Madame Blüescht (Blossom) Trail between Sulgen and Amriswil (Thurgau)

Saturday May 6, 2023 -- Just like two weeks ago when we traveled to NW Switzerland in the hopes of seeing a sea of blossoming cherry trees.... but knowing we were probably too late, so it was this day as we traveled to the apple-growing region of Switzerland--Canton Thurgau, near Lake Constance--in the hopes of seeing a landscape "like snow", but we really just made it to the end of the blossom season.

I was hoping for the beautiful high-growth trees, they are splendid when in full bloom. (See also my favourite hike we did in this region in April 2017). But we were much too late for those. There were still many orchards with blossoming trees--possibly late varieties--so it was not a totally wasted trip. But because of the large amounts of rain lately, and the fact that there never was good enough weather in the past two weeks, we really were too late for the "snowy" landscape.  

We followed a 15-km trail suggested to us by the Thurgau Tourism Bureau (Sulgen to Amriswil, the trail has the nickname: "Madame Blüescht") as one where you would pass through many apple orchards, and even though we had determined to do this one, I was not thrilled that we were almost purely on paved roads. Unfortunately, there wasn't much else to distract (i.e. castles, rivers, lakes, bridges). The weather was nice, though, and we treated ourselves to dessert at a Gasthaus in one of the villages along the way. 

NOTE: Still, I took lots of photos of blossoming trees... 

Our walk started at 11:15 in a town called Sulgen. The evangelical church here has sections dating from mid 15th Century, although there have been many renovations since then. 

Even the church bells are old. This one, on display, is from 1474

Leaving Sulgen and heading north, then east, to find the blossoming apple trees. 

We started at 11:15 in Sulgen, and got back on the train in Amriswil at 16:20. In Niedersommeri we spontaneously decided to have coffee and dessert at an old restaurant with a nice garden area

A nice feature of the landscape currently are the flowering fields of rapeseed 

Some of the first trees we saw. Not in full bloom anymore, but still pretty

The next village we came to was called Leimbach. Urs made an interesting discovery here....

...a bird sculpture made of all kinds of interesting metal items!

Blossoms up close

The first forested section was welcome, as it was turning into a warm day, and I had to change into shorts right away. 

These forested sections, especially with streams, are always welcome in summer

There are a lot of lovely half-timbered houses in this region

This still looks pretty, but you have to imagine it in pure white!

For the first half of our hike, it was mostly larger trees. 

This lovely-landscaped farm was called Guggenbühl

Most of our walk was along wide roads like this one

This grass really needs mowing!

On the second half of the hike, nearer to the city of Amriswil, the orchards were more modern, low-growth, compact plantings, and all of them with extensive nets for protection against hail. 

I don't know what this flower is, but those blooms are HUGE!

A conveniently-placed bench, a welcome rest (there weren't nearly enough benches along the way). 

More neat, compact apple orchards. 

Flowering fields of rapeseed along the way. You could smell them from afar. (They stink)

As the day wore on, we saw more of the mountains to the south

This was the only stretch of narrow meadow trail on the full 15 kilometers!

As we approached the community called Niedersommeri, we could hear music (Guggenmusik, in fact) as there seemed to be an event. Looks like the cows were listening as well! (Normally they would have been observing us go by!)

These blossoms were pink. Possibly crabapple or quince?

The spire of the church in Niedersommeri had a mosaic-tile roof. 

On the way to look at the church we peeked into the garden of the Löwen Restaurant and decided to stop here for something to drink and/or dessert! (3 p.m.)

This was new to me: Every customer got "free" tap water brought to the table, as soon as we sat down. So of course we ordered dessert instead of beer! (Usually you have to ask for water, and sometimes tap water isn't even free)

All decorated with wisterias, it looked so lovely!

Leaving Niedersommeri for the last stretch to Amriswil

More fantastic wisteria vines!

Some more attractive half-timbered houses

OK, I guess we weren't totally "too late" for the apple orchards in blossom. We saw many trees!

We call these "Marshmallows"

It's always fun to spot the herons in the meadows. They watch you carefully. If you stop too long, they fly off. 

A lovely park and pond just a couple of minutes' walk from the train station in Amriswil. It's called the "Brickworks Pond" and is a remnant of the Industrial Period. 

The light blue trail is the one we did this day, and the two other hikes were also "blossom" hikes done in April of 2017.

The Thurgau apple-growing region of Switzerland is near Lake Constance (Bodensee) in the northeastern part of the country.