Monday 27 January 2020

Along the River

Last week saw some of the coldest temperatures we have so far experienced this winter - not extremely cold, but since we're not used to it anymore as much as in the past decades, those 5 Celsius below freezing felt face-crackingly cold. 
One morning it almost looked as if it had been snowing, but this was just frost, not snow, and gone an hour later:
View from my kitchen on Thursday morning, just before 8:00
Most days were beautiful and sunny, though, and the weekend was again were good for  walks.
I had been to a friend's birthday party (the fourth out of the five in my diary this month) on Friday evening and therefore travelled to O.K.'s only on the Saturday, arriving there just after lunch time.

We wanted to make the most of the daylight hours and headed out straight after a quick coffee and some (very delicious!) apple cake.

The milder days and weeks before were still obvious around us - look at how far birch and hazel trees and bushes already were!




On Sunday morning, we met with a group of friends for brunch at a village a 15 minute drive from O.K.'s. By the time we finished our leisurely meal, the sun had taken care of the dense fog, and we decided to walk along the Rhine, just outside this village (Ichenheim).

I'd not been to the river in about two years and enjoyed our walk a lot, even though it was relatively featureless and not as varied as the walks and hikes we normally take. The sun and fresh air felt good, and without having planned it, we ended up walking about 13.5 km.





The Pierre Pflimlin Bridge is a 957 m long motorway bridge over the river Rhine between Germany and France, south of Strasbourg/Kehl. It is named after a former French prime minister and was opened in 2002. It was funded by France, Germany and the European Union.
Right beside that bridge is a large modern building containing a café, shop, Japanese restaurant, architectural office and a theatre which puts plays on stage written by German and French authors of this particular border region (Alsace on the French side, Baden on the German side of the river). Most important for me that afternoon was that there are toilets in the building, accessible to all visitors without having to eat at the restaurant or buy anything from the shop.

On the map below you can see our starting point (bottom red blob/arrow) and where we turned round (top red blob/arrow); that stretch along the river is somewhere between 6 and 7 km. You can also see on the map how wide the river is there - it almost looks like a lake in some parts.



Walking back was towards the sun, and as we were getting closer to sunset (and to where we had parked the car), the light was even more beautiful.


We had a few more hours together at the cottage before O.K. took me to the train station. All went well with the three trains, and I arrived at my place just after 10:30 pm.

18 comments:

  1. Our weather has been very similar to yours, last week we also had some of the coldest temperatures so far this winter. Overall it's been warmer than usual (if you judge by how winters used to be). It's chilly this morning, but not really cold.

    That last photo of the river is superb!

    Have a great day, Meike.

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  2. It has been very cold here (11F or -17.77 Celsius) but is now just around freezing for a few days. We've had snow, but only small amounts. My dd Alice has a friend who will go walking with her in that 11F weather and she says that is a very good friend! Your long walk looks beautiful. I've never been near the Rhine that far south.

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    1. If it is a dry cold, I can handle it for a short period with enough layers of clothing, but I would not go for a long walk at such low temperatures - I am not very good with cold, and am not getting better at it as I get older!

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  3. It's noticeable how much steeper the slopes are on the roofs of your houses than ours, prepared for proper snow.

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    1. We have not had much snow in the past years, but then of course the houses you see from my kitchen window were all built at times when we still had proper winters.

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  4. No snow here all January, which is rather unusual... What I appreciate is not having to worry about slippery streets, though! :) Beautiful sunset and reflection in your last photo!!!

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    1. That last part of our walk had such beautiful light, I could have stopped every few paces to take a photo - but they would have all looked very much like the last one :-)

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  5. I like the view from your kitchen window. It does almost look like snow but early morning frost will do that. You had quite a busy weekend. Your walk sounds wonderful. The river is just beautiful! I hope you have a good week Meike.

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    1. Thank you, Bonnie - you, too! I hope your husband gets well soon.

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  6. Sounds like the perfect weekend to me and the clear light in those wintry pictures is a joy to behold.

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    1. It was just what I needed after a busy week - I just wish there would have been more time to it; arriving on Saturday (instead of Friday evening) at O.K.'s makes it a bit short.

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  8. We had our first winter snow too. It lasted about 2 hours. You really do have a very good pair of lives at the moment don't you: work and pleasure neatly compartmentalised. I hope that one day it gets a bit easier for you. In the meantime we will keep on enjoying your walks which we take vicariously with the help of your photos and your commentaries.

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    1. There was snow forecast for Tuesday night/Wednesday morning this week, but not a single flake appeared, at least not in my area. Today we expect temperatures up to 11 Celsius - way too warm for snow (and for January, actually).
      Thank you, Graham, I will happily continue to provide photos and descriptions of walks and hikes!

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