October Mist

Almost there - catching up with blog posts, I mean. We have now arrived at the weekend before last, with today's post covering Saturday, October 16.

Unlike most weekends at O.K.'s, I arrived around lunch time on the Saturday and not Friday night. 

It was a day of grey skies and low hanging clouds, but dry, and so we had a quick midday snack and then set off for a walk directly from the cottage.

Somehow I have always liked the next village, Diersburg; it is not particularly picturesque but rather a mix of old and new and in-between buildings. The village itself is spread out in patches along a valley narrowing towards its end, with steep slopes of vineyards and meadows rising to the Black Forest. 

There is also a ruined castle, where we'd been some years ago, and I had read in the weekly local paper that it had seen some cleaning up and restoring recently.

We walked up the hill behind O.K.'s village, through the communal woods and out on the other side. Normally, you can see all the way to France and the Vosges mountains from here, but not today:

The autumn colours were still beautiful, even without the sun lighting them up:

Overlooking Diersburg:

Descending towards the mist-covered valley through the vineyards:

Approaching the castle ruins:

It really looks much cleaner and in better shape than last time I was here. You can see the pictures from that visit in 2018 here, if you're interested.

After exploring the ruins, we walked on to the end of the valley, up the steep slope and along the opposite side of the valley from where we'd come from:

Eventually, just as we were on the road back to O.K.'s village, the sky seemed to brighten just a little bit. Here is looking back towards Diersburg:

I actually enjoyed this misty walk; the colours and sounds were so soft, the atmosphere so still and quiet.

O.K. made stuffed mushrooms in the oven for our dinner, with a creamy sauce, matched very nicely with well-chilled white wine.

Yes, I know I am spoiled! :-)