First Walk in April

As mentioned before, the end of March and beginning of April brought quite a change in temperature and weather with it. We had the sunniest March on record, but after what has been a generally too dry start of the year in my area, finally the rain set in on March 30. I did not go for a proper walk after the one described in my previous post; the short distances to my parents and back or to the shops hardly count.

On the 1st of April, by early afternoon the rain turned into snow. It kept snowing and blowing all evening, with surprisingly no impact on my train trip to O.K.'s.

I already told you about the Saturday in this post, with the picture of my parents' balcony giving you a good idea of how much snow we had.

Sunday was dry; still cold and windy under a grey sky, but no snow or rain was forecast. You won't be surprised that we wanted a longer walk than the 20 minutes we had been out on Saturday!

Leaving the cottage just after lunch time, we walked up the hill and through the small woods belonging to O.K.'s village, down the hill on the other side and through the next village (Zunsweier). Across fields and orchards, past a small lake and on the dam along the river Kinzig for a while, before returning to Zunsweier in a wide arc and following the path along the road back to O.K.'s village.

There was plenty to see; birds in the sky and on the ground - storks, a heron, buzzards and more; people with dogs (one came running towards us in what appeared like a rather aggressive manner, but fortunately, it finally heeded its owners' calls and went back to them) and on bikes, and of course there are always the views of Ortenberg castle and the hills of the Black Forest, with the highest parts showing a dusting of snow.

About 12.7 km and maybe 2 1/2 hours later, we were back home. O.K. cooked a delicious Sunday evening dinner of ratatouille and lamb, accompanied by our staple rosé.

The first April weekend, a mix of rest and walk, snow and (glimpses of) sun, was over.