Trekking on Tuesday

Tuesday (24.09.2024) was another sunny day, but with showers forecast for mid to late afternoon and evening. We packed our rain gear, trusting that we‘d most likely be back at the hotel by then.

View from our room on Tuesday, before breakfast…

…and after.

Today‘s circuit started once again straight from the hotel, taking us to Wallburgboden and back.

Good part of the path was along what is locally called Waalweg, meaning ‘path along water’. For the people who first settled in this mountain region, water meant life and death: without water, neither they nor their animals could survive. But when there was too much water rushing down the steep slopes, often carrying big rocks along and sweeping off paths and fields, it could easily bring death.

In order to control this force of nature and getting the right amount of water to where it was needed at the right time, an elaborate system of channels, pipes and drains was developed and used for centuries, some of it to this day, to water fields and farms. In its heyday, about 600 km of these artificial waterways existed. The ingenuity and often dangerous work to set them up, constantly checking and maintaining them, is incredible. These were farmers, mountain folk who more often than not were illiterate, but by no means simpletons!

Every bit of the waterways had to be checked constantly for leaks or obstructions, and it was a fulltime job to walk the narrow paths alongside, repairing or clearing as necessary, in all weather and seasons - lives depended on the job done properly.

Nowadays, many of these paths are picturesque routes, very popular and mostly easy to navigate. Information boards are provided at intervals, and they really do make for nice walking.

Lizards love the sunny and dry slopes of this part of the mountains. We spotted many, but this one kept still long enough to be photographed.

Can you see the lizard here?

Similar tiny huts served as shelters for the men whose responsibility it was to make sure all was well with the waterways.

Our aim was Wallburgboden, a place where Iron Age people had settled a long time ago, no doubt understanding the advantage of being high up with a good view of the two valleys below, and far away from the dangerous river that kept flooding the valley every spring when the snow on top of the mountains melted off.

We enjoyed the walk and the views very much, and eventually stopped at a hut not very far away from the village, but still high enough for good views. Almost as soon as we setteld at a table with our shandies, the rain set in - not too heavily, just enough for us to wear our rainproofs for the last bit of the way back to the hotel.

The view from where we stopped for a shandy. The rain was clearly on its way to us!

Spot the cat!