Last time I took you for a walk with me, most of you seemed to quite enjoy that, and so, if you like, you are welcome to join me again - this time, for a longer walk, so this post will beome a bit long with more pictures than what I usually post.
By now, I think all of my readers know about my parents' allotment - I have certainly mentioned it often enough here recently :-)
And almost exactly a year ago, my mum and I did just what we did yesterday: take the train from our home town to the town closest to where the allotment is, and walk the rest. You can compare the pictures from a year ago to current ones here.
This time, though, I wanted to document more of the actual walk, and show you who we met on our way.
Shall we set off, then?
These will be turned into Trollinger. For now, they just need a few more such sunny days!
Just some shots of the vineyards. I love those old dry stone walls.
Reaching the top of the slope, a bench awaits those who need a break (we didn't, not yet).
What an abundance of apples! I hope they'll get picked and won't be left to rot, as sadly sometimes is the case when people can't be bothered to look after their orchards.
...and from the top of the hill, we can already see the village where, a bit further out, the allotment is.
...and at the bottom of the hill we meet some horses:
...and to the bridge that leads into the village, crossing a river called Murr.
Healthy enough for trouts! Can you spot them? There is one very clearly visible towards the top right corner of the picture, but if you look closely, you will find lots more.
The heron patiently waits for some careless trout swimming his way.
Entrance to their Town Hall, built in 1580.
These geese were not too keen on having their picture taken!
But the beautiful flowers (are these called Morning Glory in English?) didn't mind.
More uphill - but this is the last bit, there's only another 15 minutes or so to walk from here.
This is the path in the allotment area, my parents' is the second to last off the right side.
All in all, the walk had, once again, taken us about 2 hours for the 10 or so kilometers, at a leisurely pace, with two short breaks and some photo stops.
We were ready for coffee and cake now!
The fig tree is still here (see last year's post).
...apples...
...and peppers. My dad grows black, green and red ones.
View from the bottom of the garden towards the patio; you can just about make out the blue table cloth on the table where we sat for our coffee.
I am so glad that I spent this beautiful day mostly outdoors - we didn't have that many this summer, and who knows how many more there will be before it turns too cold for such a long walk.
What an idyllic place, and idyllic weather with it! Thank you for taking me along with you. What a lot of animals you see on the way.
ReplyDeleteI love to see apple trees (and all fruit trees) laden - I would be tempted to collect windfalls in neglected orchatds, and make apple crumbles, chutneys, apple juice, etc. with them. But only if they are left to rot, and only windfalls (see below)
I'm thinking about this subject at the moment because last week I told a neighbour she could pick some of my plums as I had a lot. And she seems to have picked EVERY SINGLE ONE (Or else someone else has... there were just a load of stalks left when I went to pick some more!
Do you think she might have thought, wrongly, that I was planning to leave my plums to rot?
Anyway, I won't offer the plums next year!)
Wow what amazing walk, I would lve to do that every day. I shall post the walk my friend and I do around the village where we live, once we have a lovely morning.
ReplyDeleteJenny, what a mean neighbour you had taking the lot. My friend Ana and I pick from the hedgerow and only take a few. I hate seeing so much waste. My apple trees have given me more than enough and there is quite a few going to waste but I've left a few for the wild life. I've made crumbles, chutney etc as well as eating them.
So much enjoyed the walk with you! Yes, those are morning glories and aren't they lovely. Also, so happy to see your photos of the vineyard. I think German wine is the BEST! It makes me happy to see where it might have come from. Your photo of the deer in the vineyard should be stamped upon a bottle of wine... wouldn't that look great? Oh, and that clear water where we can see the trout! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI'm always amazed that you walk everywhere. I don't think Americans walk except from the car to the door! One of the major reasons we are fast becoming a nation of obese people.
ReplyDeleteI love this beautiful morning/day you had with your Mum and hope you have many more. What a joy to have her company on such a lovely walk.
Wine first! When I used to spend so much time in Germany I used to drink German wine in the evening here in the UK but my tastes changed and I generally drink red wine now. (For your non-European readers who may not be acquainted with German wine, superb white wine is produced and is the principal wine of Germany). However I have decided to try German wines again. I have a strange feeling, though, that they will not be so easy to find in our shops here as they once were. I'll report back on that one.
ReplyDeleteI loved your walk though. It makes me look forward to walking in the sun in France in 10 days or so.
The raspberry mad my mouth water - a prince amongst fruits in my book!
I don't think there is anything like this in New Zealand - I guess it is the equivalent of the bach or the crib at the beach.... but nto to sleep in. Lovely idea though.
ReplyDeleteAfter a glorious spring weekend here I dont feel so bad seeing the sun you are enjoying - our seasons are matching again.
You didn't miss a post about the crutches either - It only happened suddenly and I hadn't mentioned it.... frustrating - still off work too.
Have a lovely week
:)
What a beautiful walk! I'm exhausted! LOL!!! I especially enjoyed the photos of the home in the village, what beautiful buildings! Looks like you and your mum had a lovely day!
ReplyDeleteJenny, maybe you should have stated to your neighbour the exact amount of plums she was allowed to pick, instead of "some" ;-) No, really, that wasn't a very nice thing to do, was it!
ReplyDeleteJarmara, a walk around the village sounds lovely, please do post pictures of it.
Kay, a good idea about the picture for the label on the bottle! And thank you for confirming that these are morning glories.
Jill, I wouldn't want it any other way. Walking is such a pleasant way of getting from A to B - had we sped by those vineyards in a car, we would never have spotted the deer. And I am happy to be healthy and strong enough to get about on my own two feet :-)
GB, thank you; I like how the raspberry picture has come out, too. It looks as if it lives in its own pretty green tent of leaves under the sun.
Fi, I hope you'll soon be able to get rid of the crutches again!
Mary, it was indeed a lovely day. We are planning to do that once more when I'm back from my vacation.
Oh to have reliable Summers! Summers where the sun shines and things ripen. We had so little sun this year that I can't even get my tomatoes to ripen and as for the grapes, I am ignoring them and if they turn, then it will be a bonus. There is not much about germany that I covet, dear, but the reliability of the weather is one of them (and the beer of course). I had some local red once in Boeblingen. Crikey did that give me a bad head! I will stick to beer from now on when I am over there.
ReplyDeleteYou have some lovely places over there. I still can't get over all those hares we saw in that park in the middle of Stuttgart.
Perl, I forgot to mention in my post that we also saw a hare. He was too fast for me to take a picture, though; unlike the Stuttgart park hares which are totally unfazed about human presence.
ReplyDeleteOur summer was hardly worth that name - July and August were way too cold and too wet, and I had to put the heating on some mornings in July. Hopefully, a sunny September and October will at least partly make up for it.
Yep, I'll go for a walk with you anytime!
ReplyDeleteJoin me towards the end of next week when I'll be back from a week off on a sunny island - if the weather is nice :-)
ReplyDeleteHave a great time. I hope the weather is really good.
ReplyDeleteThanks, GB. Forecast says something like 27-30 Celsius most days, which is precisely my range of temperature!
ReplyDeleteMy range too. I'm going to France next week for a couple of weeks. The weather forecast is a bit of a lottery at the moment though. For me it's a case of layering for eventualities I think.
ReplyDeleteWell, that was just wonderful. It felt almost like I was there. I can't tell you how appreciative I am to see Germany. I have learned so much from reading your blog. The photos were great.
ReplyDeleteMe too Nan. Such a joy to visit Germany with Librarian, England with Scripter, and Scotland with GB. I look forward to them each morning.
ReplyDeleteGB, I shall pack layers into my suitcase for the next seven days, too; one never knows!
ReplyDeleteNan, thank you - I appreciate your kind comments so much, and if to you it felt almost as if you were there, then I have managed what I wanted to achieve with my post.
Jill, I am 100% with you on that! Thanks to Jenny, Scriptor and GB, I have "visited" such beautiful places.