Short and Long Walks

Still catching up with what the first week of this year was like for me; we have now made it to Tuesday, the 4th of January.

It was a very mild day at about 14C (57F), but so wet we decided against a long walk or hike. Instead, we did some household stuff and food shopping in the afternoon. There was still time and occasion for a quick walk around the village before lunch time, though; it was 11:25 when these two pictures were taken:

Wednesday, the 5th, saw quite a drop in temperatures; it was no warmer than 3 or 4C (37-39F), but with enough sun between the clouds to turn even the bleakest January landscape into a fascinating play of light and shadow.

O.K.'s sister happened to be at their parents' just as we were ready to go, and kindly offered to take us to where we intended to start our walk. It wasn't really cheating, was it! She dropped us off at Ortenberg, a place that has also featured a few times on my blog before. You may recognise the castle from older posts.

There was no exploring the castle grounds or climbing the tower this time, though; the gates were locked with the youth hostel being shut due to the pandemic.

View from near the castle along the Kinzig valley and (more or less) the way we were going to walk:

The view across the industrial area of Ortenberg towards Black Forest hills:

On we walked, through the vineyards towards Ohlsbach:

Old outbuildings at a farm:

We walked through the center of Ohlsbach, a village of just over 3,000 inhabitants. A bakery near the main square offered coffee to go, and we were glad of the hot drink plus a savoury snack to go with it.

From there, the path lead through a patch of woodland. We choose to walk down the hill and skirt Reichenbach, a smaller but widespread community of just over 2,000 inhabitants. There are many places called Reichenbach in Germany; wikipedia lists 15 in Baden-Wuerttemberg (the federal state where we live) alone.

St. Peter's, a chapel originating from the 13th century:

Leaving Reichenbach, we crossed the Kinzig near Berghaupten and walked back along the rim of the Black Forest. By then, the late afternoon light made us decide against walking through the woods; sunset was not far off, and we were not keen on stumbling around in the dark.

The setting sun lit up the castle beautifully:

We reached Zunsweier, the next village from O.K.'s, and made it back to the village just in time before it was completely dark. Too late for coffee and cake, but after having walked a bit more than 16 km, we were hungry enough for a substantial evening meal.

I enjoyed that walk very much; I had known bits of the places we'd walked through, but never really walked there before. The light was particularly beautiful, so a great day altogether.