October Woods

This is the continuation of my previous post, the second part of our last hike in October, on the last day of October. 

We left the ruins of castle Hohengeroldseck and came by the maize field again, very blond against the dark green and other colours around.

From there, the circuit went to the right, taking us through a part of the woods where we had not walked before. At first, the sky was overcast and it looked as if we would not catch the sun again today. Looking back towards the castle ruins, you could have thought it was close to sunset when in fact it was not yet 3:00 pm.

But then!! The sun came through, magically lighting up the woods. I could not get enough of it and took way too many pictures - it was just so, so very beautiful.

Eventually, we reached a viewing point above Biberach, the town where O.K. works:

The viewing point is at a chapel (Konradskapelle, "Konrad's chapel"), originally built in the 1930s and renovated in the 1980s and then again in 2011 or so.

From there, it was only a quick descent and a short walk along the road back to where we had parked the car.

A beautiful month ended with a beautiful hike - and that's all my October posts done, finally!

October Walls

You may have noticed that all my recent posts have a title that begins with October. I am slowly running out of ideas and thought of naming this one "October Castle", but somehow that sounded odd, and so I chose "Walls" - you will see why in a minute.

Last weekend was a long weekend in my part of Germany, with Monday, the 1st of November, being a Bank Holiday (All Saints). After my Girls' Night on the Friday, I arrived at O.K.'s on Saturday early afternoon, right in time for coffee and cake. As it was too close to sunset for a proper long walk, we only took a short walk through the village before settling down for the night. But we more than made up for that the next day!

Sunday was the last day of October, and the last October hike we undertook. It was very warm with temperatures reaching at least 20 Celsius in the sun, which induced most people to walk about short-sleeved and -legged, but as soon as you were in the shade or when the wind blew, you could tell it was autumn and not summer anymore.

We drove a short distance to a place not far from where O.K. works, and started a circuit I had found in one of our many leaflets. It was to take us to the ruins of castle Hohengeroldseck, a place we have visited together first in 2016 and then again in May 2020. You can read some facts about the castle here in my 2016 post.

Since the day was so beautiful and the countryside so gorgeous, I took too many pictures to fit them all in one post; therefore, this one ends with the castle, and then there will be just one other one to finally end my series of October posts.

Starting from the parking lot, we found it amazing how so close to a main road, just 10 minutes or 1 km away, it felt like being far away from the hustle and bustle of traffic and town life. There were a few typical Black Forest farm houses dotted along the path, which then took us steadily upwards and into the woods.

I found the long uphill part rather exhausting and had to stop to catch my breath a few times, but eventually, we reached the top and from there, it was not very far to the castle ruins.

After walking through the gate, visitors are greeted by this impressive sight:

The ruins can be explored left, right and centre, with a stone spiral staircase leading up all the way to the top, and even though I have seen them twice before, I was impressed once again by their size. One can well imagine the former grandeur.

The best, sunniest spots were all taken by other visitors, but we found a bench where we could rest and have our rucksack lunch, with this view of the ruins:

Along one of the walls, a small garden has been planted, showing herbs and spices that would have been known to the residents in medieval times. The pictures also show quite well how the natural rock was incorporated into the foundation walls of the castle.

We left Hohengeroldseck to complete our circuit, but I am certain that this was not our last visit here.

October Light

Last week, I managed an after-work walk on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. They were all good walks but lasted well into the sunset - and that was before we turned the clocks back on Sunday.

There is just something about sunsets and sunrises, and especially the beautiful golden afternoon light in October, that makes me want to drink it all in as much as I can.

Sunrise from my kitchen window

Friday saw my group of girl* friends finally re-establishing our monthly meetings from pre-Covid times! You have read about our Girls' Nights several times on my blog, but of ourse we had to suspend them under Covid restrictions, with only occasionally holding video call via Jitsi; not the same as meeting properly, as you will all know, and rather exhausting after one has already spent all day at the computer screen in video calls for work.

So, yes, Friday: That friend of ours who has moved North for love more than 10 years ago is still very much part of our group, and whenever she can, she combines a trip south with seeing us. She was in the area for the weekend and asked us whether we could meet on the Friday evening. Of course we could! I quickly offered to host our reunion, and let her have my Third Room (study) for the night before she moved on to meet other friends on the Saturday morning.

It was wonderful to see my friends again after so many months! We had plenty to eat (and not too much to drink), and there was lots of laughter. You can imagine that we did not run out of topics of conversation. 

Friday nights usually mean that all of us have a busy working week under our belts, and we're not getting any younger; therefore, it was hardly surprising that by midnight, everyone but my friend had left. We cleared up quickly (there was not much to do, really), and it was lights out at the Librarian's flat before 1:00 am.

*You know what I mean - of course we are well past girl age; the youngest of our group is 36, the oldest 54.

October Vineyards

On Saturday, October 23, we took the short-distance local train from Ludwigsburg to Benningen where a circuit through vineyards along and above the river was beckoning. I had read about it earlier that week in the local paper, and since it was good walking weather, there we were after a ride of about 10 minutes.

The circuit was well signposted, and we had no problem finding the starting point descending the main road through the village and crossing the river.

Somehow, blogging and uploading pictures works not quite as smoothly from my ipad as at my normal computer, but since I am currently at O.K.‘s for the long weekend (today, Monday, Nov. 1st being a public holiday here in the south of Germany), that‘s what I have.

Therefore, here are my pictures of that walk - in no particular order:

Overlooking Benningen from a viewing terrace, purpose-built earlier this year:

View towards Marbach, where I‘d only been a few days before for work:

The walk was pleasant and easy-going, and I am sure I will walk it again at some stage; it is always interesting to repeat a walk at a different time of year. Maybe my sister will come along with me; at about 7-8 km, it is not too long and could be undertaken after work in spring or early summer, when there is enough daylight left.

Speaking of my sister, she joined us for dinner that night. I made Yorkshire pudding and a mix of roast veg (spuds, parsnips and Hokkaido pumpkin). There was deer goulash for O.K. and myself and a spicy tomato sauce for my sister. We had a special atumn brew local beer for starters and then switched to wine for the meal. It was a cosy evening at home with just the three of us, and plenty to talk about and laugh. 

Normally, I would have invited my parents, too; but with my Dad‘s health issues, things like that are no longer possible. Well, they are, but the effort would mostly be on my Mum, and she would not be able to enjoy the occasion the way she should. These days, it is simply easier when we go to see my parents instead of the other way round, and that is what we did on the Sunday, before O.K. had to drive home.