Walking the Neckarsteig

We walked part of the Neckarsteig a walk above the Neckar Valley between Heidelberg and Bad Wimpfen (124km, 76 miles) recently and were much impressed. The route switches valley sides and so the total height difference over the week or so is about 5000m (16000'). There are organised self-guided trips with pre-booked rooms with luggage transfer available from:

• TS Touristik Service e.K., 63840 Hausen im Spessart, Germany, T: +49(0)6022 2654744, www.ts-touristikservice.de for €549 pp in a double room for 7 nights.
• 100% Kanu+Bike, 74239 Hardthausen-Gochsen, T: +49 (0)7264 934900, www.kanu+bike.de, for €599 pp in a double room for 9 nights.

GPX tracks can be downloaded from www.neckarsteig.de.

Near Eberbach

Aldi outdoor clothing

According to the CTC magazine "Cycle" ALDI stores will be having an cycling gear sale or action event on 29 June 2014. There is nothing to stop a walker wearing a cyclists' wind- and waterproof jacket bought for under £10. The shops open early and are likely to be sold out quickly. Set your alarm.

Rohan Waterproof Trousers

We went walking in the Odenwald in February. The winter was warm and at this time it had been fairly wet, so the paths were muddy and so were our boots. It started to rain. We still had an hour to go before lunch. The question was, should we put our waterproof over trousers? Our boots were muddy. There was nowhere to sit and so we would have to put them on standing up. It would take too long and the rest of the party wanted to go on. We went over trouser-less. We arrived at the pub dry above the waist, but looking like we had been wading in the Rhine below the waist.
The moral of this story is we need a pair of waterproof trousers that resemble normal trousers, so you don't need to slip on over trousers to stay dry.  I was highly pleased to read in the Rohan catalogue/newsletter that Rohan had produced just such a pair: Dry Explorer and Dry Requisite. Unfortunately Rohan doesn't send us its gear to test and the nearest Rohan shop is in Canterbury, Kent, an 8 to 9 hour drive away, so we will have to wait until we next go to the UK to check out these trousers. I'll probably wait until Rohan sell the rest of this year's models off in November or so to buy a pair. However Rohan's descriptions are normally honest and it is claimed that the trousers are waterproof, so it is probably true. We sent a couple of spies to Manchester to check out the trousers in the store there. Their report: "We have been to Rohan in Manchester  - the waterproof trousers look and feel great but take 8 hours to dry after washing and are £95 to buy. They do not look like the usual waterproof trousers, just like ordinary material ( eg:- wool or cotton ), that is very good."

More Aldi walking gear

I bought a new merino vest from Aldisüd (Germany) recently, an undershirt not a waistcoat. It cost about 20 €, which in comparison to the prices charged by more mainstream outdoor shops is a gift. It has been worn both in the field and on our normal day to day mooching about. It has been regularly washed in a machine and is showing no signs of wear. Although the winter was mild we had a few wet and cold days and we chose one of these to be out and about. No clothing in our price range is completely waterproof under those conditions. Although my waterproof had leaked water onto my shirt thanks to the ALDI vest my core was still warm. I can recommend the vests highly

Honister Slate Mine to Keswick on Remembrance Day

On Remembrance Sunday 2013 we were stopping with friends in Keswick. They had volunteered to man the car park at the Honister Slate Mine to collect for the Poppy Appeal. There is a tradition in the Lake District that there is a Remembrance Day Service on Great Gable. The car park at the Honister Slate Mine is one of the nearest car parks to the peak.  Our friends had to be there by 07:00, so we left their home at 06:30 and climbed into their frozen car.

It was light by the time we reached the slate mine and we set off round the back of  the Youth Hostel following the miners' trail downhill. We'd decided not to go up to Great Gable because we would have needed to take the same way back against a flow of visitors, as our friends were due to stop chinking tins at 10:00. Our aim was to walk down to Grange in Borrowdale. 

The track was good, though slippery in parts and easy to follow. This was good as British waymarking is very patchy compared to the Teutonic systems we are used to. It was a very clear and fresh morning. The high peaks around had a dusting of snow from the storms of the day before. As the sun lit up the frost covered floor of Borrowdale it resembled nothing less than a water colour painting. We negotiated the back of Castle Crag with care as the way was steep with many loose stones. We had a cup of tea and a piece of cake in the Grange Cafe. Our friends arrived and suggested that we walk back to Keswick. We did not hesitate and took the Panorama Way overlooking Derwent Water before dropping into Portinscale and the outskirts of Keswick. Length 17km - about 10 miles.

Even if you have not got friends prepared to offer their car as a taxi service you can take a bus from Keswick up the pass in summer that will bring you to the slate mine. The Slate Mine has a cafe and sells excellent bacon butties amongst other items.

Leaving the slate mine car park.

Looking down into Borrowdale

Castle Crag to the right. Derwent Water and  Skiddaw to the front.

Derwent Water

Aldi walking gear

Some time ago I was amused to see a note on the BikeRadar blog about ALDI's cycling gear. Our outdoor cupboards show lots of Crane labels. We have bought both cycling and walking gear from ALDI-Sued over the last few years. The gear is excellent. I have recently acquired a couple of Crane polyester walking shirts and in spite of their cost, i.e. €9.99 they are very comfortable and warm. OK they don't have the zipped pockets and hanging tabs that the Rohan shirts feature, but they are a factor of four cheaper. ALDI-Sued socks wear well.
Obviously if your life depends on your gear then it's a wise idea to buy a well known brand, but if like us you are just going hill walking at low levels and you are not worried about status then ALDI's walking clothing fits the bill. It is mostly not made in Europe but there again most of the big names are embroidered on clothing made in the far east. If one of them starts to make stuff in Europe again then we would change our suppliers. I suspect though in this case, it is not a wise policy to hold my breathe.

Walking in Vogtland

Near our hotel

Last week we spent a week walking in Vogtland, east of Hof and Bayreuth (Bavaria) and stopped in Bad Elster, (Saxony) one of a number of spa towns in the area.  The area is criss-crossed by well waymarked trails. The town of Bad Elster is good base. There are regular concerts, a magnificent baths and some good cafés. There is a basic public transport system: Buses and a railway line south into the Czech Republic and north to the German mainline railway system. The one snag is that the railway station is 3km out of town. None of the normally well organised Germans seems to have thought of a shuttle bus to link the station and the town, so it was Shanks’ Pony which made for a long day.
We walked between 15 and 20km most days through woods and across open fields with good views of the Vogtland hills. For me the two high spots were:

Františkovy Lázně 

• A good day walking from Cheb to Františkovy Lázně (Franzenbad) passing a volcano investigated by Goethe. The site is marked by a plaque in German. Františkovy Lázně is elegant in a French Empire style and has numerous springs where one can take the waters. They taste healthy, uugh! The Czech - German border is open thanks to the Schengen Agreement.
• The day we walked across the heathlands to Markneukirchen, a centre of quality musical instrument manufacturing, (The cheap stuff is made in Asia.) The museum there has a fantastic display of musical instruments. It also has an excellent value for money café on the main drag where we made up our missing calories after the exertions of the walk. Prices here are less than farther west, but are still higher than in the Czech Republic which are ridiculously cheap: Three of us ate a three course lunch with a genuine Budweiser beer in a very comfortable restaurant near Cheb for €20 total.