🧗‍♂️ Rather you than me....お先(さき)にどうぞ！

Nigel

Mar 54 min read

Updated: Mar 7

5th March 2025 年3月5日

(Some of you had a problem with the link to this post. sorry about that. It seems browsers don't like it when I mix western script with japanese script.)

I know. If you are living in another part of the world you will smile at this. But here in central Germany we are happy that temperatures have recently risen to 11° - 12°c. And after a long gloomy winter of rain, cloud and mud, this is a sight for sore eyes....

When I walk into the woods I often see odd things. This sign is a warning to stay clear of Wildschwein. I don't quite understand the message, but is seems to suggest that there is no danger to us, but if we stray from the paths we may spead a virus unwittingly on our shoes. Not nice.

Well, I kept clear of Wildschwein and tried a bit of Shinrin-yoku instead. This term was first coined by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture in the 1980s to describe the practice of healing through being immersed in nature, or "forest bathing". Couldn't quite get this whole tree in my grasp, however.....

Other odd sights include a bench that looks like a whale's mouth....🐋

and some very unseasonal holly berries.....

you often catch the glint of water through the trees...........

Time to board a train again (how I dislike driving these days!). This station (Darmstadt-Nord) could actually look pretty cool if it was cleaned up. It has a sort of 1920s feel......

The corridor.....

I especially like the view down to the platforms....

A few of us (those not coming from Heidelberg) used this station at the weekend to get to our walking destination....hello Vladimir and Phe 🙋‍♂️....

...which was Höchst im Odenwald. A nearly 20km hike through the hills, passing ponds, cliffs and the all-essential castle.

Yes, more water. And no, these are not gravestones. We crossed over from Hessen to Bavaria at this pond, and these are the old boundary stones. You have to scan your passport here. (That was a joke. You may now laugh haha)

Breakfast 🍴 seemed a long way away when we finally reached this hut. 15 walkers we were. And about 15 different nationalities. The Syrians brought dates and some tasty bread dipped in olive oil; the Germans brought fruit and nuts; the Englishman brought cheese sandwiches, and our man from Beijing forgot to bring anything at all 😮

You see that little building on the horizon? That's Breuberg castle, our destination.....

Vladimir, who had organised the hike, is a passionate rock climber. So - no surprise! There was a quarry en route.....the sandstone glowing in the March sun....

Lacking any helmets or ropes - or training for that matter - we thankfully didn't have to scale these heights, although some showed an interest.....

You can just see a steel rope in the left of this picture. This is a so-called Via Ferrata (Ital. "iron path"), which you can use to climb up. Rather you than me.....

お先(さき)にどうぞ！

Here's a picture from Wikipedia of a climber making it look all too easy.....

Note the colour of the rock.....

.......and now look at the castle which we reached later - Breuberg.....Those little faces and acanthus leaf decoration...this is classic Romanesque - more often seen in 12thc. churches.

And in front of this very gateway - our noble leader.....

I knew I had been here before, but when? I searched my photos, and, low and behold, up came this shot of Yuan and Wenyi, back in a hot July of 2021......time flies!

Oh happy band of hikers......squinting into the March sun.

But kind friendly sun shone all day.....

Nearing Höchst, a dairy farm had an automatic machine where you could buy fresh milk.....yummy!

A view of Breuberg castle from afar. The old medieval barn housed the oxen who pulled carts of water up to the gates every day.

So, that's all for this week. Except that......An inexplicable range of Jamaican posters have appeared on the walls of my little town. The slogan "Breadfruit not bombs" is common. But I can't fathom this one....can you?