A Walk in The Black Forest(Horst Jankowski) - A Walk in The Hills above St Aldegund,Germany - 19th June 2016


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Europe » Germany » Rhineland-Palatinate
June 19th 2016
Published: June 23rd 2016
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As hoped and forecasted the weather looks good for a walk up the hill behind our apartment and into the forest. We have a plan of the trail that has an option of 4.8km or a 9km hike. The longer distance goes out onto a plateau and supposedly has great views of the river and surrounding area.

We had our usual late breakfast at 10am.This is becoming a habit that we hope will not be hard to break when we get back home and have to go out to work.

As we weren’t sure how long the hike would take which is down to whether we do the short or the long distance Gretchen prepared some vegemite sandwiches to go with the fruit and chocolate for lunch.

We were confident that the weather would hold and not rain on our hike and so we left the rain jackets behind to lighten the load in the backpack.

We almost started to regret this as we got ourselves along the street and started to head up the trail through the vineyard on the near vertical hillside. Thankfully the trail cut across the hillside so although it was a steady climb it wasn’t too steep. The sky had darkened over but no rain arrived.

The first rest area was just before the trail entered the forest to zigzag further up to another vantage point. We were ready to take advantage of the seat that sat on the edge of the hillside with views straight up and down the river valley.

The trail continued upwards but now through the forest which was pretty to walk through with dappled shades of green coming through the trees from the sunlight which had now taken over from the darkened sky.

The next rest was a proper shelter with a seat and it was a good place to stop for lunch. We had come up about another 50 metres or so and now the trains going by on the other side of the river really did look like little ‘Hornby Trains’ or should we say ‘Marklin Trains ‘because we are in Germany after all.

The hard bit had been done and the hike continued on more across the hillside as we headed for the junction where we had to make our mind up to carry on and do the 9km or call it quits and head down the hill and make it a half job done.

We passed a couple of little memorials with crosses on them which we assumed where to honour someone who had been in or lived in this area and perhaps used to hike the trail often.

Then ahead of us the narrow trail was blocked by a fallen tree. Going down the hillside to get around the tree wasn’t an option because the hillside was almost vertical and whoever went first may not have stopped until they got to the bottom!

Uphill was going to be a challenge because the hillside up was almost as vertical as the downside and anyway the soil was still wet from recent rains and getting a foothold didn’t look that easy unless we had bought a spade or something to dig some steps.

So it was either under the branches or clamber over the branches using them as somewhere to put your feet on.

Gretchen chose the first option and made it through successfully but the gap wasn’t big enough for me other than if I got down on my stomach and crawled. So there was just one thing for it and that was to clamber through the branches and jump at the appropriate time. Success! and we were on our way again.

We had made our decision to continue on for the longer hike before we got to the fork and so we took the uphill trail which should bring us out on the plateau.

However, another challenge lay ahead about 100 metres up the trail that we hadn’t seen coming.

More trees down! And not just one tree this time but several.

This time there was no way around them and going through wasn’t an option either. So that was the end of the longer trail. There was nothing for it but to go back to the fork and take the route that would eventually lead us home.

It looked a simple process down the hill but somewhere we must have missed the direct route as we came across a sort of picnic area with BBQ type tables and other buildings all of which looked like it was used for large parties.

Then we discovered that there was a road that came up from the town and this was the route we took back home. It seemed to go on forever which was good in a way as it wasn’t too steep.

We were feeling quite tired by the time we made it home and we reckoned that we had put in more than 6km worth of walking when the road down was taken into account.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the terrace watching the barges and trains go by and down on the riverside there was a lot of activity as cyclists out for a Sunday ride were making the most of the party sunny weather.

We have another full day here tomorrow and we think it is time to take a look at the town of Neef on the other side of the river just downstream from us. It won’t be a hill and forest walk rather another stroll along the river to the bridge and over the other side.

PS:OK we know our walk wasn't in the Black Forest,which is elsewhere in Germany,but we have been waiting for ages to use this bouncy song and we did actually take a walk in the forest.Enjoy on Youtube


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23rd June 2016

German Railways, Don't You Just Love It.
For those who have a Marklin model railway know that the German rail system is just a grown up version of what is whizzing around the layout in that special room. Never use Hornby in the same breath. Enjoy.
23rd June 2016

Whoops,my humblest apolgy.Remember though this is the BBA V3 and cost vs quality does rear it head from time to time.

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