Hiking around Blankenberg!

Finally we came back to the Cologne area! And we were very much welcomed by the German railway: We missed our connection this morning. Great

So, to day we hiked around Blankenberg, and for the planning I used Komoot for the first part. I didn’t really know how much I could trust it. As it turned out, there were a lot more asphalted roads than I had previously imagined. Absolutely great.

Download kml / gpx

This week, we are having such a brilliant weather. Actually ever since I came back from Greece two weeks ago it has never rained (or maybe only once). The field was almost getting dry. And there are quite many of them today. Since it’s not the middle of the summer yet, we were not suffering, but we were definitely well grilled in the ever shining sun today.

Well there were a lot of fields today, but there were also sporadically forests. As a matter of fact, after we left Lichtenberg, it was really great. So it was truly only the part that Komoot suggested that was not particularly great. I’m glad to witness that 🙂

Ah maybe it’s good to mention one change that took place this week: Until last week, I always sent out the telegram link in the telegram channel, but it attracted a lot of people, who always signed up but never appeared. I don’t know what their intention is, but it is certainly safer to keep the group only to the people who actually join. So I sent out the FB and Meetup links this time. Alternatively people could also simply ask me for the link. It almost looked like it didn’t work until yesterday, but as it turned out there were quite some people (a lot more than on the group photo above). So I guess I’m gonna keep doing it like this for some time.

We had a break in this small village called Uckerath, because I saw a restaurant there. When we arrived there, we actually saw a charity event organized by the church, which was essentially a summer festival, and we could join them to buy some food there. Since I didn’t have anything to eat, it was a great opportunity.

And the area around the church was also beautiful. We sat on the grass field under a tree. Frankly the first part with a lot of concrete was totally forgotten in this moment.

As I already indicated, the track hereafter was great. There were some up and down, with great views every now and then.

We also stopped at the castle to take a group photo. We went there three years ago. I had the feeling today that the ground was a bit dry, maybe? Well, anyway it’s a great place with a nice view. Worth a visit.

After the castle, we were in principle supposed to go back to the train station. Instead we went to the river and swam there. As I didn’t take my swimming stuff, I entered only with me feet, but the water is already totally ready for summer. So from next week on, we are going to swim during the hike, probably on every event. Please look forward to it 🙂