Walking the Weinsteig Rheinland Pfalz, Germany Stage 4: Deidesheim to Neustadt an der Weinstraße

Walking the Weinsteig: Deidesheim to Neustadt an der Weinstraße Stage 4: 15.5 km; 5 hours; 650 m climb 
February 28, 2016 Weather, dry, cool (9°C), overcast
This stage is fairly strenuous with plenty of scenic variety, including good views over the vineyards south of Deidesheim. The little town has attracted artists and as we walked towards the old Town Hall with its tremendous steps we noticed amusing and atractive sculptures adorning several buildings. Of course if you are with a group or children the figures around the fountain near the station require a stop. We dragged ourselves away from the beguiling menu boards and angled left then into the narrow streets lined with stone cottages. Soon the houses petered out, the road climbed gently between high stone walls on the edge of vineyards and became a rough track. Shortly we left the shelter of the vines, climbing into meadows, and up a wide grassy slope. A glance back revealed that we were already high above Deidesheim and approaching the Pfalzblick restaurant 200m ahead. a popular lunch stop, especially at weekends. Soon we are back in the familiar mix of pines and chestnuts climbing easily, then back down to a small white chapel, the Klausenkapelle, where there are occasionally services. Up again above the village of Königsbach, with its notable church tower. Maddeningly there is a steep descent down steps, with fragile wooden handrails right into the churchyard. We contoured along a series of alleys to an open view of vines, with Gimmeldingen village ahead below. This is a pleasant snack stop with a few picnic bench, especially if the magnificent rose bushes are in flower to attract bees (to fertilise the vines). Though a cold Spring this year, almond trees were flowering around Gimmeldingen. The festival in celebration, with stalls, vino tasting and local foods was postponed until later in March (still very chilly). Our trail headed steeply uphill partly up irregular stone steps. We were feeling quite perky until we reached the steps and climbed to Meerspinnblick, where there is a wooden shelter. Hunger suddenly struck both of us so we perched on a convenient bench where various walkers wished us "Guten Appetit" as we ate our lunch.
We had forgotten the rather demoralising drop into and along the valley deeply into the woods. From  Forsthaus Benejental the real work of the day began, up, along, up into the Scots pine and heather clad hills towards Weinbiethaus. Fortunately we were encouraged by various signposts and indeed  distances and the additional climbing needed did get smaller. En route great blocks of stone and weathered outcrops, clumps of heather and chestnut trees gave way to eerie looking Scots pines and even traces of snow. Eventually the low welcoming restaurant building of Weinbiethaus appeared with the stone tower behind.
Maybe it was the anticyclonic gloominess of the day but both of us were glad to reach Weinbiethaus at 554m, our highest point yet reached on this Weinsteig trip. This is a restaurant run by the Pfalzerwald Verein (Club), not to be missed with excellent hearty meals, drinks, plus homemade cakes, teas or coffees. It was reopened only recently after extensions and rebuilding. As usual we chatted to our neighbours at the long table before tucking into large mugs of milky coffee and sustaining portions of cheesecake (German style).
The determined walker can continue at high level along the marked Weinsteig trail for 7.7km, to the rocky outcrop of the Bergstein, with great views over Neustadt, then a steep descent into the town. The less determined walker can take the shorter (4km), but still interesting route more directly into Neustadt. That February day we had decided to be less determined walkers, despite the calorific input of coffee and cake so we hoisted our packs and followed blue and white striped symbols on the southern side of the Meisental valley. Parts of the trail and several thousand trees had been laid waste but the 'harvesters' and their machines were gone. With a little extra care we reached the outskirts of Neustadt where many sets of steps further tested our knees. Neustadt an der Weinstraße is a real town of some 30 000 souls, one of the many Neustadts in Germany dating back to the 12th century. It is well worth a visit, but that February day we legged it through the town, past the large church and over to the station, catching a train to Mannheim 10 minutes later.

Insert head in figure as appropriate, Deidesheim fountain

Imposing steps to the old Town Hall, Deidesheim

Steps into the vinyards too

Klausenkapelle

 J struggles down the steps

 Almonds bloom despite cool temperatures

Roses attract pollinating bees in sumer

The way of the steps

Neustadt, so near and so far down

Walking the Weinsteig, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany Stage 3: Bad Dürkheim to Deidesheim

Walking the Weinsteig Stage 3: Bad Dürkheim to Deidesheim: 14.5km; Height climbed 480m; Time needed 4 hours
We last walked this section in Autumn 2015 on a mild sunny day, with some of our cycling club. In the cooler part of the year we walk or ramble more often than we cycle longer routes.
This is one of our favourite Weinsteig sections, with plenty of variety in the landscape and good views of the Rhine Plain.
We arrived at the station in Bad Dürkheim using tram 4 from Mannheim, a gentle way to sway across the gentle ups and downs of vineyards towards the edge of the Pfalzerwald escarpment. We stepped out directly into the square with the Wurstmarkt fountain, which may indicate the 'goings on' during the annual winefest, disguised as a 'Sausage festival'.  However there was nothing to distract us so we walked up through the town past interesting shops, picking up the Weinsteig signs on street furniture. This is Bad Dürkheim as the locals know it with  baker’s shops and sometimes even a few market stalls well away from the tourist area around the Riesenfass. The climb began with large villas replacing the shops. We left the major road, soon the tarmac is replaced by cobblestones between stone walls. Suddenly we are lead up through vines,  zigzagging up the hillside to the Flags Tower (Flaggenturm). That day there were good views here from Art Nouveau style windows, well worth the extra steps. Apart from the whole expanse of the Rhine Valley and Odenwald Hills beyond, the Roman Quarry from the previous route can be seen.
The marked route follows a rough trail through scrub and some rows of bio-vines, before we reached  a few expensive looking modern villas with manicured lawns. Then we were back into forest trails, rising a little before reaching an interesting section in  open woodland above a steep slope into a side valley. Tree roots and the steep slope on our left required our attention and nimble footwork. We reached a minor road and followed a marshy trail then a wide gravel path that led upwards, and upwards, through beeches and pines. The quiet of the woods, normally only broken by bird noise or leaf rustles is often spoilt by aeroplane noise here. Overhead is a holding area for transport planes approaching a distant military airport. Soon a narrower, steeper path turns sharply over a ridge then equally steeply descends to a motor road. We crossed, with care, past a boule pitch, where we ate our picnic at the convenient benches. It had been a long time since breakfast. Various hawks wheeled against the blue skies, occasionally divebombed themselves by territorial crows.
The road is about 100m lower than the hillside above so we had a steep but easy climb up the side of the Wachenheimerbach Valley to the Wachtenburg, the castle, our next target, visible through the trees. The castle dates back to the 12th century and although extensively damaged on several occasions it has been lovingingly restored. There are excellent views from the terrace, drinks and food if the place is open, as well as toilets.
After any rest comes the reckoning and we puffed up some steps and along a ridge, surprisingly being overtaken by a 4x4 en route to a cottage in the woods. Then we were into forest over the ridge through delightful woods on springy paths. Eventually we reached a signpost, close to a boundary stone, where forest roads cross at Grüne Bank. Indeed there is a green bench to sit on at this highest point, so we did and squeezed another few drops out of our flask.
There are gentle rises and falls as we wandered over the summit of the plateau then a more obvious climb to the Heidenlöcher, another of the great prehistoric stoneworks dotted around these hills. In addition to the outer walls, there are deeply cut holes here, so it pays to wend carefully across following the markers to the other side. With our group it was also a place to mark by munching chocolate or downing a tiny schnapps, no one was cycling that day!
Finally we began to lose height taking care among the drifts of leaves, tree roots and ankle turning stones. The white St Michaelskapelle appeared immediately below on a shelf of land with a view over Deidesheim and beyond. More knee crunching steep track leads downhill, out of the woods and into vineyards. A fine stone sculpture celebrates wine culture, then down and down, to reach Deidesheim. The establishments of vintners and restaurants lining the road leave no doubt that this is a place to linger, the former summer residence of the Bishop of Speyer. We've often stopped in one of the welcoming cafés, where cakes incorporating wine can be enjoyed with a clear conscience. Some of the best known and revered wines of the Pfalz can be tasted or enjoyed with a meal here, but check the prices shown outside the entrances first.

Wurstmarkt Fountain Bad Dürkheim

Windows at the Flagganturm

J on narrow path, tree roots, boulders

Wachtenburg

At Heidenlöcher, Schnapps or Chocs?

By St Michaelskapelle

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.

Walking in Winter I

We live in the Rhine Valley bounded on the west by the Pfälzerwald hills and on the east by the Odenwald hills, both good areas for walking, even in winter. Leaving the small town of Bad Dürkheim last week the air was crisp so we enjoyed the walk up to the Flag Tower, above, a folly erected basically to improve the view. Here the vines had been pruned leaving one shoot which later would be tied to the wires and bear this summers grapes. Now we had warmed up after our longish tram ride and set off along the marked Weinsteig (Wine way). Winter trees displayed their trunk and branch structures like this birch and even the roadside bushes revealed their inner secrets.

What a difference blue skies make, especially as we found hazel catkins round the corner (see below). Soon we reached one of the more exacting stages of the walk. The trail narrows and the land falls steeply away through the stands of mostly Scots Pines. Last year people started to pile small cairns precariously on wayside stones and some of these have survived the winter frosts and gales. Smaller birds twittered encouragingly in the undergrowth, whilst later large hawks circled over the woods

We found a convenient bench to have our picnic, overlooking a boule pitch as our route descended to cross the road to Wachenheim and then continued up to the castle nearby. The days were still short so we pressed on, mostly in the woods, up and down, following the red and white markers towards the prosperous wine-making town of Deidesheim. On the last hilltop above the town lies the curious ancient remains of the Heidenlöcher, where a drystone wall of Celtic origin encloses roughly rectangular holes where people lived when their villages were threatened. They date from around 800 AD, possibly from when Viking invasions along the Rhine were frequent.

The Flag Tower built as a folly to give the wellness guests in Bad Dürkheim somewhere to walk to.

Wintry trees 

Hazel Catkins

Cairn building is popular in Germany

Upgrade of the Palatinate Weinsteig, Germany

One of our favourite long distance walks is the Weinsteig that runs along the edge of the hills bordering the Rhine Valley for 170km from near Grünstadt almost to the French border in Wissembourg. This has recently been upgraded by installing picnic tables at a number of viewpoints into the valley.
If you decide to walk in this area however there is some bad news, in that the Pfalzer Wald Verein, the regional walking club, is closing or reducing the hours of opening of its manned huts, where one can obtain refreshment. The problem is due to introduction of a minimum wage in Germany. This will push the costs of paying the volunteers who man the counters and kitchens up by several hundred percent. More information is available in German on: http://www.pwv.de/index.php/aktuelles/232-mindestlohn-wka-smartphone If you decide to walk the route and intend to eat at a PWV hut, then check the opening hours of the club's huts before setting off.