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