Hiking from Wuppertal-Langerfeld to Unterbarmen!

So, finally, winter is over. Today was the very first day of summer time. And appropriately enough, the weather was good, the temperature went above 10°C (although “summer” time is not quite what it stands for in this temperature). And appropriately enough, quite some time signed up for the event, namely more than 60. And around 50 of them really appeared. It’s almost kind of like a wonder that there are so many people who have nothing else to do on Sunday, even if I should speak of myself as I have pretty much never done anything else on Sunday since I arrived here in Düsseldorf. By the way, today a year ago (+1 day), we went to Neuss with 25 people, exactly half the number of participants of today. And I can see my blog this phrase: “To be honest, I was terrified by the number of participants that I had seen on CS: 41”. In the meantime, there’s nothing terrifying about 41 people, as you might have noticed.

It’s been two weeks in a row that I’m having tea at my place in the morning before the hike. This time, Sasan came to my place. Actually it might be a good idea to include it in the programme so that no one arrives late at Düsseldorf Hbf, which is just 400m away from my apartment and unlikely to get involved in the uncertainties of German railway (even if we never know what happens after we leave Düsseldorf).

Today’s trail was particularly good for this large number of people with a lot of newcomers. It was hilly, but not as hilly as last week, it was not very far away from many large cities here and know this Wuppertal region fairly well. A good hike with no risk.

The first part of the tour did not go through any existing hiking trail. At some point, we took a slightly wrong path, so that we were apparently entering the parking space of locals, which pretty much looked like public space. They saw us, and complained, maybe because we were damaging the asphalt or consuming their oxygen. Anyway here in Germany, people complain. And just don’t start wondering why.

I still had my winter duffle coat today. Now it’s spring. Together with all the up and down, it was way too hot. Looking around, I realized some people were walking in T-shirt. Yes, it’s spring. That’s also the reason why it was also so nice to picnic outside during the break. I myself was lying on the ground, having a nap.

Not quite surprisingly, there were constantly people who got lost, but somehow we managed to stick together until the end. It’s still impressive to see 50 people on the photo. I sometimes feel a bit sad that I don’t talk to many of them (and often I find out after multiple sessions that I don’t even know the names of some regular hikers).

Today’s trail just corresponded to my expectations. Wuppertal is a good green place which is at a handy distance from Düsseldorf, even if Wuppertal itself is not the most beautiful place in this region. That might also be the reason why it is always so difficult to find a nice place to have a cup of coffee or tea after the hike. Today, after coming back to the Wuppertal valley (btw. “Tal” in Wuppertal stands for “valley”), we decided to take the skyline in order to go to the city center. It’s true that it was quite some time ago that we took it last time, if we ignore the one when there was this horrible snow storm (cf. this post). It is not a particularly spectacular one, but it is definitely an experience here in Wuppertal (which essentially doesn’t have much more to offer).

Even after this, the hike did not really go to an end. When I arrived at my place, I was still with something like 10 people. It was a very long day after all, but that’s how we enjoy a Sunday 🙂

Today’s trail can be downloaded from this link (kml-format) or this link (gpx-format)