You know how much I like (and need) my walks, and I have mentioned before how I have increased them in length and created new favourite routes for myself during the last two years, when there wasn't much else to do after work because of the pandemic-related restrictions.
As I do not drive and have not owned a bike for years, my range is limited; therefore, one of my favourite walks is a one-way route from my house through Ludwigsburg's suburb Eglosheim, across the fields to Freiberg and across more fields to Benningen, where I board the local train that takes me home in about ten minutes (whereas it takes me almost exactly two hours to walk the just over 11 km).
Last Thursday looked like rain but none was really forecast, and after I had checked the rain radar online, I decided I was good to go.
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| Sunrise last Thursday, as seen from my kitchen window |
What I enjoy so much about this walk is the change of scene; I walk between houses in quiet suburbs and then I am out in the open, under big, big skies. That afternoon, the sky seemed to be particularly big, with fast moving clouds and bright golden windows between them. As usual, on the photos the lit-up parts do not come out as bright and beautiful as they were to the naked eye, but believe me, it was quite impressive.
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| Looking from Benningen across the Neckar valley towards Marbach |
And instead of the sky getting darker as the afternoon wore on, it brightened up. By the time I reached Benningen and stood to admire the view across the river towards Marbach (all part of our Winey Walk the other day), the late afternoon sun was like YP put it in a comment not long ago, like golden syrup.
I wish I could have taken pictures from the train home - it was close to sunset, and the sky was blue and golden, with white fluffy clouds. But the train windows were so dirty I knew a photo would not even have remotely shown what I saw
Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteNice hike and terrific photos! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank YOU for reading and commenting, Ellen.
DeleteWalking across fields to Freiberg and across more fields to Benningen ...
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of landscape many of us would want on our doorstep.
Field landscape first drew me to the writings of Thomas Hardy and D.H. Lawrence.
It is there in Philip Larkin's poem The Whitsun Weddings: Poetry Foundation online.
Larkin too is watching his landscape from a train out of Hull.
*Somewhere becoming rain.*
There's a book by Clive James.
*Somewhere Becoming Rain: Collected Writings on Philip Larkin.
For many, this is not a landscape they would wish to travel to for their holidays, as it is highly industrialised with only small green patches between one town and the next. But it is my home, and with all its changes over the years still so familiar I can repeat that walk in my mind before going to sleep.
DeleteThanks for sharing your changes of scenery. :) Here, everything has been looking the same for so long now that my camera doesn't get put to much use at the moment!
ReplyDeleteMore often than not, on my after work walks I do not use the camera, either. But with those skies I just could not NOT take photos :-)
DeleteWhat a beautiful walk! You are fortunate to have such a variety of countryside to walk through near your home. Even though I live in a very small town I would have to walk further than I am able to reach an open or a wooded area. I love how you have photos of such changes in the light. So pretty!
ReplyDeleteIt takes me about half an hour to reach the fields in that direction, but only 10-15 minutes in other directions. We do not have proper woodland in and around Ludwigsburg, just small patches left here and there.
DeleteI am glad you "get" my photos, Bonnie!
I enjoyed reading about this walk, Meikes, and seeing the photographs. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rachel, for reading and commenting!
DeleteWith all that walking, you and YP should both have excellent cardiovascular health! Great photos, as usual. 😊
ReplyDeleteI wish it were so! In my case, I am very short of breath when it comes to uphill bits, and so I go for the lazy option and avoid steep or long uphill paths when I can :-)
DeleteI love your walks and photos, but you know that! The very idea of being able to walk as you do is a bit unreal to me. After living in California, where nobody walks anywhere, I find myself in northern New Mexico with wonderful views of mountains and skies right from my front porch. I don't walk, but my daughter who is about your age, does every chance she gets. Here that involves a car ride to the trail heads then wonderful walks in the national forests. I so enjoy walking with you, please keep letting us do that.
ReplyDeleteJill, it is always good to hear it again - that you enjoy walking with me, and like my photos. I have never been to New Mexico, but what I gather from films and pictures, those mountains and big skies are quite something; no wonder your daughter walks there every chance she gets.
DeleteThe ever-changing skies above are the backdrop to all our lives. When out walking I frequently frame photographs that are about the sky as much as the earthly world below. We take it for granted but the sky above often has a magical appearance.
ReplyDeleteI know you "get" this as much as I do, Neil. Skyscape is as important to me as landscape, and being able to look at the sky no matter what time of day or night, or weather and season, means a lot.
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