Walking the Weinsteig, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany Stage 2: Neuleiningen to Bad Dürkheim

Stage 2: Neuleiningen to Bad Dürkheim, February 12, Distance 17km; Height climbed about 400m; Walking time 4 3/4 hours
Weather: Dry, mist hugging the valley floor, sunny later, temperature 4-9°C, good visibility.
In early February we returned to Neuleiningen to pick up the second stage of the Weinsteig. This is very different with little open country, but the signposting is excellent. This is very important on routes through woodland. Starting in the valley below the town we climbed through woods of pine, beech, or oak with the occasional larch. To the north we glanced back at Neuleiningen, perched on its crag above the incised valley of the  River Eckbach, then on to Battenberg with yet another castle ruin, battered initially by the French in 1689, still used by local nobility into the 18th century. However, what we found much more interesting were its ochre-coloured weathered rocks exposed on the roadside below the ruins. They are signposted off the trail to the right. These curious formations are known as Blitzröhren, thought to be caused by lightning strikes. Modern explanations are that they are due to concentrations of iron minerals in New Red Sandstone which resist weathering.
Back to the route, up through the village and away from inviting offers of lunch it was time to start the long but relatively easy climb using forest paths, liberally studded with white quartz pebbles. Away from the front edge of the Pfälzerwald, up and up leaving the wine villages such as Weisenheim am Berg below on the fertile fault line margins. We met no one today on this part of the  trail and it was still too cool for many birds to be about. After some steady walking we reached  the Jägerkreuz, a memorial to a hunter who died  mysteriously in 1702. Accident or murder? It seemed a good idea to press on and gradually we reached parts of the trail better known to us from earlier walks. Off to our left lay the Ungeheuersee (Monster Lake), in reality a delightful pool, but the Germans like to frighten. No point in a detour today since the typical Hütte which serves food and drinks on summer weekends would still be shuttered and locked for the winter.
We continued gently rising and falling sometimes with glimpses of small settlements like Altleiningen revealed as hill and valley sides open out. At last a few walkers appeared as we approached the first road to cross the Pfalzerwald, south from Neuleiningen, at Lindemannsruhe. The old Forester's House is now  a restaurant, with a cozy atmosphere and tasty local food, as we knew from previous visits. However February days are still too short, so we pressed on up a rough track to the day’s highest point (487m) at the Bismarckturm (Bismarck Tower).  Still surrounded by tall beeches and Scots pines the route returns over rounded hills, past the Teufelsstein (Devil’s Stone) a large weathered boulder and then past moss covered Celtic stoneworks to the edge of the plateau. Finally the trees opened out so we could glimpse the Rhine Plain. At a shelter hut above Kriemhildenstuhl we paused to read the information above the sheer drop into a quarry (fenced off, fortunately). The quarry was used by Roman stonemasons, who left some graffiti, readable from the grassy quarry floor below the steep pathway. Our knees were protesting as we crunched through leaf debris from the chestnut trees down more zigzags into the outskirtsof Bad Dürkheim, a delightful little town, and finally back into the vineyards. Bad Dürkheim is a place to savour and enjoy, where we often take visitors and meet friends, but after a long walk it was time to head home, through the dusk. I'll enlarge on its delights in a later post.
(Otto von Bismarck, 1814-1898 was, at first, a minor figure from Prussia, who through fortuitous circumstances and sheer force of personality, succeeded in uniting the  numerous dukedoms, principalities and fiefdoms into the Pre-WWI country of Germany. He became the first Chancellor. He was revered by many during his lifetime and there was a cult of building towers and lookout points. Though many of these seem aggressively Teutonic in style, they do serve as landmarks especially in forested regions and offer good views.)

Looking at Neuleiningen from the Weinsteig

The Blitzröhren

The hunter's cross memorial

Storm damage hazards are frequent

Teufelsstein has tempting footholds for energetic walkers

Bad Dürkheim's Schloßpark in summer

Walking the Weinsteig, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany Stage 1 Bockenheim to Neuleinigen

For several years now we have played with the idea of walking the Palatinate Weinsteig along the edge of the hills above the Rhine Valley on the left bank.  The way marked Weinsteig walking route is 171 kilometre long - just over a hundred miles. It has recently been extended and the route now starts in Bockenheim an der Weinstraße, runs through Hambach, Neuleinigen and Wachenheim with their castles; two spa towns: Bad Dürkheim with its giant wine barrel and Bad Bergzabern; Deidesheim where former federal Chancellor Kohl has enjoyed many a Saumagen with Sauerkraut; Neustadt an der Weinstraße to Schweigen-Rechtenbach with its Weintor and across to Wissembourg in northern Alsace.
We live just north of Mannheim and the whole Weinsteig region lies within our local transport area. We have pensioners' tickets, that we pay for, but give us free transport everywhere in the area. This enable us to reach the start of the walks and return home in the evenings. Bus, tram and local train connections are only a mouse-click away, though weekday frequencies are best. This is no problem as we are retired.

Stage 1: Bockenheim  to Neuleingingen January 2016
17.7 km, 250 m of climbing, weather cool, (7°C), sunny, moderate wind, good visibility.
The name Weinsteig means Wine Route, with -steig indicating narrow, steep, climbing rather than wide or gentle. Today's route led us from well-kept, tiny Bockenheim through the surrounding vineyards up towards the crest of the Palatinate Hills. We passed a set of fine gates across the entrance to a vintners before reaching the Haus der Deutschen Weinstrasse, which makes a modern arch over the B 271 at the edge of the town.

We followed red and white signs up into the vineyards, still naked and heavily pruned, gradually rising above the Rhine Plain. Gravel tracks, tarred roads, pausing to take in the landscape or watching the hawks wheel overhead. Small holes and runways suggested large populations of field hamsters or mice and despite the numerous lazily turning wind turbines, there seemed to be plenty of large birds of prey ready to eat them. We walked through open country, with copses of trees or bushes covering piles of limestone, along rows of vines and past occasional ancient signs of settlement. There was the blackened chunk of stone, perhaps the site of Celtic rituals, close by an early Christian chapel. For some time we met no one, then a family by a picnic table where we, too, stopped for a snack, and at the end of the day reckoned we had encountered nine people, including a woman on a horse.

We continued to climb and then descend into minor valleys, open fields much too green for January and then a steep descent into Mertesheim, once a centre of mining for ores. The road along the valley was the first we had seen or heard in the last couple of hours. From here onwards we were walking over sandstones, that produce infertile soils and are mostly left as woodland which covers nearly all the main uplands of the Palatinate Forest. Both of us were beginning to feel the effects of distance and height climbed, so we both needed cups of lemon and ginger tea and a power bar as we reached the top of the hill above Grünstadt. After walking through a small park we found ourselves leaving the woods again and realised that in the distance to the NE we could see the Donnersberg at 686m, the highest in the Pfalz. Onwards and around the next hilltop our view changed, back to vines, the horse and rider and below the line and drone of the A6 Autobahn. The road itself is well-known to us, one of our routes back to the UK, but it also meant that we were now very close to Neuleiningen. All day we had been buffeted by a chilly wind in our faces and now the low sun reminded us of the shortness of the daylight in January. We marched the next few kilometres, past farm and restaurant, to the road tunnel beneath the A6 and into Neuleiningen at a good pace.

We made it to the bus stop near the castle with about 10 minutes to spare, then into Grünstadt where the railway station still has the original Ludwig's Railway wrought iron stanchions holding up the wooden canopy. The Palatinate was ruled by Bavaria when the railway was built. A good day's walk in bright winter sunshine, where we had never been before.

A few thoughts on step counters/pedometers

I decided to buy my wife a SILVA step counter for Christmas some years ago. It was a good way of checking how far we walked. It cost around €24. A year later Judith bought me one. The devices fastened to our belts. If the counter was not almost vertical it didn't seem to function well and gave ridiculously low values. We could live with this although it was a bit fiddly.

We went canal boating two years ago and I attached the device to the belt of my old gardening jeans. When we returned it was bit late to garden and so the jeans and the step counter disappeared into the back of my wardrobe. I decided I'd lost it and picked up a low priced counter from Decathlon. The company had just opened a shop in Mannheim. If memory serves me rightly this cost €7 or €8. It didn't function well and was very sensitive to where it was placed on the belt. Decathlon no longer sell this device, at least in Germany. I am not surprised because Decathlon strike me as a company offering good value, decent, well functioning clothes and gear.

I read that the two step counters mentioned above were two dimensional pendulum devices and that three dimensional pendulum devices were superior. We bought to OMRON three dimensional step counters for about €20 apiece. These have the advantage that they can put in pocket, even a shirt pocket or hung on a belt. We are most impressed. The counters deliver similar data to GPS devices. We can recommend them highly. 

We have no connection with any of the companies mentioned.

Food in Germany country inns

The food in these restaurants and pubs is normally very simple but wholesome and the portions are enormous. If you stop for lunch or dinner then order a Senioren (pensioner) or a klein (small) portion. If you don't you will not be able to walk afterwards.
This is a small schnitzel with cheese sauce and Bratkartoffeln (sauteed potatoes):

A vegetarian on our table ordered noodles with tomato sauce and had trouble finishing:

If we are wrong then you can tuck into a small cake afterwards:

Walking and baggage transfer in Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate)

Rhineland Palatinate is making serious efforts in tourism.  Various companies in the south of the province are offering services to cyclists and walkers that we feel are worth knowing about. We are writing a guide to the the Weinsteig and as we find info about these services we will pop them on the blog.

Gepäckservice Pfalz (Palatinate Luggage Service) based in Deidesheim, offers both walkers and cyclists the chance to have their bags carried. We ourselves are not madly bothered as cyclists about having somebody carry our gear, but it could be interesting for a walker, especially if you are walking, for example, the Weinsteig from Bockenheim to Rechtenbach-Schweigen near Wissembourg (Alsace) as part of a grand European tour, you may well have more gear and if you can pack the essentials for each day in a day sack. If you do not plan to take a day sack Decathlon in Mannheim and Ludwigshafen will sell you a 10L pack for under €3 and 20L one for €8. If you use this service you can inform the company each evening where you will be stopping the night after. They pick up your bags on the next morning.

Gepäckservice Pfalz, Kirschgartenstraße 49, 67146 Deidesheim, Germany, http://www.gsp1.de/ (In German), info@gepaeckservice-pfalz.de, T: +49 (0) 6326 982284
Baggage Transport:
1-2 people/day  €20
3 people/day €27
4 people/day €36
Each extra person €2.50
The company also rents out touring bikes.

The official provincial or regional tourist office will also book the overnight accommodation and baggage transfer for a walk along one of the many regional walks: Pfälzer Hohenweg, Pfälzer Waldpfad, Pfälzer Weinsteig. This a good idea if you don't know your "der" from your "das". In this case however you don't have the flexibility to stay somewhere for another day. Prices seem reasonable: from about €150 a day for bed and breakfast for two people sharing a double room with bath/shower and WC.
Pfalz Touristik e.V., http://www.wandermenue-pfalz.de/en/home/, info@pfalz-touristik.de,
T: +49 (0) 6321 39160

Buying a new Rucksack/Backpack

My first rucksack was an army surplus "Commando" rucksack, bought about 1953. The bag was made of dark green canvas, rubber coated on the inside. The frame was steel. The rucksack was heavy even when empty. It was pear shaped. It was tough. I spent twelve weeks touring the USA in 1963. The rucksack was thrown into Greyhound bus luggage lockers and survived ten thousand miles of being bounced around. I left the rucksack at my parents' house when I moved to Germany and 20 or so years after I was given it my father passed it on to the kid next door when the boy needed a rucksack to go to a Boy Scout camp. It's probably still in use. I packed my stuff in any old way. Some time later I learnt that the weight should be packed so that it was high on the shoulders. Adjustment was easy, you just tightened the carrying straps to raise it up. There was no waist belt.

(Mine was dark green. The photograph is from http://www.granniesloft.co.uk/ where it is or was for sale for £50.)

Time went on and my wife and I had ten rucksacks, most of them day sacks and four large ones. We've decided this year to go walking in the Pyrenees. We will be carrying our own gear and so wanted lighter rucksacks than the bigger ones and more volume than the day sacks. We have just bought two Deuter SLs - women's rucksacks that can be raised up and down on the frame, also backwards and forwards. Fitting the rucksack resembles a trip to Saville Row for a new suit. Fine tuning is the order of the day. The woman's rucksack is just for short people. We both are short. The amusing thought is will they be worth more than we paid for them in sixty years time?