Can you still discover new tours in the “Munich Mountains”?
Author Eduard Soeffker (52) from Weilheim proves it with his tenth family hiking book.
Weilheim - After a three-year break, Eduard Soeffker (52) from Weilheim wrote a new hiking book - his tenth.
With 30 new family tours in the “Munich Mountains”, the lawyer and father of a family is returning to the area where both his hiking and writing careers began.
In an interview, he explains that after an inner struggle he also reveals insider tips and still keeps a little something to himself.
After trips to South Tyrol and Switzerland, among others, you are now returning to the “Munich Mountains”. It's best at home, isn't it?
I have to answer with a decided “yes and no”.
Certainly there are more fascinating mountain landscapes in South Tyrol and Switzerland than on our doorstep - you shouldn't fool yourself.
And my family and I love going there for a vacation.
But my great love is the Munich mountains, where I practically learned to walk, first with my parents, then with our pastor and the altar boys, with my friends and finally with my own family.
That is why it was a matter close to my heart to come back to the place where it all began for my little jubilee of the tenth book: in my beloved Munich mountains!
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Hiking book author Eduard Soeffker (52) from Weilheim.
© Photo: Soeffker
How do you actually define “Munich mountains”?
This is actually not a fixed term.
It is important for me that the journey from Munich can be done in no more than 90 minutes under normal traffic conditions.
The book covers hikes from Hohenschwangau Castle in the west to the Inn Valley in the east.
There are separate children's adventure books for the Allgäu and Chiemgau from Bergverlag Rother.
Is it still possible to discover new tours in this area?
Certainly almost all official routes in the Munich mountains and in the Alpine foothills have already been described somewhere.
During my research, however, I discovered some hikes that I have not yet seen in children's hiking books, but which are ideal for families - including very special jewels with the Gumpen am Schronbach, the Finzbachklamm near Wallgau and the Feuerköpfl above the Inntal.
In addition, great adventure trails for families have been added in recent years, such as the fairy tale trail near Wallgau or the alpine animal circular trail under the Bärenkopf.
The raftsmen's playground in Krün or the medieval playground near Bad Feilnbach are particularly great.
Many places in this region have recently been moaning at the increasing number of day trippers. Do you understand that?
I understand the residents of the affected areas very well, but I also understand the people who, due to the restrictions of the last 16 months, have the need to get out into nature.
Perhaps the new book can help a little so that the flow of excursions is distributed a little better.
I researched most of the tours last year, so I didn't have a problem parking in an official parking lot for any of them, even though we mostly got there after 9.30 a.m.
How can you avoid ending up in traffic jams and columns of hikers on excursions?
Many of the tours described can also be easily reached by train and bus, so we have always indicated how to get there by public transport - where this makes sense.
It often helps on weekends and on public holidays when the weather is nice to drive off a little before the crowd.
If you start at half past seven and drive back at 3.30 p.m., you have a good chance of not running into traffic jams on the return trip or on the hike.
Her five daughters are between 9 and 23 years old. Can you still get everyone excited about hiking?
Everyone still likes to come along, but of course not as often as in the past.
Nowadays I am mostly traveling with a constantly changing part of the family.
The bigger ones, however, often do not accompany me completely unselfishly, after all, the “driver's license with 17 holders” are allowed to test their driving skills with dad's car.
Which tour from the book do you prefer to go with the younger daughters and which with the older daughters?
The younger children especially love the adventure trails with their partly interactive stations, such as the great water adventure trail on the Weissach or the Timberland Trail near Bad Kohlgrub.
For the bigger ones, the right mountain tours such as to the Stepbergalm or to the Bärenkopf are more in demand, although now mostly the children have to wait for the parents on the way and not the other way around as a few years ago.
All children are happy to be there when the goal is a mountain lake, such as the sensational Seebensee near Ehrwald, or when something special, such as a ride on the cogwheel train up to the Wendelstein, beckons.
Is there also a favorite tour that you would never reveal in a book?
I have to admit that on some tours I have already considered keeping the hikes to myself because I feared that if published, too many people would want to take the tour and the magic of the special place could quickly be gone.
Ultimately, however, the hiking book author wins in me and I publish the insider tips such as the Gumpen in the Gerstenrieder Graben in Volume I of the Munich Mountains or the Isarsteigrunde near Scharnitz in the current book.
But I have to admit that on one or the other tour I may not explicitly mention all the great places.
Everyone can find it himself.
“Münchner Berge - Volume 2” is your tenth book - a proud anniversary. Has the publisher already had champagne brought over?
That's a good idea, so soon I'll have to wave the fence post at the publisher ... No, seriously: The publisher and I both know what we have in common.
Much more important than a bubbly drink is the trusting cooperation over the many years, the recognition that I have shown for my work and always an open ear for my sometimes not quite everyday book suggestions.
And what are your plans for the eleventh book?
I actually already have an idea for that.
In all likelihood, the hiking area will again be in the Munich mountains.
But more is not yet revealed at this point in time.
The book
“Münchner Berge - Volume 2” in the series “Adventure hiking with children” has been published by Bergverlag Rother: 184 pages with 179 photos, 16.90 euros.