Five day-hikes In the loreley area

Distance hiked: 19km

Well this hike sure was a wake up call ... for me (Leah) at least! It's been over three months since we've laced up our hiking shoes and set off onto a trail. Not only did we lace up our shoes, but we also threw on our packs (they were pretty empty... ) and headed off. We were thankful for the day's the weather! It was chilly, but the sun still graced us with its presence. The views of the Rhein river and the towns below were beautiful. We passed a little cabinet which was unfortunately or perhaps fortunately (for training purposes) empty. Over the summer season it would normally hold bottles of wine and glasses and allow hikers to serve themselves a glass for a little fee. One very welcomed surprise was that of the Loreley-Bob; a bobsled track that we assumed would've been closed for the winter season... but lucky for us, I was open and there we sleds ready to be enjoyed! There were many ups and downs (literally... not emotionally) and by the end, my (Leah) knees were in a lot of pain.

Distance hiked: 6km

On today's hike, we were happy to welcome a fellow hiking enthusiast: Uschi (Mathias's mom). My (Leah) knees were still screaming at me, but I didn't want to skip a day, so we opted for a shorter hike, mostly uphill.

Distance hiked: 19km

Mushrooms and mosses and leaves, oh my!

As we followed the yellow leafed trail we were rewarded with beautiful views of the Rhein river, hidden caves and animal friends (My favorite: A jolly goat I named Stuart...). Today we decided to be ambitious and add a bit more weight to our packs... Te Araroa is just around the corner and when we start, our packs will be filled with everything we need for the next 4-5 months. It didn't seem too bad... perhaps we can add more tomorrow. The near-final kilometers were spent going downhill, passing by the vineyards of Philipps-Mühle. How could we not buy a bottle, or two? The final, final kilometers involved going uphill, with the added weight of our new purchases. Totally worth it. No knee pain today: Woooo wooo!! We celebrated with a yummy bottle of wine.

Distance hiked: 15km

Lesson learned: When squatting to pee, make sure your hat (if you're not wearing it) is nicely secured to your pack. Does the 5-second rule apply here? Mathias would like me to note that this was my (Leah) lesson... he figures you will be able to come to this conclusion on your own (given my use of 'squatting'), but just in case!

The fall colors were showing off today. It was like we were walking through a magical fall fairy land through an enormous bed of leaves. We ended up in Emmelshausen surprising our family friends Hanne and Hans-Dieter who needed a moment to figure out who the dirty looking backpackers were at their door. The hot coffee was very welcomed 😋.

Distance hiked: 12.4km

We welcomed back the sun with open arms. We took the ferry across the Rhein to St Goarshausen and were on our way. The hike started with a steep incline that seemed to just keep on going up, and up, and up. It can be interesting/daunting/exciting/intense to start a hike this way; but I would almost always chose uphill to downhill! We have already spent the past few days taking in views of the Rhein, but these are views we just don't get sick of! In addition to picturesque Rhein views, today we also got to get up close and personal with Maus Haus (a castle with a story), pass a helicopter (we actually had to wait for it to take off; it was blocking our trail), cross paths with two other hikers (we have not seen many the past few days), and come across a few new mushrooms 🍄.

As we started late on this day, we had to stop in Kestert, because sunset was getting closer and Kamp-Bornhofen (which we thought about hiking to), was too far away. So instead we had an hour to spare to wait for the train back and grabbed a coffee and a piece of cake.

This was our last warm-up hike in Germany. The next post will probably be from Te Araroa or at least from New Zealand. NZ here we come!