Bavarian Alps

Cold mornings, long ridgelines, and a beer earned on foot.

You start each day before the valley fog lifts, boots on a gravel track that climbs out of Berchtesgaden and keeps climbing. The limestone comes up out of the mist like something withheld. By afternoon you're on a hut terrace above the treeline with a bowl of soup and a view that goes on for three countries, and by evening you're back down among painted shutters and church bells that keep better time than your watch. Six days of walking, no hurry, and a route we've re-worked twice to keep the crowds behind you.