Thursday 3 February 2022

Two Weekend Walks

The next weekend is just round the corner now (at least it feels like that on this Thursday morning), and I have not yet told you about the last one.

First, let's get the railway stuff out of the way: 

My trip to Offenburg on Friday evening went well. I had enough time to change trains in Stuttgart as not to worry about the connection, and we arrived two or three minutes past schedule - so, no delay in the Bahn's books, and fine with me. 

Getting back on Monday morning was a little more adventurous: All looked "green" as I kept watching my connection online, while O.K. and I were getting ready to leave the house. The train arrived punctually at Offenburg station. After I had settled comfortably into my booked seat, we were informed of a change of plan: Our train would not just stop at Karlsruhe, but end there instead of going all the way to Munich. Due to technical problems, we would have to move to another train there. That replacement train was going to wait for us at the same platform, which was a relief - it would mean a quick transfer without losing too much time. And indeed, there was another train ready for us... with at least one of its doors bearing the familiar yellow out-of-order sticker. I still made my connection in Stuttgart and was home as planned, in time to start work at 9:30.

Now to our walks:

The first set of pictures* is from Saturday, which was a cold day with strong wind and fast-moving clouds. Because of the wind, we decided not to walk or hike in the woods, but just wanted to walk to the next village and back on a circuit we've done many times. Once we arrived at Zunsweier, though, we spontaneously opted for less familiar paths leading out of the village at its back, upwards through the vineyards to a good viewing point. From there, the path lead through the woods (so we did walk in the woods after all, but the wind was not as dangerous as we'd thought), back through the village and to O.K.'s place in time for coffee & cake. 





There was a very bright golden strip of light at the bottom of those grey clouds. I have tried to capture it, but no matter how many pictures I have taken, it does not look nearly as beautiful as it was.

In the evening, we made a wild boar roast with VERY delicious gravy plus roast spuds and carrots, all from scratch, complementing it with a red wine new to us.

Sunday was beautiful; a bit warmer and with more sun than what we had expected after the forecast.

We walked towards Ortenberg but did not go as far as the small town itself. Instead, we stayed on the path along the river Kinzig until we reached the place where the river meets a smaller stream called Mühlbach. That place is called Großer Deich ("big dyke"), and I have showed you pictures of it a few times before. A popular beer garden is there, closed this time of year. Many other walkers were out and about to take advantage of the weather, several of them with dogs. We always love watching dogs run - they are so full of life and seem to enjoy themselves greatly.








From there, we walked through Elgersweier, a suburb of Offenburg, and back to O.K.'s village. 

Altogether, we got more walking in during that weekend than what we'd thought was possible, as the weather forecast had been rather dismal.

* Some of these - the best ones, I think - are O.K.'s pictures.

14 comments:

  1. Reading you posts and enjoying your pictures as I do, makes me realise that my days of enjoying my walks in North Wales and the English Lake District when I was in my teens and twenties really were a very long time ago.

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    1. I have never visited either region but imagine them both as very beautiful, and if I remember correctly, you have occasionally written about your walks from that time on your blog.

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  2. The last 4 photos: Is there a blue bluer than this?
    Those bright skies came after the cold, fast-moving clouds.
    I feel like catching any Deutsche Bahn train.
    Offenburg, Karlsruhe (the name alone thrills me), Munich.
    As for GroBer Deich, this is where I would have enjoyed a libation with Katrin Himmler, Herta Muller, Gert Hofmann, Victor Klemperer, Gunter Grass, Ingeborg Bachman, Thomas Bernhard ... do the last two count, being Austrian?
    Jack

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    1. Those bright skies were freshly washed!
      The bluest blue we get is the late summer / early autumn sky we get from the end of August until about October.
      My train stops from Offenburg are Baden-Baden, Karlsruhe, Bruchsal and then Stuttgart, where I change to a local train to Ludwigsburg. The intercity train goes on to Munich via Ulm and Augsburg (just for a bit of place name-dropping).

      The two Austrian authors would probably object at being listet with the others, but then maybe they wouldn't - I am not familiar enough with any of them to know how they would feel about such a meeting :-)

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    2. I thought the bluest blue would be early summer.
      Midsummer in Scotland holds the light up to 11 p.m.
      Baden-Baden is a place out of legend like Ulm and Augsburg.

      I doubt if Thomas Bernhard would have shown up at any social engagement.
      Thomas was unwell all his life, a writer as haunting as Robert Walser, who spent most of his life in a mental asylum, and died while walking in the snow.

      I am about to read Bernhard's short novel about Glen Gould, *The Loser*, and then Ingeborg Bachmann's *Malina* now a Penguin Classic. She died in a fire in Rome.

      Enjoy these short days of February, anticipating *the winds of March that made my heart a dancer* to quote the song These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You).

      Hear it sung on YouTube by Jean Sablon, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Eva Fernandez or Andrea Motis with the Joan Chamorro Quartet in Barcelona.
      At parties I can do a creditable impression of Jean Sablon's version ... after a few glasses of wine.
      JH

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    3. Glenn Gould (1932-1982) Canadian pianist whose life was cut short.
      *Glenn Gould and Leonard Bernstein Bach Concerto in D minor.* YouTube.

      *Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner - review*: The Guardian online.

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    4. Where I am, daylight lasts until almost 10 pm around midsummer. From holidyas on Bornholm Imwell remember how one was still able to read in the garden until very late, without needing a lamp.

      I will look up the song (which I don‘t know) and then will imagine you singing it at a party!
      It is exactly two years now since I have last been to a party, with food and drink, music and dancing; a friend‘s 50th birthday was the last one before the pandemic hit our area.

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    5. When the pandemic is history you and O.K. can have a Small Party for family and friends.
      At a Small Party you must dance at least once, perhaps to a ballad:
      *These Foolish Things* sung Ella Fitzgerald, *Stay As Sweet As You Are* Nat King Cole.
      There are YouTube videos, *Learn to Dance the Ballad* and *How to Dance to Slow Songs by Yourself*.
      A ballet dancer taught me how to do the slow foxtrot so I can acquit myself honourably at wedding dances.
      I like watching dance very much and enjoy YouTube videos like:
      *Swan Lake - Pas de Quatre (Dance of the Small Swans) rehearsal.
      Pacific Northwest Ballet.
      *Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - Isn't This a Lovely Day (Top Hat) 1935. Restored.
      *Make 'Em Laugh - Singing in the Rain (1952).
      JH

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  3. So glad the trains were better behaved for you. I love the last Black and white photo of the lake, so moody.

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    1. So was I, Cathy!
      Black and white? Lake? Oh, I see! It's the river (Kinzig), and if you click on the picture to enlarge it, it shows a bit of blue sky on the right and bits of green at the riverside. But it does indeed look like black & white at first glance; that's what the light was like at that moment, very special!

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  4. You get to see some great skies on your walks! Do you know that not everyone looks up as they walk. I'm glad you do!

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    1. Being able to see wide open skies is my main reason for directing my after-work walks towards the fields; I live near the town centre and wherever I look from ky windows, there is always another building close by.

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  5. Some beautiful cloudscapes there! I share your love of watching dogs playing. I find that i can identify with their emotions of joy at doing such things as leaping into puddles and just racing around for the fun of it. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the kind of thing I liked doing as a very young child, although I have no memories of doing these things!

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    1. I know I did all those things, Jenny, and you probably did, too. My Mum always made sure we could play outside no matter the weather, and dressed us accordingly in wellies and sturdy clothes so that it wouldn‘t matter if we got wet and muddy.
      Running on two legs is great, but how much greater it must be on four!!

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