2015-08 Touring Together

There was a time when two forum members of the BCD were looking forward to a shared weekend to go on tour together.

The goal and scope of the tour were quickly set. A small tour in the Odenwald.

more precisely in the Neckar valley from Neckarsteinach via Schönau and back again. On the way back there are four castles, which also give this trail its name.

The plan looked pretty relaxed, just 15 km with 500 metres of elevation gain. That sounded very fine indeed.

So, after a short night with weird dreams involving purple titanium stakes o_O, I headed to Mannheim station around eleven.

In my opinion a good time! By then even I, as a late riser, am somewhat warmed up and ready for hiking, deep conversations and the daily nonsense.

Quickly a pick-me-up in the form of sugar, chocolate and ice cream - or in modern German: Frappiato.

The morning's silly antics weren't dampened by the light packs, nor by the advancing hour.

Arriving in Neckarsteinach, a beautiful picture of nature presented itself. The Neckar in the middle, and wooded mountains to its left and right. More than one forum member would have immediately drawn comparisons to the Alps from the sight.

The castle, near which we wanted to settle for the night, was also immediately in sight.

And it doesn't look bad at all, the castle is right there in the lower third, which could be decisive for the few metres of elevation.

Beautiful buildings adorned the summits of the other mountains too.

From the station it went steeply uphill first. A third of the elevation gain was to be conquered in this one climb. My water emptied faster than Bimbi could blink. What wouldn't one do for good body hydration.

Once it finally went into the forest from Neckarsteinach, there was a map. Fittingly, north is not at the top of this map. Who needs that anyway.

Shortly after, we came across the first uprooted trees. Apparently the storm last weekend hadn't simply passed by southern Germany.

At least it allowed us to inspect the coloured, sandstone-bearing soil right away.

The next break was used for a quick look at the map. After all, it never hurts to see where you are, which path to take at the next junction and to find out how much you've already covered.

Along the way we found all sorts of interesting things, even if it was just a piece of wood that a fungus had turned greenish.

The next stage destination was the Goetheblick, signposted from that point on.

But the best signage is useless if entering the trails is forbidden due to forestry work. Well, all roads lead to Rome. So that's not a deal-breaker.

Along this path we were accompanied not only by moss-covered stones, but also by wild-growing pallets.

Shortly after, having survived an oncoming group of girls who had apparently been hiking the Neckarsteig for weeks, we reached our first stage destination and enjoyed nature.

And remember, kids, always wear sensible hiking shoes

After a few hundred metres we reached butterfly paradise. So many butterflies feeling so at home. That had to be exploited for one amateurish photo or another.

At the next clearing, the forest on the other side of the river could be seen again. Hard to believe we were supposed to be there by evening.

At the next break there was again a nice picture of the packs; unlike the two of us, these models are so photogenic *lol*

Forrest Gump would say: a strange forest is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

In this case, even the masterpiece of one or more woodpeckers

Next we went to the display board, a protective sign of Schönau monastery.

Who would have thought how ugly such new junk can look on such an old sign?

And once from up close.

Well, so the decision was made to quickly move on to the old monastery, because time here is better spent elsewhere.

So the first part of the forest was already conquered. The path to the monastery led us past beautiful hillside gardens like this one.

Or past the fire brigade, which made us think of the Austrian carving kings, who could really write a report sometime too. After all, it's interesting to see how nature differs from the one back home, isn't it?

For a moment the question arose whether a monkey boy might be watching over us; we couldn't explain this any other way.

This little town also has some really beautiful corners, ho ho ho and a bottle full of rum!

After we'd ticked off the sights and demolished an ice cream, we left the town and headed back into nature.

But when you're near the valley again, you first have to climb back up.

In the pictures it still looks so harmless

But from above you quickly see that the incline is nothing to sneeze at

At least the way up was good for something. Mirabelle plums were growing along the path, which we promptly devoured for energy.

Besides, this path led past a cemetery, so we could quickly refill our water supplies.

At the highest point of the road we noticed that we were way too high up, and to get back on the trail we'd have to go back down all those metres.

Well, being off track once doesn't matter; after all, it brought us water
Upon leaving Schönau, the animals of the forest got a bit wilder again, but see for yourselves!

But on the trails the far side could be made out clearly. Hard to believe there are supposed to be so few metres of elevation. Even with our little water detour, only 40 or 50 were added...

After the wild-growing pallets had already confused us, this find by the wayside made us very suspicious.

Wild-growing pens? Apparently pens grow like berries on bushes.

But this astonishment is nothing compared to the huge dead trees that are still standing despite the storm, while it claimed countless healthy ones.

To save a few metres of elevation, we took a route that deviated slightly from the planned one.

At the next break, Schorsch, Schorse and Georg kept us company.

And here too you can see a swath of devastation

But at least the far side can be made out by now.

The station of Neckarsteinach. Only one question remains: if the castle was so close to the water in the picture from the station side earlier, why did we walk so high up and over the ridge?

Despite a lot of gallows humour, the mood stayed good, and one pause or another sweetened the descent of the roughly 200 surplus metres of elevation we had gained.

After a while and more downhill kilometres, we reached our goal: the first castle.

Our daily goal was reached. A campsite was quickly found nearby and we could turn to cooking. It didn't look tasty, but it tasted all the better for it.

During dinner we could see three bats circling above us nearby.

After dinner, of course, we couldn't miss watching the sunset from this beautiful castle. After all, we had hiked a bit further than expected.

Once night had fallen, we headed to our campsite. In the end it was another short night; I was woken at six and was, I think, for the first hour or the first hour and a half more zombie than human, yet still able to photograph the sunrise from the castle again.

Even the countless stairs didn't help to get me reasonably awake; well, it's just not my time of day, even if that means missing sights like that.