Mark Robertz
His consideration is targeted on the panorama in its many kinds. His focus is on the photographic realization of landscapes as they’re fashioned by nature and formed by human use and tradition. He additionally likes to understand panorama as a resonating area for his personal soul. In the identical method that he sees panorama as a murals. He commonly passes on his information to events in workshops and on photograph journeys/excursions and as an writer. He’s a member of the BBK – Skilled Affiliation of Visible Artists.
The wild, pristine river within the Tyrolean Lech Valley between Weißenbach and Forchach reveals its wild aspect. It clears the gravel banks precisely because it wants them, piles up useless wooden on dry gravel banks and shapes strips of riverbank because it sees match. Right here on the Johannesbrücke bridge, the alpine wild river has been given area to develop freely once more, because it did in earlier instances. This additionally has an impact on the habitat alongside the banks.
“Iller, Lech, Isar, Inn movement to the precise in the direction of the Danube.” Not solely a tried and examined mnemonic, it additionally tells us the origin of the rivers simply quoted. Except for the Inn, the primary three have their supply within the Northern Limestone Alps, between Lake Constance and Lake Königssee.
The particular characteristic of the Lech could be shortly acknowledged right here: Firstly, it has its supply a lot nearer to the primary Alpine ridge than the Iller and Isar. And in contrast to the Isar, it flows virtually vertically to the north, in the direction of the Franconian Jura, whereas the Isar drifts eastwards in the direction of the Bavarian Forest.
The particular characteristic of the Lech could be shortly acknowledged right here: Firstly, it has its supply a lot nearer to the primary Alpine ridge than the Iller and Isar. And in contrast to the Isar, it flows virtually vertically to the north, in the direction of the Franconian Jura, whereas the Isar drifts eastwards in the direction of the Bavarian Forest.
The Lech Valley was as soon as a biotope bridge of European significance for wildlife, connecting the Mediterranean area with Central Europe.
Much like the Iller, Isar and Inn valleys, the Lechtal additionally took on its current type over the last ice age, the Würm Ice Age (akin to Devensian, approx. 115,000 – 10,000 years earlier than our period). Attribute options embrace the steeply rising hanging valleys from which the tributaries movement to the left and proper of the river within the alpine ‘Oberes Lechtal’. Moraine landscapes with their typical floor kinds resembling drumlins, useless ice holes or ridges characterize the ‘Center Lechtal’. There are additionally traces of former ice reservoirs that fashioned on the sting of the Alps on the finish of the Ice Age, which could be seen at this time within the Füssen Bay. The ‘Decrease Lechtal’, initially characterised by huge gravel plains and broad alluvial forests by way of which the river meandered on its method to the estuary delta. The looks of the gravel meadows and alluvial forests by no means lasted lengthy, the dynamics and inventive energy of the river have been too nice. The floods that occurred in spring and early summer season on the newest, attributable to melting snow and thunderstorms, reshaped the numerous water arms that carved their method by way of the valley.
River kilometer 17 | A contact of wilderness could be discovered parallel to the Lech on the hamlet of Ötz (Thierhaupten) alongside the Vorderer Brunnenwasser (later Münsterer Alte). Right here, at daybreak, you will get an concept of how energetic the floodplains close to the river as soon as have been.
In the event you begin a journey alongside the Lech as of late, my tip can be to start out on the mouth. In my view, this finest symbolizes the state of the Lech at this time: from the current to its origins. You begin with the state to which the Lech, like many different rivers, was transferred at first of the twentieth century and finish within the elegant, majestic, Arcadian-looking backdrop of the Zuger Tal valley within the Lechquellengebirge mountains.
The journey takes you from the mouth at Marxheim under the Franconian Jura alongside the Bavarian Lech, which, constricted and canalized, is extra like a dammed river than a flowing water from energy station to energy station. Often, the river is accompanied by remaining floodplains. In its decrease course, the river can also be divided into two watercourses for round 20 km: the Lech Canal for constant energy era and the unique riverbed with a residual movement. With its huge gravel banks, between which the residual water meanders, that is paying homage to the previous gravel meadows of the unique Lech.
The journey takes you from the mouth at Marxheim under the Franconian Jura alongside the Bavarian Lech, which, constricted and canalized, is extra like a dammed river than a flowing water from energy station to energy station. Often, the river is accompanied by remaining floodplains.
River kilometer 32 | A have a look at historic maps of the Kingdom of Bavaria north of Augsburg reveals intensive gravel plains with quite a few branches of the unique Lech. Right this moment’s gravel banks, between which the Lech generally meanders forwards and backwards, are because of the Lech Canal constructed on the finish of the nineteenth century. Right this moment, the majority of the river flows by way of it, with solely a residual quantity of water remaining within the precise Lech mattress.
Augsburg, the biggest metropolis on the Lech, presents itself within the splendor of the UNESCO World Heritage “Augsburg Water Administration System” with a proud 22 particular person objects within the metropolis space in addition to within the surrounding space. Additionally price mentioning is the Augsburg metropolis forest (nature reserve, Forest of the Yr 2024), which is Bavaria’s largest remaining alluvial forest.
In the event you observe the watercourse additional upstream, it’s more and more accompanied by steeply rising valley slopes close to Landsberg am Lech. Right here, varied mountaineering trails invite you to take prolonged excursions alongside the river.
River kilometer 74 | On the Lechfeld on the Hurlacher Heide (between barrages 18 and 19, or Kaufering and Schwabstadl), the Lech encounters rock partitions of sintered limestone deposits alongside a west-facing slope, often known as the “Hurlacher Wasserfälle”. The limestone tuff, which is interspersed with plant and animal fossils, fashioned right here between the Riss and Würm glacial durations. Lined by glacial mattress load, erosion progressively brings the rocks fashioned on this method again to the floor.
River kilometer 95 | The influence slope northeast of Mundraching reveals in a really spectacular method the forces that may act right here when landslides happen between the higher cowl gravels and the underlying layers of the Higher Freshwater Molasse (alpine particles consisting of gravel, sand or fantastic sediments).
On the top of Schongau, you permit the ‘Untere Lechtal’ and enter the moraine landscapes adopted by the Füssener Bucht within the ‘Mittlere Lechtal’. Above the Schongauer See (reservoir!) follows the Litzauer Schleife – an actual gem. Right here you come throughout a river panorama that when unfold alongside most of the river bends within the Lechtal. To the left and proper of the chain of dams that the Lech nonetheless kinds right here, you’ll be able to uncover traces of the Ice Age within the panorama. For instance, the useless ice panorama within the hills across the baroque gem of the Pilgrimage Church of the Scourged Savior on the Wies” (east of Steingaden) or the Drumlinfeld close to Prem.
On the top of Schongau, you permit the ‘Untere Lechtal’ and enter the moraine landscapes adopted by the Füssener Bucht within the ‘Mittlere Lechtal’. Above the Schongauer See (reservoir!) follows the Litzauer Schleife – an actual gem.
River kilometer 135 | The Litzau loop with its meanders stretches between the wasteland of Dessau (on the left) and the hamlet of Kreut (on the precise financial institution of the Lech) on the entrance to Lake Schongau. Alongside the Bavarian financial institution of the Lech, that is the closest you’ll come to discovering the previously wild Alpine river in its unique type.
The place Lake Füssen as soon as stretched out is now dwelling to Lake Forggensee, Germany’s largest reservoir with a water floor space of round 15 km². This corresponds to round 1 / 4 of the scale of the previous ice reservoir. Though silted up, the Bannwaldsee, Hopfensee, Schwansee and Weißensee lakes have survived the check of time. The view from the royal castles close to Hohenschwangau affords a proverbial royal view of the Füssen bay and the old-established cultural panorama of the Künigswinkel. With the Lech Falls above Füssen, you now go away the Alpine foothills and the ‘Center Lech Valley’.
As you enter the Tyrolean Lech Valley, you enter the ‘Higher Lech Valley’, the place the surroundings and the panorama expertise change basically! From Füssen, the route follows the banks of the Lech for 125 km in the direction of the supply area. To any extent further, you can be accompanied to the left and proper by rugged, steeply rising mountain peaks, on the foot of which the Lech flows in the direction of you, interspersed with gravel banks. The view from the Johannesbrücke bridge between Weißenbach in Tirol and Forchach is all the time breathtakingly lovely. The climate, as it’s for the time being, can solely improve your notion of this panorama. Over the following few kilometers, numerous aspect streams movement into the Lech from either side, consistently feeding gravel and useless wooden into the alpine Lech river.
River kilometer 167 | The Füssener Lech simply above the Lech Falls: simply an alpine wild river, shortly afterwards a corrected and enclosed chain of dams.
River kilometer 199 | At Vorderhornbach, after approx. 17 km, the Hornbach flows from the Allgäu Alps into the Tyrolean Lech. The wild alpine stream has its supply within the mountain streams of the Hornbach chain.
On its method in the direction of the Lech, it spreads out time and again, branching its watercourses into unique gravel meadows. Just like the earlier aspect valleys with their watercourses, the Hornbach additionally provides the alpine Lech with mattress load and useless wooden, which is required for a wide range of near-natural habitats.
River kilometer 203 | Coming from the village of Boden by way of the forest above the Angerlebach stream, the valley flooring (Angerleboden) opens up after a climb. The view within the morning solar over this pure gem is like discovering a long-forgotten “earthly paradise”.
Shortly after Steeg, the valley narrows increasingly till the Lech lastly disappears into the slender Lech Gorge. In the event you observe the go street within the route of Warth, the speeding river can solely be seen or heard sporadically. Shortly earlier than you attain Warth, a slender mountain street on the precise leads as much as Lechleiten. The detour rewards you with a powerful view over the gorge in each summer season and winter. Be it right down to Tyrol or up in the direction of Lech, the winter sports activities capital of the Vorarlberg jet set.
From the village of Lech, you now embark on the ultimate stage, which immerses you in an sudden panorama. The Zuger Lechtal valley, which leads as much as the Formarinsee lake, appears to have sprung from one other period. Definitely a mountain panorama steeped in tradition that might not be extra pristine. It’s subsequently not stunning that Lake Formarin was voted probably the most lovely place in Austria in 2015. Under the Formainalpe, you lastly attain the supply of the Lechur after a superb 256 kilometers. When you’ve got the time and inclination, I like to recommend a detour as much as the Steinernes Meer. At its foot, the water collects in small rivulets, which, following the drive of gravity, brings the Lech on its method…
River kilometer 251 | Picturesque and romantic, the younger Lech kinds its riverbed with unbridled energy. Right here, above the Spullerbach confluence, it elicits a longing, wistful Rocky Mountains feeling from the photographer.
River kilometer 257 | On the finish of the Zuger Tal valley, Lake Formarinsee is nestled in a basin under the hanging Rote Wand. In 2015, the lake with the backdrop of the Rote Wand was voted probably the most lovely place in Austria.
On the way in which alongside the Vorarlberger Lech within the Lechquellen Mountains between Formarinsee and the village of Lech.
