Date

Friday 26th July 2019

Holy Places Visited

  • Erlöserkirche [“Saviour Church”], Berching (exterior)
  • Benediktinerabtei Plankstetten [“Benedictine Abbey of Plankstetten”], Plankstetten
  • Solarpark Bayern: Mühlhausen
  • Reservoir
  • Rhein-Main-Donau-Kanal
  • The Canal Looking North
  • The Canal Looking South
  • Bridge to the “Saviour Church”
  • Benediktinerabtei Plankstetten

Distance Travelled

Approximately 12 km (7½ miles)

Route

I headed southwards out of Mühlhausen, towards the village of Berching. On the way I passed one of the biggest solar farms I have ever seen, which is always a welcome sight. A nearby sign explained that it was “Solarpark Bayern: Mühlhausen”, which can generate up to 6.3 Megawatts (6,300,000 Watts) of renewable electricity and, at the time of it’s connection to the grid in 2005, was the biggest solar power plant in the world.

Nearby I started walking besides the Rhein-Main-Donau-Kanal, which is the larger, more modern successor of the Ludwig-Donau-Main-Kanal. At Berching I crossed over the wide canal and visited the “Saviour Church”, then walked on past the village of Eglasmühle to my day’s destination: the Benedictine Abbey of Plankstetten.

Founded in 1129, this beautiful place was to be my residence until Monday. As well as being the home of around a dozen Benedictine monks, there is a magnificent church and an organic (“bio”) shop, selling various vegan foods along with things like organic hemp oil, alcohol-free beer, organic tofu and even organic chewing gum.