Rorschach - Herisau

Vanessa and Reto with Emma (from 10.05.18):

The start of the first stage of the Way of St. James is in the port of Rorschach. To get out of the city, one has to cross the motorway at Meggenhaus. Then you hike up to Sulzberg Castle past the Schlossweier. On the way you will find hearty products prepared with love in small farm shops in front of the farms. For our bitch Emma, there are always opportunities to drink and splash around. Also for us it has now and then possibilities to stop for refreshments. Before you get to the city of St. Gallen, the Martinsbrücke leads over the Martinstobel. An impressive gorge that tests you for vertigo. The route through the city is very nicely chosen, but it remains urban despite everything. Since we are on the driveway, we hardly encounter any traffic. At the library of the monastery in St. Gallen we have a lunch break. Afterwards the route leads us further through the city, past the Waldegg Castle and the Burgweier. After we have crossed the river Sitter, the path leads up to Herisau, passing the Gübsensee. Here, dog and mistress can take a bath in good weather. Today it is too cool and cloudy for us. Arrived in Herisau, we find our very nice hotel the Landhaus Säntis at first go. The accommodation has to be booked in advance, because the reception is not occupied on weekends. For this reason the key is deposited in a key box in the entrance area. Today's hike was really well guided for a city tour. One should be aware that dogs can only be led on short sections without a leash. According to the description, the stage is 25 km long, we came to about 27 km with our GPS watch. But there were only 645 meters of ascent instead of 860 m and 340 meters of descent instead of 480 m. We were able to keep the stated hiking time of 7 hours with 6:45 h including a short break, but excluding the lunch break.