For a warm and sunny day on this first meteorological day of Spring, H and I returned to Höhe Geba (see previously, see also) and explored a circular path named after Helmershausen native son, novelist, physician and avid wanderer Dr Theo Malade through a juniper heath, past the source of a mountain spring and to a shelter on the western slope of the plateau, overlooking the Leichelberg (see above).
Inside the Hütte, there was an information board with the lyrics to
Das Rhönlied, the 1912 regional anthem by Andreas Fack (“Zieh an die Wanderschuh / Und nimm den Rucksack auf, / Und wirf die Sorgen ab / Marschier zur Rhön hinauf!”—
see also) and a stamp for one’s hiking card.
The path led back through the eponymous village on the plateau, remote and with only fifty-seven residents even smaller than our hometown, which had an interesting octagonal church and historic schoolhouse.
