A Wish Come True

Last Sunday (3rd of November), a big wish of mine came true: O.K. and I repeated a walk which I had wanted to do again in autumn, when vineyards, orchards and the woods would be at their most colourful.

Twice before we'd been on a panoramic walk 360 degrees around the picturesque village of Sasbachwalden, maybe a half hour's drive from O.K.'s village.

The first time was in May 2021, when we experienced dramatic skies and all sorts of weather apart from snow. The second time was in September 2022, when everything was still green and the autumn colours had not yet begun to appear.

But this time, we caught an autumn day like straight out of a picture book with (mostly) blue sky and mellow golden sunshine - the best we could wish for!

As we had done twice before, we parked on the relatively large public car park in the village and followed the well sign-posted path from there.

The first part of the walk is mostly uphill, which of course had me puffing and panting, but we were soon rewarded with views of the village and surrounding hills, some of them covered in vineyards and orchards, others in woodland.

After that, it wasn't long before we reached the bottom of the waterfalls. To reach the top, one crosses thirteen bridges and climbs dozens of steps.

As before, we visited the small private chapel, open to the public, with its beautiful stained glass windows.

On we walked, and by the time we reached the historic mill (no photos this time - you'll have to click on the links above to the May 2021 and September 2022 posts for that), it was 1:30 pm and we were hungry enough to take a break and eat our sandwiches. The wooden table and benches were partly in the sun, which made for a pleasant meal and warm enough to sit down.

After that, the walk continued along the familiar route. There were other people about, but never so many as to make things unpleasant.

The path meanders through the woods, then out into the open again, through those same orchards and vineyards we had a view of earlier.

Oh dear! I've shrunk!!

Sasbachwalden, as it nestles among the hills.

This is for my sister! 

We reached the car park about an hour before sunset, the afternoon light already having taken on that wonderful golden quality I so love about this time of year and day.

Instead of driving straight back to the cottage, O.K. took us on one of the hills around his village, where we got off the car and watched the sun go down. Within minutes, the glowing orb descended behind the Vosges mountains in France. We said "good night" to the sun and drove back to the cottage.

A delicious evening meal (some would probably have it for breakfast) concluded this beautiful day.