A New Circuit

On Wednesday, the 7th of May, we decided to walk to a viewing tower called Urenkopfturm, within easy reach of the small town of Haslach, about half an hour's drive from the village. While we had been to the picturesque town once before, neither of us had ever done the circular walk from there or been to the tower, so it was a new circuit for both of us.

With restaurants etc. still closed, we made our own sandwiches and packed a rucksack (which O.K. kindly carried all the way) and set off from the parking lot.

On a freshly cut meadow, this stork walked "with us" for a bit:

I did not take pictures during the first part of the circuit. The path took us past a memorial for a labour camp where imprisoned men (the majority had been fighting in the French Résistance) were forced to work and live (rather: vegetate) in underground tunnels. Hundreds of them died under the unimaginably conditions; of hunger, cold, desease and/or the punishments inflicted on them by their guards. Such places are very important to keep the memory of those horrors alive as a warning and out of respect for the innocent victims, but I did not feel it appropriate to take pictures there.

On we walked, up to the highest point of the circuit, the Urenkopf. At 554 m, it is not very high, but believe me - the ascent still made me breathless! I can walk for hours on (relatively) even ground, but am very bad at going uphill.

It was definitely worth it, though! The tower's viewing platform is at 33 m and offers great views of the area.

This wasp was looking for a new home, I think; there were several around, but not too many to make me feel uncomfortable. They seemed to be "drilling" the wooden pillars of the tower, and I am not sure whether it was for food or if they nest that way.
 

As you can tell from my clothes, the day (and the shade in the woods as well as the wind on top of the tower) was still relatively chilly:

View along the Kinzig valley:

The path we had come:

Haslach, where we had parked the car (on the outskirts):

We ate our sandwiches at a wooden table at the bottom of the tower and then walked the rest of the circuit, all downhill from here.

A painter named Karl (often spelled Carl) Sandhaas worked and lived in Haslach. He was very talented but unhappy; today we would say he suffered clinical depression. This viewing spot gave his ill soul comfort; he built himself a shelter here (as the sign below tells us). Of course today's hut is not the original one anymore, and the view is probably rather different - Haslach must have been much smaller in the mid-1800s - but still beautiful.

Please look at some of his work here; I found his self-portrait as a young man especially touching.

A bit further on, we came across a small chapel in the woods. You know I had to investigate, and was pleased to find it open.

 On the slope rising from the chapel, this small grotto looks as if it has regular visits:

The nearby fountain is called Kindlesbrunnen ("kids' fountain") 

Along the beck downhill from the fountain, three little "houses" have been set up. They are mechanical shows of typical craft you would have found along rivers and becks in the Black Forest until as late as the 1950s: a smithy, a corn mill and a saw mill (if I remember correctly); the water flowing down drives the little "men" and their machines. As a child, I would have been endlessly fascinated by this, and my parents would have had a hard time dragging me away from there!
 

Coming out of the woods towards Haslach, and then back along the top of the field where a few hours before we had seen the stork:

It had been a beautiful walk with great views, one I would like to repeat at some stage, maybe in autumn, when the trees sport their different colours.