katzenkopf iii (13. 281)

Taking advantage of the nice weather, H and I got the camper from storage and prepared for the season with a weekend trip back to the Frankish wine islands, staying in the village of Sommerach. The vineyards waking up too for the spring, we took a long hike crossing the island and over the canal of the Main river through fields and pine forest in protected environment known as the Sandfluren (inland dunes, the sandy areas reminding me of trekking from Wiesbaden to Mainz under the bridges and over the islands) outside of Volkach on the mainland. 

Reaching the village of Dimbach, we headed back to the island over the lock and weir at the southern part of the river loop at the Mainkanal. In the distance, we could spy the twin steeples of the cloister Münsterschwarzach with a cruise ship docked at the weir. Exploring more of the landscape on the way back, we walked around the village a bit, trying out that wine automat we saw on our last visit—it wasn’t dumped out like a soda machine but rather a mechanical arm guided our selection down to the flap—and had a late lunch before going back to the camp grounds.

More details about the history of these places and impressions at the links above.

rundweg rhönblick (13. 223)

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.

unterfladungen (13. 184)

Taking advantage of the sunny weather and with less of a bite to the winter wind, we followed a trail from Fladungen up the gentle slope of the Wurmberg, a southern spur of the Abstberg hill between the villages of Sands and Brüchs, the latter named for the historical quarrying activity of the settlement. 

Along the way, and to this day I think about that psychedelic animated short from Sesame Street about the lost boy remembering his way home, “Try to remember everything you passed, but when you go back, make the first thing the last”—that’s some genuine memory palace advice, we were afforded some really nice vistas of the town in the valley below, a pair of friendly donkeys in an enclosure, the foundations of a demolished coke oven that was testament to the area’s mining history and an the open pit hewn out of the hillside as we made our way to the edge of the forested summit. 

In the middle, there was a clearing with the Stations of the Cross arranged in a circle, like the Kreuzweg of the chapel visible on the horizon looking back over Fladungen with a large wooden Crucifix, Hohe Kreuz. 

We descended from the peak via a shorter route through a neighbourhood and around a spa resort perched on the mountainside, so so much for my landmarks but nonetheless an enjoyable walk with opportunities to explore further.

void if altered (13. 067)

In response to visitors covering up the image of Trump on the America the Beautiful annual national park passes, the US Department of the Interior, which oversees federal recreational lands, has updated its rules about accepting adulterated or defaced entry tickets—the current president’s angry visage appearing on the cards at the first of the year in the run up to the country’s bisesquicentennial, despite pending legal action to halt this rebranding. Like with the threats of lawsuits for entertainers that cancelled shows at the Kennedy Center over Trump adding his name to the institution and national stage, these fascist ghouls really are the pettiest little snowflakes when comes to anything denting their egos.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), a close encounter in France plus the first flying saucers in film

twelve years ago: global warming, global weirding 

thirteen years ago: the freegan movement 

fourteen years ago: piracy and the publishing industry

sixteen years ago: gimmickry and security theatre 

seventeen years ago: the US president-elect waits his turn 

 

rhönblick (13. 031)

For a sunny but cold and bracing Christmas Day walkies, we trekked to a little shelter on the peak of the Leichelberg near the Ellenbogen overlooking the village of Kaltensundheim and the valley of the Felda, a tributary of the Werra, below. 

The march of this border region of East Franconia with the documented mention in 23 December 795 was fortified with a Kirchenburg in Romanesque style in the early fifteenth century as well with a protective wall and gates and was originally under the jurisdiction of the counts of Henneberg but with the branching off the family over successive generations, properties of the district was divided among several collateral lines, the villages flanking each side of the mountain, Kaltensundheim, Kaltennordheim, Oberkatz and Aschenhausen falling under different lordships with shifting alliances. 

 In the latter on the opposite side of the mountain, we visited the former synagogue, among the few intact testaments to the long history of the Jewish community in Thüringen it was saved from arson by locals during the Pogroms of 1936 and after expulsions preserved as a warehouse, restored as an assembly hall and memorial with information about the history and Holocaust. 

 Between Aschenhausen and Kaltensundheim (since reunited as constituents under one a single municipality) there was a pictureques landscape of series of ponds at the woods edge for exploring but it was too chilly in the shadows for much looking around today but will definitely return soon.

noahs segel (12. 885)

Though we had been to the slopes of the Ellenbogen mountain before and visited the restaurant at the Thüringer Rhönhaus, we never made it to the summit before to see the viewing platform completed in 2017.  

On the way, however, the foggy and overcast weather did not seem so promising until the last couple of kilometres with climbing elevation the skies gloriously opened up. An extinct volcano, it is one of the highest points in the range and on a clear day, one is awarded with vistas of Bavaria, Hesse and Thüringen near the tri-point where the three states touch. On a clear day, from the observation tower—named Noah’s Sail for its information centre about the local flora and fauna and its profile—one can see the Brocken as well as the neighbouring peaks of the Wasserkuppe and the Milseburg. 

Though H didn’t want to join, I took that slide back down and had a nice sunny walk to the top across the massif before descending afterwards back into the fog bank of lower altitudes.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronopticæ), animated GIFs from Etienne Jacobs plus a survey of international traffic signs and license plates

thirteen years ago: carnival season 

fourteen years ago: modern geoglyphs plus Kissinger and Clinton 

fifteen years ago: security theatre plus adopt a word

sixteen years ago: a mythical member of the German parliament 

seventeen years ago: keeping it local 

segelfluggelände (12. 873)

After last weekend’s walk up the hill to the model airplane field, we realised we had never shared actual impressions from wandering around the larger landing strip for gliders, small, self-launching motorised planes and ultralight aircraft on the opposite end of town at Büchig. Taking advantage of break in the fog and overcast skies, we made a circuit around the summit. 

The massif affords some really nice views of the surrounding pastures and forest and chain of peaks leading off into the distance, as well as the Lichtenburg, which despite its ruined state still has intact ramparts and high keep (the tallest in the region, but still nearly overtaken by the construction crane working on restoring the bailey) to entice the imagination, particularly at eye-level, with all the elements of a medieval knights’ castle. 

 For mid-November, seeing the fallow fields blooming, with even stunted sunflowers, was a bit off putting. It’s another nice spot to let the dog run free.

riquewihr i (12. 764)

Just a few hundred metres’s stroll from the campgrounds, we crossed the Route des Vins winding through the valleys and explored the ancient village of Riquewihr, preserved in essentially the same state since the sixteenth century. Founded in the 700s as a demesne (Landgut, Dömaine) by a Frankish feudal lord called Richo (Richo’s villa), defensive walls and towers were erected and was granted city- and market-rights in the early fourteenth century, eventually purchased by the dukes of Württemberg across the Rhein.

Charming and picturesque with its half-timbered architecture and cobblestone streets, it is a bit over-touristed—like some other places we’ve made return trips to lately, but not overwhelmingly so, with the day-trippers still secondary to the economic activity of viniculture. We took a break from the crowds and hiked in the vineyards on the foothills of the Vosges for a nice overview, having not planned our vacation with the starting of the Riesling harvest.

synchronoptica

one year ago: ranking the gods (with synchronopticæ), Chilean Antarctica plus more brief papacies

fourteen years ago: proprietary geographic protections, illustrating Tarantino plus if the service is free then you are the product

fifteen years ago: more dragnet surveillance from the US plus a trip to Prague

sixteen years ago: an antiquated, nasty habit