Our plan for the day was to return to the Wutachschlucht but walk a different part of it. Actually, the first half of our hike was not along the Wutach, but the Haslach, another small river that merges into the Wutach.
We drove to Lenzkirch, a small town which is ideally situated for hiking in the region.
From the parking lot where we changed into our hiking boots, it was a comfortable walk through the woods to the Haslach.
The Haslach, which would accompany us most of the time until its merge with the Wutach:
The building in the picture above used to be a tiny train station. There was once a railway connecting the surrounding villages, but it has long been closed, and the former tracks have been turned into a cycling path.
After following the former rail tracks for a while, the path took us back down into the gorge with the Haslach at its bottom:
We really liked this part with the dramatic rocks where the Haslach has been squeezing through for tens of thousands of years:
The path took us up to the rim of the gorge again, with glimpses down to where we'd been:
Soon, we were at river level again:
Here is where the Haslach and the Gutach merge, forming the Wutach:
We crossed the Wutach at some point and went back up through the woods until we were much higher up than before. From there, once again a comfortable path took us back to where we had started.
Back in Lenzkirch, we had a good meal of hot soup at a café, followed by delicious cake and coffee, before we drove back to the hotel.
We ended the day with a short walk to the top of the hill behind the hotel, enjoying the peace and quiet of the surrounding meadows and woods.
So beautiful! I have just read about the Japanese concept of "forest bathing" and do believe it gives a great deal of healing, of every sort, to those who practice it....The photos today are exceptional. I especially enjoyed the one with the rocks across from one another. But I had to smile that after that long day of walking you went for another short walk up the hill behind the hotel!
ReplyDeleteWalking on the comfortable road up the hill behind the hotel was no comparison to hiking up and down the gorge :-) One of the reasons for that short walk was that up there we had a mobile phone signal (which was non-existent in the hotel), so we could check our emails and messages and stay in touch with our friends and families at home.
DeleteAlso, the evening was still so nice and mild, it would have been a shame to just sit in the hotel.
Forest bathing? Never heard of that!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_bathing
DeleteThank you! Our "bathing" was somewhat more extended, and definitely beneficial!
DeleteBeing tired when scrolling down your post, at first glance I read "the Haslach and the Gutach" as "Hansel and Gretel" ... ;)
ReplyDeleteMy impression is still that the forest could just as well be Sweden, but the some of the buildings give away that it's not!
Just for the record: the actual setting of Hänsel and Gretel's story was, as far as research can be trusted, in the Harz region of Germany, not in the Black Forest ;-)
DeleteYes, I suppose woodland can look very similar from one middle/northern European country to the other, with our climate not being all that different from yours. The Black Forest is generally a little cooler than, say, around my home town, so it would match your climate.
The church is particularly lovely
ReplyDeleteI like it, too; it looked so beautiful against the blue sky and with the coloured leaves on the trees in front.
DeletePhew! I was tired just reading that (which I did on Feedly but had to come here today and just say how much I'd enjoyed it).
ReplyDeleteI hope you have recovered since then, Graham :-) Thank you for bearing with me!
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