Part of the St.James Trail from Menznau to Wolhusen

Wednesday February 25, 2026 -- On this, Urs' regular day off mid-week, he had previously made plans to meet up with an old friend for a walk in Lenzerheide, a popular ski region. But in the mid-level regions (i.e. not high up in the ski areas), the snow is sparse and the landscape is dirty, so I did not go along. Instead I preferred a nice long walk in the always beautiful (and snow-free) pastoral landscape in the Alpine Foothills, more specifically in the Luzern back country.

As we finally have a forecast of nice sunny days with temperatures from 10-14 degrees, this is a good time to walk sections of the Via Jakobi (or St.James Trail, the Swiss section of the "Camino de Santiago"), as this themed path follows a lot of paved roads hitting as many pilgrim churches as possible. Although there are wooded sections, it is still quite hot to do these paths in summer. In fact, even on this day it turned out I was dressed too warmly.

I returned to the town of Menznau, just an hour's trip from home if you catch the unofficial connections. I returned to the St.James Trail (National Trail no.4) where we had ended a hike back in May of 2023, and continued on to Wolhusen via a couple of cute farming villages called Geiss and Buholz, leaving the St.James Trail again in Buholz as we had done that section as well on another hike at the end of December 2022. Highlights were definitely the pilgrim church in Buholz, and the "Chapel of the Dead" mortuary in Wolhusen, with actual skulls embedded in the fresco paintings on the inside walls.

Most notably, the day started out very foggy in our region once again, but the fog cleared up just shortly before the train reached Wolhusen, which I had been aware of because I checked the webcams in the early morning....

After traveling for about an hour through the fog (which lifted just before Wolhusen), I started my walk here at the train station in Menznau at 10:20. (We have ended a couple hikes here). I didn't look inside the church this time, as I had time to do that while waiting for a bus connection on another hike I did in April 2025.

I first had an uphill section and passed a hillside with two of these interesting-looking sheep. I had never seen such ones before. They are obvioursly rams, and an Internet search seems to indicate that they are called Cameroon Sheep.

After clearing the first uphill section, I get my first view of Mt.Pilatus to the south.

To the north and east, the valleys are filled with fog, so I am lucky to have found this fog-free region to do my walk in today.

That large industrial complex below is the parent plant of the internationally active SWISS KRONO Group and is one of the leading international suppliers and the only Swiss manufacturer of decorative wood-based materials for interior design, furniture and shopfitting, as well as design and laminate flooring.

I am now headed to the large farmhouse at the back, past the traffic circle. That is where the St.James Trail (Jakobsweg or Via Jakobi) passes by and where I want to now rejoin, after we had walked the trail coming down the hill (back in May 2023) when we then headed back to the Menznau train station from here.

Cute goats enjoying the sunshine. The little white one quickly ran over to me for a few scratches on its nose.

There was a huge garden full of new flowers here next to this large farmhouse. I spent quite a while here observing a bumble-bee in the crocuses, and photographing as many different flouwers as I could find!

Bumble-bee busy in the newly-emerged crocuses.

These are all the different spring flowers that I could find in the large garden next to the farmhouse.

Here is where the St.James Trail passes by the farmhouse, and where we descended on our May 2023 hike from Willisau. (Photos HERE).

Trail no.4 is the official National Trail called "Via Jakobi" (St.James Trail, or Jakobsweg), the Swiss portion of the popular European through-trail "Camino de Santiago." This is a good time of year to walk sections of this trail, which are quite exposed and very hot to do in summer. I am headed next to Geiss, and ultimately to Wolhusen, which is near Werthenstein.

Starting at 10:20 in Menznau, I walked via Geiss to Wolhusen, with a detour to Buholz, a lovely farming hamlet which we had passed through when we walked the section of the St.James Trail to Werthenstein via Lake Soppisee at the end of December 2022. With some rushing, I managed to catch the 14:45 train in Wolhusen. This was a 3-hour, 11½ kilometer walk.

Now looking south, I am continuing my walk along the St.James Trail.

All the way on my hike southward I got great views of the Central Alps.

Heading out along the St. James Trail

Next stop: The village called Geiss. (Here I had to walk along the main road into the town).

The church in Geiss and several farmhouses with a backdrop of Mt.Pilatus.

These old granaries (usually combined with living quarters) are always interesting. I passed several of them this day, most with a date of mid 1700's inscribed into the frame above the main door.

A sign advertises that this town features along the St.James Trail (i.e. "Welcome to Geiss along the Jakobsweg"). The church is called St.Jakobus. The themed trail is laid out to pass via as many notable churches and chapels as possible.

Next to the church is a beautiful building: The Landgasthof Ochsen.

A few details of the St.Jakobus church in Geiss. In particular, the displayed bell is interesting. It was manufactured in 1621 (!) and hung in the bell-tower till 1968 when the "bell-ringing" was "electrified". The Baroque Church was dedicated in 1647. (Previously it was a Gothic build, but rebuilt to Baroque).

Next to the church was another of those granaries called a Spycher.

I was quite fascinated by this building, with the engraved date of 1759. It seems to be the town's library! (Usually I check the doors to see if they are open, but I can't remember if I checked this one. In any case, I did not look inside). It is the smallest public library in Canton Luzern!

Heading up the second stretch of my walk, with a look down at the town of Geiss.

As it was now about noon, I had to find a place for lunch. There were no benches along the trail, but this large rock will do!

View from my "lunch rock".

Far in the distance I could see the profile of the Alps past that beautiful tree (surely a Linden Tree). Even though it was off the main trail, I made a detour there, to get a better look at the mountains and Lake Soppisee on the other side.

To the north (zoomed view) you can just make out the church in Grosswangen (which lies along the lovely "Luzern Chapel Trail" which we walked in March 2021, but unfortunately did not detour to), and far in the back a rather modern long-stretched city called Wauwil.

Now I have detoured to the tree on the hill for this view down to Lake Soppisee and the Nidwalden and Uri Alps. On the far left is Mt. Rigi.

My attempt at a self-timed photo with the tripod!!!!

This self-timed photo worked out better. At the end of December 2022 we hiked around this lake (Soppisee) and passed nearby the place I am currently standing, on our way to Werthenstein along the St.James Trail via Buholz, where I am headed next.

I can't get enough of the beautiful pastoral landscape of Canton Luzern, with the backdrop of the snow-covered mountains.

This view is past the city of Ruswil, where we had started the December 2022 hike. On the far left in the east is Mt.Rigi

Down below to the south is the little village called Buholz, also along the St.James trail. Even though it is not directly on the path I am taking today, I am going to detour that way as there was a lovely chapel worth having another look at. This time you can see Mt.Pilatus in the background.

As I detour into the village of Buholz, I caught sight of a stork flying into that tree, and a closer look shows that there were two storks in the large nest up there! (The village of Buholz itself was first mentioned in documents from end of the 12th Century).

This building looks like a castle!

This chapel in Buholz along the St.James Trail is called "Kapelle St.Gallus & Erasmus". A chapel was first mentioned in documents of 1576, but this build here is the replacement from 1620-1622, and still remains in pretty well the original form.

The three altars inside the chapel date from the time of the build of around 1620.

Another lovely ceiling and soft pastel paintings on the walls.

Other details of the inside of the little Buholz chapel.

Most "impressive" are the two skulls displayed on each of the side altars.

There goes the stork I had originally seen fly into the nest. (I had the feeling this one was feeding the other, and heading out to find more food).

Between the "castle-like" building and the little chapel is another one of those granaries. This one is rather large! There is a display of bells and some older equipment for milling grain. This one had a date of 1734 inscribed above the main door.

And here is another one of those "honesty shops" (each one is so unique). Here they are selling walnuts, potatoes, apple juice and jams.

It's now 1 p.m. and I'm starting on the final stretch of my walk to Wolhusen. Here I leave the St.James Trail again. (We have already walked the section from here to Werthenstein.). I still have an hour or more to go, especially as I want to detour via the fortress ruins.

That's the final uphill stretch to that farm up there .

Reaching the farm called Buchen.

Heading south with Mt.Pilatus looming large ahead of me.

More pastoral landscapes with many many farms! My trail heads past those two farms below to the remains of the Wolhusen fortress on the hill on the right.

Aren't they just the cutest?

At one time there were two fortresses here, dating from the early 11th Century. This is all that remains, although the model on the bottom left shows what the two fortresses might have looked like.

After leaving the site of the fortress ruins and heading down into the actual city of Wolhusen, I first reached the cemetery with this little chapel called a "Totenkapelle", (i.e. a mortuary), where urns or coffins of deceased people are set up for friends and relatives can come pay their final respects.

The inside of the chapel was very impressive, with its frescoes depicting a "death dance". Most impressive and somewhat macabre is that on many of the heads of the depicted characters are ACTUAL skulls embedded into the wall. These paintings date from 1661.

Beautifully-painted interior of the "Chapel of the Dead" with REAL skulls embedded into the paintings.

Even above the main door of the chapel there are skulls embedded in the wall. Originally, the parish church used to stand directly next to the mortuary chapel, and churchgoers had to pass through the chapel to enter the church. This served as a constant reminder that death will eventually come to everyone.

Just around the corner and below the cemetery is the main parish church of St.Andreas, built between 1879 and 1881 in the Neo-Romanesque-Classical style. The architect, Wilhelm Keller, was one of the most important church architects of the 19th century. There was not a lot to see inside this very large building.

This is what my 11½-kilometer walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting in Menznau and ending in Wolhusen. (The final stretch from the parish church to the train station I had to run, to make the 14:45 train to Luzern).

These are all the hikes we have done in the area around Menznau and Wolhusen, twice ending in Menznau, and three times ending in Wolhusen. Plus starting once in Menznau and once in Wolhusen.