Today’s trail begins in the nucleus of the town, at the Mühlenen Gorge, where Gall set up his hermitage in 612. After walking through beautiful areas of the town we reach St. Fiden, a St Gallen neighbourhood. After crossing over the railway lines we leave the tarred road and follow the River Steinach in the impressive Galgentobel valley. More or less following the signposted Gallus Trail through meadows and woods, we reach the lake which we trek along to Arbon.
Points of interest
| Km 14.5 | Steinach was first documented in 769 in connection with the return of Otmar’s remains from Werd Island. Otmar was sentenced to death by starvation in 759, but his punishment was reduced to lifelong imprisonment on the island where he died in the same year. Ten years later the monks of St Gallen Monastery brought Otmar’s remains back to their abbey.
In Steinach itself, the River Steinach flows into the Lake of Constance. Three countries are located on this Lake: Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The Roman naturalist Plinius the Elder referred to the Lake of Constance as Lacus Raetiae Brigantinus after the so-called place back then, Brigantium (nowadays known as Bregenz). |
| Km 16.5 | Arbon goes back to Roman times and was originally called Arbor Felix (latin: «happy tree »). It was a fortified postal station located at the crossroads of the Vitudurum (Winterthur) – Constantia (Konstanz) – Brigantium (Bregenz) – Curia (Chur) route. The Roman Fortress in Arbon was already documented in the 4th Century.
Similarly to the Lake of Zurich, the shores of the Lake of Constance were also populated from the Stone Age onwards. Lake-dwelling settlements from the Pfyn Culture in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages have been verified. The houses were primarily made of wood and, due to the marshy ground, were built on poles. Arbon was of considerable importance for Columbanus and Gall. When Columbanus settled in Arbon with his monks in 610, they met up with a Christian community in a fortified settlement known as Castrum. As the Christian priest Willimar and deacon Hiltibold lived in Arbon, Columbanus and his companions stopped here. Willimar advised them to go to the disentegrating former Roman settlement Brigantium, today Bregenz. After his stay in Bregenz, Gallus returned ill to Arbon in Willimar, who cared for him. Then he longed to a quiet life as a hermit. Deacon Hiltibold helped him with the search. Gallus 612 found his place to stay in the Steinachtobel and built his cell. When Columban died in distant Italy (Bobbio) in 615 he sent his crook, a sign of his dignity, to Gall. Soon disciples joined him and wished he was teaching them which he did for many years. He died on October 16, 640 in Arbon, but was buried in his hermitage on the Steinach. This place was visited by many pilgrims and in the 8th century the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gallen was built there. The actual founder of the monastery is Otmar. In Arbon, the Gallus chapel with the Gallus stone and a choir window are reminiscent of Gall. |
| Km 24 | Rorschach, on the Lake of Constance, is our goal for today. Its history goes as far back as the Allemanni. They established numerous settlements around the Lake after having defeated the Romans and forcing them back to Italy.
Around 1000 AD Rorschach was a passing-through point for pilgrims on the St John’s Way to Santiago de Compostela as well as those heading for Einsiedeln. St John’s Chapel used to stand at the Kronenplatz, a resting place for pilgrims. It was demolished in 1833 and St James’s Fountain was built in its memory. 
The Parish Church of St Columbanus and Konstantius (worth the little detour) are sights worth seeing here, as are St James’s Fountain, the Cornhouse (at the lake harbour) and the former Mariaberg Monastery, which is a teacher training college today. |
