Day 15- Althütte, Germany and Surrounding Areas
Had breakfast and did some housecleaning in anticipation of our friends returning this evening.
The hike yesterday resulted in very sore legs and I did a short Yoga for Backpackers session on YouTube.
For lunch I had leftovers and the vegan “Nutella” on bread.
I repacked the backpack. After stepping outside into the cloudy and cool day, I changed into jeans and put on a long-sleeve and grabbed a jacket.
Heading out for my hike, I noticed that the sky looked dark and it seemed unlikely that the rain would hold off until 19:00 as predicted.
Determined to find the other branch of the river trail in the Strümpfelbachtal, I headed there.
The Strümpfelbachtal was as mossy, green, and beautiful as two days ago. There were some rocks piled along the river that may have led to the section of the Strümpfelbachtal that I was trying to find, but I was unsure and kept walking. Did I mention that you walking along streams and rivers is my favorite?
I had no luck finding the path to the other section of the woods and found myself at the far end of the Strümpfelbachtal. As I looked at Google Maps to figure out how to get back to Vanessa’s, I noticed a different wooded area marked on the map that I had wanted to visit. I was planning to be back to the house fairly early so I could have dinner prepared, eaten, and cleaned up before our friends returned home. Visiting this new area, Schmalenberg, would put me a few minutes behind schedule, but since the schedule was actually a bit arbitrary and I really had nothing else to do for the time being, I decided to head towards this new area. It had a waterfall listed at one end of the natural area. As I really love waterfalls, that became my destination.
Google Maps again provided questionable directions for walking, but eventually I made it to the waterfall. It was a long uphill climb. Fortunately, it was through a pine-canopied forest. When I got to the waterfall, all I could find was a pond with a small aeration bubbler. There was a craggy cleft in the hillside nearby, but no water. A bit disappointed and confused, I turned to head back to Althütte.
Google had shown a path through this area that followed a river, although that wasn’t the path I had taken to where I was. I believed I saw a way to the river path and set off toward it. The new path headed downhill, a good sign since the river was down in a valley.
The path I was on did indeed follow along the river. The path was often squishy, squelchy patches of mud. The river ran over rocks and had some small waterfalls. Both the river and and surrounding forest were gorgeous. There was a restaurant that was closed that seemed to be a converted mill. There was also a strange abandoned and dilapidated old building, perhaps a former pump house. The strangest thing about this path was that it also seemed to be going uphill. It was heading the correct direction, so I kept on.
The forest path ended and the path continued, adjacent to a main road. Then, the path abruptly ended. To get back to Vanessa’s, I needed to walk along a busy highway with no shoulder and cars speeding by.
I made it to the part of the road where the sidewalk began and then was guided by Google to another uphill climb. I was regretting the choice of long pants. Again the path ended and Google dumped me out on a busy road with nowhere to walk. There was even a warning sign for drivers to drive cautiously along this narrow road. Walking along here for long was just not an option. I came upon a trailhead parking lot!
Next problem, Google said there was a path I needed to follow that didn’t exist. Obviously I looked confused because an older couple stopped to help me. Despite my total inability to speak German and their very limited English (the least English-speaking couple I had yet met), I was pointed in the correct direction.
After successfully making it back to the house, albeit 40 minutes later than I originally planned, I prepared a simple pasta dinner. My wanderings had taken me almost 11 miles.
Edon and I ate and tidied up. Our friends were running late, so I even had time for a shower before they arrived.
They arrived safely home and we stayed up too late filling one another in on each other’s weekend’s adventures.
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