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.