Holy Monday - Our lady of Eldern

The hamlet of Eldern is just 2km south of Ottobeuren and best known for the nearby golf course and riding stables/club. I would have liked to have done our dog walk over the golf course in the hope of seeing Dr Bulldog, Jürgen, but Flash hates the sound of golf balls being hit, especially by metal drivers.

So instead we went in the other direction, having started out from the chapel known as "Unserer Lieben Frau von Eldern" has been a pilgrimage site since 1466. A seriously ill woman was supposed to have had a dream that if she went to this area she would find an image of the Virgin Mary. She followed the dream, found the image and during all her praying became healed. On hearing the story, a local farmer erected a wooden chapel in 1487. It became immensly popular as a pilgrimage site and there followed a church and a monastry. This was all destroyed in the 1805 dissolutions, the altar was moved to nearby Böhen and the image was eventually placed in the Ottobeuren basilica from where it is annually, on Whit Monday, taken in a procession to Eldern.

The present chapel was built in 1931/2 and extended in 1987.


Another trailer of hedge clippings in the late afternoon together with a second walk with the dogs followed by a round of mowing, trying to clear as much as possible from the thuja leaves on the horse field (they are poisonous) and a bit more bee hive cleaning.

Last nice day for a week or two, at least according to the weather forecast. Due to be cold (9°C) and buckets of rain.