berneck (a really cute village from which we also started a few years ago walking south along the Rhine Valley High Trail when we had better views, those photos are HERE), but this time we walked northwards, to Rheineck on Lake Constance. Because it was a hot day, we left home early so that we could start at 9:30 (a 2-1/2 hour trip). But in Berneck it was already too warm, and even though our climb through the vineyards was along a very long set of steps (usually a good way to climb), we were glad of the large forested sections, even though most of the trail was on wide forestry roads. The air was too hazy to get a good view of the Vorarlberg mountains of Austria to the east and the Liechtenstein and Swiss mountains to the south, but for a change we had a few good glimpses of Lake Constance (Bodensee). The major drawback was that we could hear the noise from the Autobahn for most of the second half of the walk.

Our original plan was to walk to the tower ruins above Rheineck before heading home, but by that time we were too hot and tired. And looking at webcams showed us, that the weather back home near the mountains had been just as nice until at least noon, so we could have taken advantage of a local hike and left this one for a better fall day....

(Interesting Note: The trail here follows the borders of Canton St.Gallen and Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, and we crossed the border a couple of times along the way).

The Rathaus (Town Hall) in Berneck, a very pretty building

Keeping "The Thinker" company, like last time, only last time he was unter the arches in the town hall. (See photo HERE)

Various buildings in Berneck. Town Hall bottom left, and the one top right is a secondary school.

A little chapel to check into. 

Some nice stained glass windows in the chapel

After looking around Berneck for a bit, we started on our hike at shortly before 10 a.m. It was a 4-hour, 13-km hike. We caught the 15:26 train, and had about 2-1/4 hours for the trip home. Note that the entire hike was along the border of St.Gallen (Berneck, Au, St.Margrethen, Rheineck) and Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Walzenhausen). Mostly on the St.Gallen side. 

Our trail takes us up through the vineyards north of the town. 

A look down at the town of Berneck

Looks like a mini castle

A stretch of paved road before heading up through the vineyards

Every corner has some pretty details

This part of the Rhine Valley has a good climate for growing grapes. 

Looking back over the town of Berneck as we continue through the vineyards

Some very nice peonies!

Long sets of stairs through the vineyards, and a couple of forested sections to get to the top of the hill. 

Making our way up the hill

All over the country the farmers are harvesting the hay, and baling it in this form, what we call "Marshmallows". (Each of these bales is 200 kg. There have been instances of farmers being hurt or killed by such bales rolling on them)

VIDEO:

Stacking the "Marshmallows"

More lovely flowers

Walking along Trail no.86: "Rheintaler Höhenweg". We are headed toward the Grimmenstein Ruins. We always like to visit fortress ruins (in this case, it was unfortunately being renovated). 

We got to the upper plateau and are headed to the Meldegg restaurant which is perched on the edge with a view to the south. This village is called Wilen, and on this stretch to the restaurant we were actually walking in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden. 

Our first glimpse of Lake Constance (Bodensee) to the Northeast. Most of the area in the lower regions there is in Austria

From the terrace of the Meldegg restaurant (closed this day) there is a nice panorama view to the south, past the cities of Au and Heerbrugg (Canton St.Gallen) to the mountains in Liechtenstein. On the other side of the Rhine Canal is Austria. Obviously it would have been better had the air not been so hazy. 

In this small corner of the country we are still in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, before we headed down into the forest to Gletscherhügel

So many pretty fields of daisies!

Imagine the work to apply all those wooden scales, even if they do come in strips. 

This meadow needs mowing... 

The style of the farmhouses in this region

Another restaurant (Restaurant Gletscherhügel) with a very nice view, of the city of St.Margrethen, which is where you cross the Austrian border. We didn't stop here, but found a nice picnic spot along the forest trail nearby. Now we are back in Canton St.Gallen

About 3.5 kilometers (an hour of walking) was spent in the forest, sometimes along smaller trails like this one, but mostly wider forestry roads. We didn't mind this time because it wasn't all straight in one direction, and we were glad of the "coolness" from the shade. 

The Grimmenstein ruins were a bit disappointing... as they are currently being reconstructed. Sometimes you wonder why they don't just let them fall apart, as this one looked like a dilapidated pile of rocks. But a nearby sign indicated that this ruins is a protected historical monument. 

Another hour to our destination at Rheineck. We started in Berneck and passed by both the Meldegg Restaurant and Gletscherhügel. 

This is the Weinberg Castle, with a very nice view of Lake Constance. We detoured to the castle in the hopes that they had a restaurant where we could have a cup of coffee, but it turns out they only do wine tasting. 

The Weinberg castle is from at least the 15th Century and was renovated in the 1980's, converting the castle into a winery. 

Now we get views down onto the city of Rheineck on the left of the Old Rhine Canal, the end of our hike. On the right of the canal is Austria. 

A close-up look at the old town of Rheineck and the church which we had a look at before getting to the train station. 

Rheineck, Switzerland on the left of the canal (called the "Old Rhine" here), and Gaissau, Austria on the right. Unfortunately there was a lot of vehicle noise from the Autobahn. 

Instead of a cable car or bus, there is this small train which runs from Rheineck up to a community called Walzenhausen, 270m above the lake. Our trail met up with the railway line, and we watched the little wagon go up the hill. (Whereas Rheineck is in Canton St.Gallen, Walzenhausen is in Canton Appenzell A.)

It also baffles me that nature would create some birds with these exorbitantly showy feathers. 

We don't often see such stone farmhouses

Approaching the city of Rheineck, we glimpse the ruins of the castle "Old Rheineck". We decided we'd walked long enough and didn't want to detour there after all. 

What determines if a house is a castle or not? The structure or the people who live there?

St.Jakob's Evangelical Church in Rheineck, which was shared by both Catholics and Evangelicals until 1932 when the Catholics built their own church. 

I'm getting good at recognizing architecture. I knew right away that this was Neo-Gothic

Very interesting how the history is written on the wall!: St.Jakob's church was first documented in 1433, and rebuilt in the 16th Century as a Gothic church. The parish church was both used by Catholics and Protestants as of end of 16th Century, but a new Catholic church was built in 1932. Architectural changes were made in 1722 to Baroque, and end of 19th Century to partly Neo-Gothic. 

Heading through Rheineck toward the train station

Details of the town of Rheineck

Main street in Rheineck.

Location of our hike at the border of Austria in the far northeast corner of Switzerland