Adlstraß - a paradise for journeyman hikers on the Walz

Craftsmen on the Walz like to stop off in Adlstraß.

There they work with the community of interest community's solidarity project.

A fruitful exchange.

Adlstraß

- Matthias Tafelmeier's farm opposite the lavender field in Adlstraß is a magnet for nature lovers and idealists. Traveling journeyman are also stopping here more and more often to contribute their work to this charitable future project. Because the interest group Adlstraß is a non-profit association, which among other things has the goal to transform the property into a piece of livable home in a healthy nature. Up to ten journeyman craftsmen cavorted here. What also appeals to you are the special technical challenges that you will find here.

One of them is Maurus from Weilheim.

The wood sculptor has been on the road for a year and a half.

At the beginning of the wandering, he also gave up his surname, as tradition demands on the Walz.

"So that everyone is the same and one does not stand out from the others," he explains.

That is why he calls himself "Maurus, foreign free wood sculptor - foreign from home and free for free travelers".

That means that you don't belong to a “shaft”, i.e. not an association of craftsmen who are on the move.

The 26-year-old carpenter was in Adlstrass for the first time a week after he left.

During the two and a half weeks there, he built a compost toilet and helped nine other traveling companions with the dock stinging.

It's not just carpenters, gardeners and cooks too, very colorful, everything there is in the trade.

Now the man from Weilheim has returned to work on a construction site with friends of his traveling companions Jakob and Jonas. The 800 square meter roof has just been renewed over the old stable. Every helping hand is welcome. The clubhouse is to be built in the building, and a small farm shop has already been set up.

Maurus and Jonas got to know each other on Rügen when both were still "interested parties", meaning they were planning to go on a hike. Jonas (24), a carpenter from Knetzgau, has been on the road for nine months now. They don't have cell phones with them. They still manage to communicate with one another. You talk to other traveling companions and so your comrades find out where you are at the moment, you make appointments or produce flyers that advertise “cool projects” like in Adlstraß, says Jonas. "Most of it goes from mouth to mouth."

Carpenter Jakob (22) from Tauberbischofsheim knows Jonas from the vocational school. He too was drawn to Adlstrasse. Much is left to chance on the hike. But not the criteria according to which the traveling craftsmen choose their work. “For example, large building sites based on solidarity, where everyone works for board and lodging,” explains Jakob. “We get a lot from society. Lots of people help us, for example with hitchhiking. We want to give something back. "

Adlstraß is also a project based on solidarity.

“Matthias doesn't do business in his own pocket.

He has his own club and wants to found a community here.

We support something like that, ”says Jonas about the head of the IG, Matthias Tafelmeier.

It's exciting, varied and interesting work on the farm.

In addition to the renovation of the approximately 100-year-old roof, the freedom-loving lads were also able to tackle other projects that were new for them.

There is, for example, the tiny house that carpenter Niklas (25) from Munich builds for travelers who want to help out in the yard.

“There's a lot of wood here, infested with beetles, and their own sawmill.” Maurus and Noah have built a kitchen.

It is located in the adjoining workshop room, where future events are to take place.

At the same time, Maurus formed a 30 centimeter clay sculpture that serves as a model for a four meter statue that he would like to create from an oak trunk. Marcel and Jonas have created a sanitary container in block construction that they are very proud of. “With a shower and all the trimmings. Matthias found the urinals free of charge. “The whole thing is something special, completely in wood construction without steel, only connected with wooden nails without glue, because Tafelmeier relies on ecological construction. Jonas didn't learn that in training, only here. He also made the wooden planks himself.

According to Jakob, the trend towards hiking has been increasing again for around 20 years.

“Society has moved a lot away from traditional values ​​and has become very fast-paced.

When you see traveling companions, you feel a certain peace and freedom.

These are qualities that many people miss today. "

You have to be on the road for at least three years and one day.

Niklas says: "Whether you are traveling as a free traveler or for a shaft is a fundamental decision." The wandering has an incredibly long history.

There have been times when the masters and guilds imposed the compulsion to travel;

Times in which it happened out of necessity, or currently, when one undertakes it more from a privileged aspect.

There are seven possible associations and a large group of free travelers.

Jonas has already been in Adlstrasse for seven weeks, the carpenter from Knetzgau thinks it's time to move on.

“After three months, you should make sure you get ahead so you don't feel at home.” All the boys have been in this place for a long time because “it's fantastic here, like paradise,” says Jakob.

Because your stay is not only characterized by work.

The young men have already been swimming at the Loaner Weiher several times.

At lunchtime they eat together, "always the best of the best", sometimes club members cook for them too.

They had already got tomatoes and lettuce from the nursery in the neighboring village of Oberkorb.

They were also supported by the food bank in Taufkirchen.

A traveling companion shouldn't mind rain and cold.

They got wet several times, including in the tent or on the roof in Adlstrasse.

Once it got a bit stressful when the hole in the roof had to be sealed with a large tarpaulin during heavy rain, remembers Jonas.

They definitely want to see the finished clubhouse when they are no longer on the move.

"With such a big project, where you've been for so long, you usually return."

Niklas also wants to dig up his bottle here.

“When you go hiking, you have a party.

There is a ritual: you usually dig a hole in front of the place-name sign and sink a bottle into it filled with congratulations written on paper by friends, ”he reveals.

He buried his bottle under a tree in Adlstrasse.

After three years he would dig them up and read everything.

Then there will be a celebration and experiences will be exchanged.

They don't have a plan for how things will continue in the medium term.

“That's the nice thing about wandering, that you have three years in which everything is open and you are not so planned,” says Maurus.

Tafelmeier is very happy about your help.

“Great people who fit in with us.

It's just been nice company for weeks.

Everyone finds his spot where it suits him.

Some sleep in the tipi, some on the mattresses in the shed. "

BIRGIT LONG