A Good Walking Week

...is what I had last week. The weather was rather mixed; we saw everything from a flurry of snow (which didn't last) to sun and rain, a rainbow and sun again, as well as thick grey fog. By the way, in the post about last week of January I forgot to mention that on the Sunday walk with O.K., I spotted the first snowdrops and yellow eranthis in a garden - for me, the very first signs of spring, along with the first blackbird singing.

On Monday (2 February), I was working from home as usual and also as usual spent part of my lunch break having a back & shoulders massage at the nearby day spa. At temperatures around freezing point, mid-morning rain turned into a brief flurry of snow, but later the sun put in an appearance and the afternoon remained dry.

View from my kitchen at about 10 to 8 on Monday morning...

...and the same view at about 10:30 am.

This was welcome, since I was meeting a friend for an after-work walk. She lives in the same town, but we usually manage only two or three meetings a year; our last one was at the Christmas market in December. 1.5 hours of walking was a great opportunity to catch up with each other's news.

Tuesday (3 February) pretended to be a sunny day, luring me out for my customary walk to Benningen. 

Good job I was wearing my padded winter jacket with a hood, because light rain started to fall halfway into the walk. The sun was never entirely gone, though, and I kept checking the sky for a rainbow. I finally saw it, and it was perfect, reaching from one end of the horizon to the other. But it remained very pale and disappeared quickly so that I did not take a picture. 

Still, the light was beautiful all evening, as you can see from my photos (and of course, it was even more beautiful in real life).

My regular day at the office followed on Wednesday (4 February). Afterwards, I went to see my Mum. On my request, she had prepared a fresh salad for the two of us. When I've had lunch at work at the canteen, something light is all I need in the evening, and this was just right.

Thursday (5 February) saw me again working from home. I started very early and didn't have any meetings in the afternoon, which allowed me to wrap up work at 4:00 pm and set off to the train station where I took a local train to Benningen - not because I wanted to repeat Tuesday's walk in reverse, but I intended to go along the river.

Back in October (click here for that post), I had last tried to walk that lane but found it blocked for all traffic including pedestrians because of construction work. The signs that explained the blocking back then said "until December"; now, about two months later, I thought the lane would be open again.

Well, it wasn't. 

Instead, I crossed the footbridge to the other side of the river and walked to Ludwigsburg from there. Only the very first part was in the sun; then the angle of the sun and the path being at the bottom of the river valley meant that I was almost completely in the shade for the rest of the way. Never mind, it still was a good substantial walk, and 2 1/2 hours later I was home.

Above the river Neckar on the footbridge leading to Marbach.

My occasional work place, the Schiller Museum in Marbach.

The "rocket" coming into view.

On top of the hill to the right, you can just about make out the small ruined castle where O.K. and I enjoyed a wine tasting last summer.

Back across the Neckar, still about 45 minutes from home.

I had a quiet day on Friday (6 February), working from home and then going about my weekly cleaning etc. until it was time to pack my suitcase for the weekend and go to the station. My trains were on time - in fact, I arrived in Offenburg about FOUR minutes EARLY, much to the astonishment of O.K. Of course I said I'd told the driver to hurry up a bit because I was hungry (which I was - on those Fridays, we don't get to sit down for our evening meal until about 9:00 pm).

In Ludwigsburg, the day had been beautiful and sunny, but it was raining in Offenburg.

Saturday (7 February) was spring-like with wall-to-wall sunshine and temperatures as mild as 12C/53F, which felt even warmer in the sun when there was no wind. 

It would have been perfect for a good hike, but O.K. wanted to take advantage of the weather by cutting the hedge behind his mother's house. And just as I knew I couldn't persuade him to join me for a walk, he could not persuade me to stay put for longer than I needed to get the ironing done and get us a midday snack from the bakery.

Storks are back on the roof of the vicarage!

Carnival bunting has been strung across all the length of the village road.

Just after 1:00 pm, I left O.K. to his hedge-trimming and went to take in all the beauty of that day - sunshine, birdsong, early spring flowers, and more sunshine!

Looking back towards the village.

The vines have been cut and tidied.

Snowdrops!

The first crocus I have seen this year!

Back towards the village, just round the bend from here.

Late afternoon, we both changed into nicer clothes. O.K. drove us to a nearby village where we had booked a table for the evening to test a restaurant in view of our wedding. The food was very good and the service friendly if a little slow at times. But I have to concede that they were rather busy. I am now in the process of booking our small wedding party with them.

On Sunday (8 February), we woke up to a thick fog and cooler temperatures. We were still determined to go for a walk together, and when O.K. checked the weather map, he saw that there was no fog less than 20 km away from us along the Kinzig valley.

After about half an hour's drive, we parked the car in Hausach and climbed the path to the ruined castle.

According to Wikipedia, a first castle has been there as early as the 12th century.

The tower is only open for visitors in the summer.

View from the castle across the town of Hausach.

From there, we walked into the woods, past a playground (where of course I could not resist a bit of silliness) and a chapel, and back down into the town, where we had a stroll among historical buildings and a look into the neo-Gothic church.

I like playgrounds, especially when there is nobody else about!

The door was locked; I would have liked to have a look inside.

Not a small castle, only an old water reservoir!

St. Mauritius, built in 1896 from the red sandstone typical for the Black Forest region.

While we were still out, O.K.'s sister texted us with an invitation for coffee and cake at her place, and so we spent the rest of the afternoon with them. Her freshly baked apple pie was very nice!

Back at the cottage, we had our usual quiet evening with early bedtime in view of Monday's early start.

Read in 2026 - 5: Murder in York

Murder in York

Book 12 in The Yorkshire Murder Mysteries series

J.R. Ellis

Not long ago, I read #11 in this series I enjoy so much. This time, the setting is somewhat different in that we're in the city of York and not in some remote location in the Dales or a picturesque village. And it's nearly Christmas, with DCI Oldroyd visiting the city both for professional and private reasons.

York claims to be the most haunted city in the U.K., and ghost tours are very popular there. Oldroyd goes on such a tour and is enjoying the drama and bits of history when he happens to find a real dead body - not some prop from the tour.

Although York is not "his" beat, he soon joins the investigating team there, and his trusted assistant Andy is assigned to help, too.

It soon becomes apparent that the victim, a greedy property developer who treated his tenants badly, had many enemies as well as an ex-wife, who would all profit from his death. Then, just as the list of suspects is getting longer, a homeless person is murdered very close to where the first body was found. And soon afterwards, a second homeless man dies...

Is there a serial killer with a grudge against the homeless on the loose, who mistook the first victim? Are the three murders related at all?

As usual, the case gets more puzzling as more suspects and possible connections emerge, but as usual, Oldroyd trusts both the evidence and his instinct. He and Andy carry out their part of the investigation with sometimes unorthodox methods, and at one point Andy saves his boss' life.

At the same time back in Harrogate, the third regular member of their team, Stephanie, tries to divide Christmas preparations equally between herself and Andy while struggling with a cold... or is it a flu... or something else entirely?

Like I have said before when reviewing this series, much of its charm for me lies in the setting; places in Yorkshire I know quite well or at least know of. Also, I really like the characters; they are like real people with strengths and flaws, and what they deal with in their personal and professinal lives is plausible.

The plight of the homeless is a central element of the story, and reading about winter and Christmas time just after Christmas and while it is winter here makes it all the more poignant.

Hopefully, J.R. Ellis will write many more books featuring Oldroyd and his team!

Last Week of January

Unlike the week before, which was almost walkless for me, last week was quite good in that respect. Also, it started off with snow and then saw a mix of sun and clouds with some rain thrown in for good measure.

On Monday (26 January), I had a smooth trip back to Ludwigsburg in the morning. My sister had sent a picture on Sunday night with the view from her house towards the street, all covered in snow, while 150 km away, we saw not a single flake.

From the train, I spotted the first snow after Bruchsal, more than half way home, and as the train was pulling into Stuttgart, the layer of snow grew thicker. I took this picture from the local train for the last part of my trip, from Stuttgart to Ludwigsburg; I have walked along that tree-lined road many times and have posted pictures of it on my blog every now and then:

Reaching my house, this is how much snow was around the front door:

The views from my kitchen and my living room:

For my lunch break I had booked a massage at the nearby day spa. I walked there cautiously; the streets and pavements in my neighbourhood were covered in snow and, where people had meant well and swept off the snow, slipperly slush. No wonder then that I spotted a man on his hands and knees, trying to get upright again after a fall, but unable to do so without help. 

I rushed over (carefully, so as not to fall as well) and helped him up, which wasn't easy - although he was rather short, reaching only my shoulder height, he was also rather rotund and heavy. It didn't help that he couldn't stop laughing - he obviously pictured himself cartoon-style like sliding, slipping and falling. 

Eventually, he was upright, still laughing and clutching my hands. I asked him three times whether he was hurting and should I call an ambulance, but he insisted that he was fine and said "Thank you for seeing me", which was a bit of an odd choice of words, but then he didn't sound a native German speaker anyway. He then walked away, carefully avoiding the slushy-slippery bits on the pavement. I watched him for a moment before I went on to my appointment at the day spa.

After work, I had about an hour left before sunset and went to the fields for a walk in the snow. At first, the sun just about managed to get through, but quite wonderfully, shortly before sunset it threw golden rays across the snow - my photos can only give a poor impression of what was truly beautiful.

Tuesday (27 January) was wet and cold with rain washing much of the snow away. It was a good day for working from home, and also a good evening to spend at the pub. This time, we did better at the quiz, coming third and leaving the pub with a bottle of sparkling wine as our prize.

My usual day at the office followed on Wednesday (28 January). It started foggy with more rain later. The local trains were in their customary chaotic state. After work, I went to my see my Mum for a chat and a snack.

View from my kitchen just before 8:00 on Wednesday morning.

Glad to be working from home on Thursday (29 January), another cold and wet day, I still managed to stretch my legs for a bit more than an hour after work, covering the not exactly picturesque round to Asperg and back to Ludwigsburg via Eglosheim.

Friday (30 January) started sunny and bright, with grey clouds moving in later but no rain or snow. I had a badly needed hair cut between finishing work and starting on the cleaning. O.K. arrived at 9:00 pm. While the butternut & parsnip soup I had prepared was heating, we had crackers and cheese.

My Dad would have been 84 years old on Saturday (31 January). As has become our habit after his death in 2022, we had a remembrance meal at my Mum's in the evening, eating what was one of his favourite dishes.

It was a beautiful day, and so after breakfast, O.K. and I had gone into town for breakfast and a look at a shoe shop we favour. We each found a pair of shoes we liked, but finding a place for breakfast took a while - our usual cafés were full to the brim, and we ended up at a bakery where my sister and I had had breakfast months ago and really enjoyed it.

We went for a walk on the now snow-less fields and also visited my Dad's bird marker at the cemetery. 

Back home, we rested for a little before going to my Mum's for the evening.

Sunday (1st of February) was cloudy but dry, with patches of blue. After breakfast, we set off for a walk to Asperg with the castle on the hill, where we had not been in a while.

About 2 1/2 hours later, we were back home for coffee & cake. A rest followed before I started to cook. It was pasta with brokkoli and mushrooms fried in olive oil and what I intended to be a creamy sauce - it was tasty enough, but the sauce nearly entirely disappeared in the pasta due to its shape (fusilli - if you don't know what they look like, click here for the wikipedia article).

O.K. had to leave after that, and I was glad when he reported from almost home 1 hour 20 minutes later - no hold-ups on the motorway, no ice or other difficult driving conditions.