Last week was still on the chilly side, it was often VERY windy and there was a bit of rain in between - in short, it felt pretty much like April, which indeed it was from Wednesday onwards.
On Monday (30 March) we had rain followed by sunshine and there was even thunder at one point, although it never got any warmer than 8C/46F. I worked from home, and at about 4:30 pm I left for my usual walk to Benningen.
Tuesday (31 March) was wet, cold and grey, but that didn't stop me from walking to Pattonville after work, and as you can see in the pictures, the sky had cleared up nicely by then.
I'd not been there in a few months, and almost on the spot when I returned home it started to rain again, holding off long enough for me to be out for a couple of hours.
My regular day at the office followed on Wednesday (1st of April); again, it was cold and windy at first, but later the sun came out, and of course I couldn't let the opportunity of a good walk slip! I got off the train in Zuffenhausen and walked the rest from there, which was really good.
Good Friday is a public holiday in Germany, and I deliberately kept it entirely free of any appointments. After doing my usual cleaning in the morning, I had something to eat and a short rest before I left a little after 2:00 pm for a walk I had not done in years - 5 1/2, to be precise! My 2020 post of that walk is here, and the one before from 2012 is here.
Out of curiosity, I started the Runmeter app on my phone, and it recorded a total of about 19.2 km / 12 miles. I was out for just under 3.5 hours with a very short break at the "Kaiser", drinking from my water bottle and eating a peanut bar for sustenance.
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| Water reservoir |
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| The "Kaiser" hides in this small group of trees. |
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| Here it is; a man-made monument made to look like a natural piece of rock, commemorating the exact place where Kaiser Wilhelm once stood at a military inspection. |
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| My view from the bench by the Kaiser |
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| Spring seems strangely behind at this spot, compared to the rest of my walk. |
I saw several herons and falcons and heard larks for most of the walk.
It felt truly good but I was glad to be home - a longer break would have made sense, but at the time I didn't want it.
Getting to Offenburg on Saturday (4th of April) involved 3 changes instead of one, and took close to 4 hours instead of two, all because of construction works around Offenburg train station, with no trains stopping there. Instead, everybody had to get off the train and get on a bus for the last 20 km to the city, where O.K. picked me up for the last leg of my journey, the short drive to the village.
We had coffee & cake and then set to prepare tomorrow's family meal, leg of lamb and vegetables all cooked in white wine for almost 5 hours in the oven. In between getting it all ready to go in the oven and putting the finishing touches to the sauce we went for a short walk and had something to eat.
Easter Sunday saw us getting the table and everything else ready for noon, when O.K.'s mother, his sister and her husband arrived. For starters, we had sparkling wine and fillet of smoked trout with horseradish cream and a leafy salad, followed by the lamb and veg. For dessert, there was a choice of three different flavours of ice cream.
Unbelievably, not all that long afterwards we still managed to have the raspberry cream cake O.K.'s Mum had made (from the raspberries she grows in her garden) with our coffee!
We then walked to the cemetery and back, stopping for chats with some neighbours along the way.
Eventually, our guests went home and O.K. and I did the usual cleaning and putting things back to normal - hardly surprising, we did not have anything more to eat until the next day.
At 20C/68F, it had been the warmest day in a while, and sunny throughout.
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| By O.K.'s Mum's house. Aren't these glorious? |
So much for going out like a lamb
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