Seebach, Black Forest
After a rainy week, this sunday was warm and sunny. Though there was a little wind at the Ruhestein, it was a great trip from Baiersbronn to Achern via the Ruhestein.
Archive for the ‘Outdoor’ Category
Golden October once again
Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
Uncommented Fungi Catch
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010
Besuch beim Erzfeind
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
The River Rhine as seen from the port of Lauterbourg
During the last weeks, I collected some extra office hours. Well, the annual release is approaching, and my job requires that I get some stuff managed. Otherwise we’d ship a product our customers would not appreciate.
The weekend will be rainy, and so I wanted to grab some of the last summer sunrails before they are gone. So I just did it and left the office at half past three PM, grabbed the bike and did a nice trip from Karlsruhe to Lauterbourg, Seltz, Plittersdorf and back home. Unfortunately I left the office too late, so the sun was unavailable on the way back. But the rest of the trip was marvellous. There was almost no wind, the air was cool but not cold and the sunrails mirrored by the river Rhine did the rest. The cycleways of the left hand side of the Rhine are great, thanks to the Pamina initiative.
The above image shows the river Rhine near the port of Lauterbourg. The shelter on the other side is a lovely place to enjoy the sunrails. From the shelter to the left, there’s a grit bench. On the right hand side of the Shelter, the Illinger Altrhein is entering the river.
In Munchhausen I crossed the picturesque Delta de la Sauer:
Delta de la Sauer
Delta de la Sauer
Delta de la Sauer
In Seltz I had the chance to test the new ferry. It’s amazing how it crosses the river almost noiseless while you’re not recognizing the motion thanks to the trimaran construction. Even better, its usage is granted free of charge. The more I was surprised that two people are needed to operate it, mainly due to the berthing, which is a rather time consuming process. It’s done by lashing it manually, thus the second employee.
BTW: From today’s point of view, one can barely imagine that and why Germany and France waged so many wars during the last couple of centuries. It’s really good luck to live in times of the European Union.
A nice after work trip. I’ll try to do another one tomorrow if my workload permits, before rain will conquer germany. Here’s the trip:
Autumn fungi of the Oos valley, Black Forest
Sunday, September 19th, 2010
NAF, not a fungus
During today’s black forest trip I found this tree stub, hosting several inhabitants. I’ll just post the pics, without any further comment:
Tree stub hosting other beings
Black forest mapping around Rote Lache – »the other side«
Sunday, September 19th, 2010
Incline below Rote Lache
Aeolus did us a favour and brought excellent autumn weather after a rainy week. I decided to climb the Rote Lache pass again, this time from the other side, crossing the hill from the Murg valley to the Oos valley.
Mapping alsacien villages #12745¹
Sunday, September 19th, 2010
Lauter Valley
Today’s mapping trip was a lazy one. First I tried to get to a nice restaurant as fast as possible, as its kitchen closes at 2PM. I needed 90 minutes for about 30 kilometers, including the Rhine ferry in Neuburg. Obviously I was hungry:
First the salad...
...then the meat.
That’s a porc steak, covered by chanterelles. The stuff on the left hand side is Spätzle, a typical food often found in the south-west of germany. Simplified, it consists of the dough of noodles (flour and eggs). Instead of forming and drying the noodles, the dough gets pressed into hot water through a sieve immediately, though. I’m not the biggest fan of wine, but I really like the Gewürztraminer.
I started mapping in Schleithal, where I first added several residential roads. Then I cycled some tracks through the fields. Nearby, a confluence can be found (see the marker). After that I was heading towards Wissembourg, where I also added some residentials. Heck, I thought Wissembourg was completed concerning the residentials, but it wasn’t. Here’s the area:
I enjoyed every single minute of the trip, as it was a cloudy but warm and sunny late summer day. I took the train back home, as I needed some time to get several stuff done – like writing this posting :) .
¹ According to echo $RANDOM
Rhine ferry between Germany and France resurrected
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
Pamina Ferry »Saletio«
Some 5 years ago the previously installed ferry between Plittersdorf (Germany) and Seltz (France) was rammed by a ship. A repair was considered being too expensive, and as there are two bridges nearby, there was no economical necessity to reinstall a ferry line. Nevertheless, the ferry was important to bring the people of both sides and countries of the Rhine riverbanks together, and it was an important connection for tourists and cyclists. The old ferry, built shortly after the infamous second world war, was brought to the harbour of Lauterbourg. It then sunk and subsequently was scrapped.
5 years later (and 700 years after a ferry line at this location has been mentioned for the very first time) the new ferry, called »Saletio«, is being put into service. This weekend a party is taking place in both Plittersdorf and Seltz to celebrate the reincarnation of the cable ferry. It’s built like a trimaran and consists of aluminium (more information in german language):
Aluminium Trimaran ferry »Saletio«
As before, there is a short bridge on the german, but a rather long bridge on the french side of the Rhine’s riverbanks. To avoid collisions with ships in the future, huge pylons have been rammed into the Rhine above and below the bridges. Here’s the location of the ferry on a map:
I think it is great that is has been resurrected. I guess I’ll use it every now and then on bicycle mapping tours during spring and autumn.
Black Forest up- and downhill mapping
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
The valley of the Murg above Weisenbach
After a rainy week we got some marvellous sunny weekend days. Yesterday I did some after work mapping in the woods near Neuburg and Hagenbach. Today, I could not resist to abuse the recently purchased bike as a “mountain bike” anew. I chose the Rote Lache pass again as a destination, as I found an alternative route, much better than the one I chose the last time.
Mapping alsacien villages
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
Alsacien Villages
After this post I have to prepare tomorrow’s working day, so my holidays are finally over. As anticipated I got some nice late summer days, though the biking season is slowly but steadily fading away. After several trips to the black forest I revived an old hobby of mine which I started three years ago: during the last summer and early autumn days I’m usually mapping the fields and villages of northern Alsace.
Black Forest uphill test baffled
Sunday, September 5th, 2010
3rd Black Forest uphill test of the Gudereit LCR
Saturday, September 4th, 2010
Ottenhöfen, Black Forest
Fortunately I had a couple of days off, the gods of weather did a good job and there are still plenty of tracks to be mapped across the Black Forest area. Obviously I try to torture the recently purchased Rohloff Speedhub as much as I can. Today I took the train to Achern (145m), headed towards Ottenhöfen (327m), Ruhestein (915m), Obertal (about 600m) and Baiersbronn (about 500m).
2nd Black Forest test of the Rohloff Speedhub
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
The Ruhestein hill, used for skiing during the winter months
In the late morning hours the temperature in Karlsruhe was about 18°C. Usually the Ruhestein is about 6°C less, but surprisingly its webcam displayed 18° as well, so I immediately grabbed the bike and went to the station, heading towards Baiersbronn, Black Forest (about 500m).
Wet August, fresh fungi
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010Due to the rainy August, it’s fungi time. Here is yesterday’s catch. All pictures have been taken using the Nokia N900 mobile computer. The quality is not comparable to pictures taken with a dedicated camera, but frankly I’m quite impressed of what one can achieve with the N900. I hope you enjoy.
Caterpillars
Uphill test of the Rohloff Speedhub
Friday, August 27th, 2010
Gudereit LCR Trekking Series bicyle
During the last four years my biking trips almost completely took place in the upper Rhine plane, occasionally touching the borders of the Vosges Mountains or the Palatinate Forest. I tried to avoid inclines, as my bike with an 8 gear Shimano hub was not the best companion for such trips.
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Tour de Murg reloaded
Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Landscape near Baiersbronn, Black Forest
The »Tour de Murg« is a biking trip from Freudenstadt, Black Forest, to Rastatt. It’s about 70km downhill – a great trip for lazy bikers like me :) . I did this trip four years ago including a lot of initial mapping. What surprised me most was the fact that lots of mapping details still are missing, are not up-to-date or are even totally wrong (see Gausbach).
Gudereit LC-R – SCNR
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Heavy Weather brewing near Wissembourg
Since it was obvious that I need a more reliable bike, I’m looking for the right device. A friend once sent me a PDF of a very attractive gadget. I also considered other options, but the more I was looking for alternatives, the more I wanted exactly this one.
Since Openstreetmap ruined my bike…
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010
Bergamont Satelite
Back in 2006, I bought a Bergamont Satelite 8 bike (about 600€), mainly to get to work. Shortly after that, I detected that biking is fun and bought a Garmin eTrex Venture Cx (about 300€), together with routable City Navigator Europe map data (about 200€). It just took a couple of days until I understood that the map material was made for car routing, not for outdoor activities. A lot of minor roads for biking were missing, and setting the device to do bike routing just did car routing, except that it omitted highway types like motorways. But heck, I wanted to know the shortest possible biking trail from my home to France.
Mapping the woods between Karlsruhe and Rastatt
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
Back Side of Rastatt Castle
Today’s trip led from Karlsruhe to Rastatt, an ancient german town with several baroque buildings. I decided not to make it a grand mapping trip, but to use openrouteservice.org to find the way. This means I expected not to find new ways because the route was calculated based on existing ones.
The way led through the woods and fields between the two towns. Many of the ways originally have been mapped by me several years ago and needed maintenance. Tracktypes for example didn’t exist in those days yet. Surprisingly I found some new ways anyway while others meanwhile have been paved.
Unfortunately my bike caused some trouble again. I’ve been at the shop three times, but they just don’t manage to get their stuff done. I’m already looking for another dealer and a new bike. I wanted to avoid spending the money, but today it broke my neck. It’s just no fun when your vehicle of choice doesn’t do its job.
Mapping a watermill hiking trail
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Ottenhöfen, Black Forest
Around Ottenhöfen, a Black Forest town, some ancient watermills have been restored. A hiking trail connects all of them. Today’s weather was not that great, e.g. too cold for May, and it was a cloudy and windy day. We grabbed the occasion anyway, stuffed eleven people into two cars and entered the black forest, leaving the cars at Ottenhöfen station. Here’s one of the watermills:
Watermill near Ottenhöfen (wikimedia commons, Andreas Frick, public domain)
Meanwhile I know why I’ve been elected to book and drive a van of the local car sharing provider. Along the trail, a lot of fountains are sited, and some of them act as a very special selling point (called »Schnapsbrunnen«). The black forest aborigines place bottles of schnapps in the water, add some drinking glasses and an offertory box. Hikers just serve themselves and leave some money. Needless to say that some of us served themselves very well :) .
Of course I used the occasion for some mapping. Most tracks and ways already have been mapped, but not very well. I added some ways, details along them and fixed some broken crossings. I’ve also modelled the water mill trail for appearance in the hiking and bridle map, but it will take some time until it gets rendered.
Finally we had some coffee at a local restaurant, enjoying local cake. This is a typical black forest cherry cake (»Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte«):
Black Forest cherry cake (»Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte«)
A great trip, and it begun raining just as we returned to the cars. An excellent timing :) .
Traveling along the french-german border
Monday, April 26th, 2010
Lœwenstein Castle
As the weather is fine at the moment (and my bike is broken again), it is hiking time. Slowly it becomes difficult to find unmapped terrain, as openstreetmap.org meanwhile does not only attract car drivers but also hikers and (mountain) bikers. In the region where I grew up a lot of medieval castles can be found, and I visited them all. Time to resurrect the hobby of my youth as long there are still trails missing in the woods.