Not many people know the Jachenau. It is a long, narrow side valley that runs east from the Walchensee region to the Isar, shut in by forested ridges and farmed by a few families on meadow terraces, and it has the quality of a place that the main roads missed. Lenggries, with its nine thousand inhabitants, is the nearest real town and the place for petrol, bakeries and shops, about eleven kilometres to the east.
The road through the valley is quiet, narrow and wonderfully varied, winding between meadows with a small stream beside it, and rising and falling over little saddles. Surfaces are mostly good, though patched, and there are places where the asphalt narrows enough for only one car. Weekday mornings are very quiet, but on summer Sundays the road sees local bikers and cyclists who know the valley, so expect to meet someone around a bend. Cows sometimes wander near fences, and the grass verges are mown late, so watch for hay on the road in summer. The rewards are small and constant: timber barns with weathered shingles, a wooden bridge, a cross at a junction, and the sound of the stream.
The Jachenau has a certain independence. It was once an isolated community with its own customs, and its inhabitants are known for a distinctive dress. Forestry and cattle farming are the main livelihoods, and the woods on the slopes are managed for timber that was once floated down the Isar on rafts.
The surrounding mountains hold good walking, and the Walchensee, a short ride to the west, brings the crowd back. For fuel, remember that the valley has none, so fill up at Kochel or Lenggries. The best season is late spring and early summer, when the meadows are full of flowers, and early autumn when the light is gold and the larches begin to turn. If it rains, the valley stays damp and the cold comes down from the hills, so pack a warm layer.