Hechtsee

We visited this border crossing as part of the IBRG AT20 trip. Hechtsee is a lake in Tyrol, Austria. It is also the name of a scattered village. Both are part of the Kufstein District. The Austria–Germany border is located 20 meters north of the lake. There were 2 border points of interest in this area. The first is at the lake itself where there is an old border marker inscribed in a rock. The second is a short distance away where the Austria and German border meets the Inn river. At this point there is both a rail and road crossing with lots of signs demarking the border.

The Hechtsee translates to Pike Lake, it covers an area of 0.28 square kilometres and is 57 metres deep thanks to a two-metre-high dam wall which forms a natural reservoir. There is also a legend about a mermaid but alas, she was nowhere to be seen. Although a lovely place for walking our visit was focused on finding an old border marker. The marker was carved into a rock with various dates also inscribed.

The Lake & Historical Border marker

Road and Rail Crossing

On the banks of the Inn river there is a road and rail border crossing. The B171 (DE) becomes the St 2089 (AT) and the railway that links the local station Kufstein to Munich, Innsbruch, Vienna and beyond also crosses the border. There are myriad of signs demarcating the border.

A huge variety of signs. On the road there were both regional and national signs that were relatively new, matched with a historical border post that measured the distance from both Munich and Innsbruck in terms of the number of hours to travel by horse.