On Sunday, the 25th of October, O.K. and I re-visited an area where we had already been for two hikes this year - one where we ended up so soaked O.K. had to remove his dripping wet shirt and drove us home topless (with me chuckling all the way), and another one almost exactly a month before, on the 24th of September. The September walk is here, the "wet" walk here.
On one of the leaflets we have been collecting, this circuit is named "Durbacher Wein-Panorama" (Durbach wine panorama). We knew it was going to be now or never, what with the vineyards being at their most beautiful this time of year.
It was rather warm (about 20C / 68F) and sunny. There were going to be many people about, but we were hoping for few cyclists and that the 15 km circuit would be long enough for everyone to spread out with good distance for comfortable walking.
Each and everyone of our walks and hikes has been good, but this one turned out to be one of the most beautiful of this year. If you look at the pictures (a combination of mine and O.K.'s), you will understand why.
As usual, I am flooding you with pictures - I simply can not decide which ones to leave out.
Durbach itself is a small community with less than 4,000 inhabitants, but it is immensely popular with wine lovers and tourists. Wisely, a vast parking lot is just outside. On a day like that, it was almost completely filled, but we managed to find a spot.
Starting from there, we were almost immediately in the vineyards, making our way up:
Through a patch of woodland, and past the ruins of a chapel.
St. Anton was first mentioned in 1455. The original chapel was destroyed in 1524. In 1632 and again in 1704, the building was again badly damaged, but rebuilt every time. The last mass was read inside in 1790, the chapel falling into disuse and disrepair in the centuries that followed. Only in 1988, work was started to preserve what was left of the ruins. Nowadays, it is well kept by volunteers.
The next two pictures show the same view of Schloss Staufenburg, the first zoomed in, the second "as is". We had a break here, sitting on a bench in the sun and eating the sandwiches we had brought in our rucksacks. There was an incredible number of ladybugs around - they were everywhere, landing on our necks, arms, heads. Although they do not sting like wasps, they were almost as annoying, for their sheer number and insistence on sitting on us.
As the day progressed, the sky became more and more clouded. We were not really worried about rain, and it was still rather warm.
The last part of the hike was at the bottom of the valley, along a beck, the actual Durbach, Bach meaning beck in German. There were picturesque houses and gardens; this was just one of them:
We did not drive straight home after that, but stopped at Offenburg for what was probably the last ice cream of this year bought outside at an ice cream parlour.
It was a wonderful Sunday, with all the beauty of autumn and the feeling of late summer combined.
I take it you do mean Ladybirds (Marienkaefer).
ReplyDeleteA bit like finding a four leaf clover I have always felt so very lucky when coming across a Ladybird. Such pretty creatures. So rare. And you get them by the dozens? To the point of annoying? That's a new one for me. Don't take this the wrong way; I now have an image of you and my mother, flailing arms, running around the garden to escape the inevitable wasp during those interminable coffee and cake sessions - to be had in the garden, on the terrace. What do people expect? I find sitting still works best. Keep your nerve. Get stung later. Keep shtum about it.
As to you finding it hard to choose which photos to publish, don't worry, Meike. You are a Librarian with secrets and, so it appears, a camera. Your "rolling footage" tells a story, your story - and that has its own merit and charm without going all professional.
U
Yes, Ursula, I mean Marienkäfer. I've heard and read both words - ladybird and ladybug - used for them, but as they were truly bugging us that afternoon, I chose to call them bugs. Also, these are not the common native species, but an invasive Asian one; they have been around less than 20 years and are taking over more and more of the native one's habitat. See the WWF's blog for more information (in German):
Deletehttps://blog.wwf.de/asiatische-marienkaefer-plage/
Good to know you don't mind the picture flood in my post!
As this is an entirely private, personal blog, I do not aim at being professional. That's reserved for my day job.
We have those here as well, and there is nothing to like about them. In the early fall when there is a warm day our kitchen ceiling is covered with them. I am not a killer of all bugs, but I do kill these. They make a mess. And boy, do they stink when you kill them. The story I heard is they got out of some lab, and spread. I had no idea they were anywhere other than they US.
DeleteLovely pictures. What a nice place.
It is a beautiful area, Nan, no matter the season. But for those vineyard views, we definitely chose the best time of year - along with many, many other people, of course. Can't blame them on a day like that!
DeleteHaving an occasional visitor from the bug family in the house is certainly no problem, but when they become too many, it is another matter. As usual with invasive species, man has upset the balance by introducing them to places where they do not belong, without thinking of the long-term consequences for native wildlife.
Your photos show a lovely combination of textures and colours. Looks like a wonderful day.
ReplyDeleteIt was, Mary! Thank you.
DeleteWhat is that wall looking at?
ReplyDeleteThe state of the world, I should think.
DeleteYou do some lovely walks. Wish I could as well.
ReplyDeleteI can not imagine life without those walks, Pat. What's keeping you?
DeletePerhaps I need to get out more, but I do not see skies quite like these in Scotland.
ReplyDeleteThis is a post to return to again and again, for the photos alone, and the play of light on these hills and vales. The landscapes make me think of the Vale of Avalon and Rosemary Sutcliffe's wonderful novel, *Sword at Sunset* the story of the real Arthur.
The wines of Durbach, the ruined chapel of Saint Anton, and a last ice cream at Offenburg! That steeply roofed manor house belongs in the stories I read in my rainy childhood in Scotland.
Rosemary Sutcliffe has written some wonderful books; it's been decades since I last read one, but I remember them well from my childhood and youth.
DeleteThe house in the last picture is like something out of a story book, I agree.
Years ago I had dinner at the home of Rosemary Sutcliff's former editor at Oxford University Press. He was a Classics scholar, Oxford educated. He said Rosemary's knowledge of battles and historic warfare was immense. In spite of her wheelchair she liked to travel and survey the landscapes of her novels, like your rambles.
Delete*Sword At Sunset* lacked the figure of Merlin and I missed him. The Romano-British culture she painted so memorably in prose is also to be found in Leslie Alcock's book, *Arthur's Britain*. Hunter Davies wrote an entertaining book about the Romans in Northumberland, *A Walk Along the Wall - A Journey Along Adrian's Wall*.
Recently I read that there was another, later Merlin whose ghost is channelled in a John Buchan thriller. I think it is *The Three Hostages* and the Buchan character who is fascinated by this second Merlin is Sandy Arbuthnot.
Buchan wrote historic novels which were reisssued in paperback, my favourites being *A Lost Lady of Old Years*, *Midwinter*, *The Three Fishers* and *Witch Wood*.
A friend of mine is a retired Latin teacher and is a member of both the John Buchan Society and the Walter Scott Society, both based in Edinburgh.
I am re-reading Alan Massie's brilliant novel, an imaginary autobiography of Sir Walter Scott, *The Ragged Lion* which I strongly recommend.
A.N. Wilson who wrote a biography of C.S. Lewis also wrote a short critical study of Scott which sent me back to Scott's great novel *Old Mortality*.
The book by London journalist Hunter Davies (born in Carlisle) is *A Journey Along Hadrian's Wall* not Adrian. I write very quickly and make frequent errors.
DeleteHadrian's Wall, and even more so a long-distance walk/hike along it, is something that has been on my bucket list for decades. I doubt I will ever make it, but one can dream.
DeleteThen order *A Walk Along the Wall* online: it was written decades ago but is as fresh as ever, his rambles enlivened by people he met on the way.
DeleteAs a student journalist I interviewed Hunter Davies at his home in Kentish Town. He was features writer with The Sunday Times, then edited by the great Harold Evans.
He spoke about writing the authorised biography of The Beatles and about interviewing luminaries as different as U-Thant of the United Nations and poet-novelist John Masefield, who could remember Swinburne's strange way of walking.
Hunter's wife Margaret Foster who wrote *Georgy Girl* and many novels, made us a delicious lunch which we ate with beer. She died a few years ago.
Margaret Forster, not Foster, wrote Georgy Girl. It was filmed with a catchy song by The Seekers, an Australian group. I saw their reunion on YouTube. I think Lynn Redgrave played the central role, it was very much of the Sixties.
DeleteWhat wonderful views with the fields/vineyards in all those different colours! And that stone wall with the portal looks like a giant waiting to swallow whoever enters... ;) I've once had an experience of swarms of ladybugs on a holiday too, it was on a beach on the east coast of Sweden back in the early 1990s. My friend and I had imagined a relaxing picnic on the beach but the bugs were all over us, covering everything... I think we had to pick up and leave, it was really a very nasty experience. There were also a lot of smaller black bugs around that summer, the car and windshield got covered with those... yuck.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds unpleasant and would have definitely spoiled anyone's picnic, Monica. I have read up on the Asian Ladybugs; they can (and do!) bite humans, which I am pretty sure has happened to me on that Sunday as well. The bites are harmless but we can definitely feel them!
DeleteYes, the stone wall looks like a giant. I am just not sure whether to feel sorry for him or scared.
What gorgeous pictures you have here! You always find the best places to hike. I love the look of the patchwork hills! I love the old, historical buildings too. I'm glad you are still getting these beautiful hikes in on the weekends since it now is too dark when you get off work. Your photos are amazing!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bonnie! It would be hard NOT to find good places for hiking in this area, what with the Black Forest on one side and the Rhine Valley on the other. We really caught those vineyards with their amazing colours at their best!
DeleteI love taking your hikes with you and am always impressed by the neatness of the trails; always so clean and debris free. Who is responsible for the maintenance of these beautiful walks?
ReplyDeleteDear Jill, you are welcome to come along any time!
DeleteResponsibility for the paths varies; some are maintained by volunteers, some are communal property and others are an obligation for the adjacent land owners. For instance, when a path crosses land that is used for growing crops, the farmers have to clean up whatever mess they cause when they plough, bring out manure, harvest and so on.
You were lucky to have various kinds of beautiful natural light and also interesting skies during your walk in this charming area. I imagine you must have spent a fair bit of time just looking upwards! And an icecream outside -yes, it may have been the last. But all the nicer for it...
ReplyDeleteWe never get enough of beautiful land- and skyscapes! Living in a city, where there are always buildings close by and usually much higher than myself, I particularly enjoy the wide views.
DeleteA day to look back upon with happiness when we are in the depths of winter. I noticed that you both hoped that there wouldn't be many cyclists around. They are a bloody nuisance! In England most of them do not even have bells on their handlebars and they can come up behind you so silently that you are unaware of them until the very last minute. I imagine that Mrs Merkel insists on bells!
ReplyDeleteNeil, it is the same here with cyclists; many of them are very inconsiderate. Some areas have designated paths for them, so that hikers/walkers and cyclists do not get in each other's way, but that is a rare luxury.
DeleteThat day was definitely one I will keep returning to in my mind many times.