Four Churches Walk

Yes, another walk! It is just the perfect time of year for it, and my favourite activity anyway, so I gladly grab any chance I get to be out there in the sun.

The Friday after Ascension (see my previous post), both O.K. and I worked. I was able to finish early enough to catch a train to Offenburg in time for a leisurely sundowner on the balcony. In fact, the train was almost 10 minutes EARLY - something that happens very, very rarely!

The Saturday (May 23) was rather chilly at only 12 Celsius, and rainy. It was the perfect excuse for a quiet day of lounging around with just a quick walk around the village late afternoon when the rain stopped. 

But Sunday, the 24th of May, was sunny again. In the village's weekly paper, I had come across a suggestion for a walk covering all three villages that make up the administrative community of O.K.'s village, and their four churches. The walk was prepared and signposted by the community's Heimatverein, an association of people who love their area and care for it, promoting its beauty and quality of life.

We started at the church of O.K.'s village, St. Gallus in Hofweier:

Being local, of course we knew quite well how to reach the next village and the next church, but we were determined to follow the description and the route as intended by the Heimatverein. The path took us down Church Valley and uphill again, along the top of the hill between orchards and vineyards to this tiny chapel:

View of O.K.'s village, the clouds making for great skyscapes:

Approaching the next village, Niederschopfheim:

Coming up towards the next church, St. Brigitta:

We did not go inside, but had a look at the sign outside, explaining a bit about the church's history:

On we went across the fields to the third village, Diersburg:

Church No. 3 on the walk was the only Protestant church in this small cluster of villages; as you can see, much newer than the others, although there had been an older building for centuries (dedicated in 1790), and the stained glass windows and other elements from the old church have cleverly been incorporated in the new building.
Does anyone else find that the tower looks like a not very happy face?

 The Catholic church in Diersburg:

It was now 3:00 pm, and before we left Diersburg, O.K. bought us coffee to go from a bakery/café that was open for business, a welcome stop.

The signposts led us to a different route out of the village than what we would usually take:

Looking back at Diersburg:

Up and down several hills...

...before the communal wood of Hofweier (called Hohhölzle) came into view. From there, it wasn't far to the cottage.

Top-down view of the recently planted troughs in front of the cottage, as seen from the balcony. We had chosen the flowers together during our holiday at the start of May, and they are doing really well:

This had been a very nice walk. At 13 km, it was not too long to be utterly exhausting, but not too short, either. Signposting could have been better in places, and if I had not been with O.K. and not known the area rather well already, I would have probably taken the wrong path a few times. But we both enjoyed this closer look at the three villages and their churches, and I can well imagine to repeat the circuit on a sunny autumn day, when the vineyards show their colours.