Trips, Tracks and Travels

This year, we made two short holiday trips to Germany.
In spring, we made a short break on the eastern slopes of the Sauerland. We stayed at a camping site in Barntrup and we made longer walks from the site, and from Bad Driburg; some of these are part of the Hermannshöhen collection of routes. The tracks have been recorded, and the tracks with the accompanying images can be found here.
In summer, we spent out annual summer holiday in the South of Germany, on the German-Austrian border.
Our first four days were spent at the Bodensee, at a comping site at Linday, quite close to the border. Here we rode our bikes and made boat trips to get to our starting point, or returning to the site. One of these trips lead us through three countries after crossing to Switzerland, and riding back along Bregenz (which is Austria…), we took the opportunity to transport our bikes up the Pfälzer mountain by cable train, and decended from there. Most tracks have been recorded, and the tracks with the accompanying images can be found here.
The fifth day we drove along the Deutsche Alpenstrasse to Berchtesgaden, parked our car there and walked a long distance way circling the Berchtesgadener and Salzburger Land; overnight we stayed at B&B of small hotel. This 160 km route, with a total ascend (and descend) of 5000 meters, took one week - over 20 kilometers a day, and, except for the last day, at least 500 climbing.
From this walk, all tracks have been recorded, and the images, and all tracks, can be found here. This also contains photograhps taken in and around Tittmoning on our way back home.

Note: My normal lens was broken, I could only use my larger lens, so I had to do a lot of combining and stitching, and the results are bigger tha ususal

A relatively short walk on a cloudy day, rather close by, starting and ending at a parking just outside Renswoude - on the East side, just across the line of sight from Renswoude Castle over it’s Grand Canal - similar to Versailles, but lacking it’s ‘ grandeur’. The route passes to the works of the Hollandse Waterlinie - a line of defense, consisting of dykes in the lower lands of the Gelderse Vallei. In times of war, these low lands would be inundated; the dykes acting as a lifeline to the fortresses buiklt along the line. This walk crosses two of them on the way.
At end, we headed back to Renswoude, ending on the side of the Renswoude Estate, passing it’s dovecote and church. and the housing of the servanst of the castle - a nattional monument.
I took a number of images, and of course, the track is available here, in Garmin, general and .CSV formats

Since our last walks on this track, back in 2009, we ended up in RheinBohl - just south of Bad Hoennigen. To close the gap, the route would lead us over the flatlands around Neuwied, on the opposite border of Koblenz. But thinking we ended in Leutesdorf, we started our walks there - leaving a day’s walk gap to be closed some other day: From Rheinbohl to Leutesdorf.
We parked our car on the city parking in Leutesdorf, not too far from the station where we would pick up the route. The first day brought us to Rensdorf, where we stayed in a just open guesthouse - wanderers only - for a reasonable price. The next day we headed out for Sayn, but since the nearest railaway station is near Bendorf, we had to proceed several extra kilometers - making a detour that we found out the next day. We rode back by train - over Koblenz Central Station - and picked up up our car, and drove to a camping site over Lahnstein - directly behind the castle.
The next day, after passing to Bendorf Station by car, we took the short route from the Bendorf station to Sayn and walked to Ehrenbreitstein - the route officially passes over the fortress grounds but restauration works were underway for an exhibition, so we had to follow a less interresting diversion - not too clearly signposted at the end. Back by train and car, to the camping site.
The last day was a relatively short walk from the station at Eherenbreitsten to the burrough of Braubach, where we had started the route in 2007. From there, we made our ride to the Harz.
Of course, there are the images - but no real-time tracks, since the tracking files were lost … But I.ve been able to reconstruct them. You’ll find both images and tracks here

The river Vecht has its origin in Germany, and carries the result of rainfall and melting snow to Zwolle, and finally to the IJsselmeer. Today, it is straightened out to move the water quickly. But in older days, the river took many turns, the water couldn’t move quickly enough and flooded large areas of land. Dykes have been created but the riverbed remained very wide - and occasional flooding caused teh river to take different routes after the land was flooded.
Today, the eremains of the gone area are visible in the landscape. Not always clear when walking - though the relief shows old dunes and beds, and some meanders still remain as waters in the land. But very clear when looking on old maps - and on images taken from high altitude.
Todays walk leads from Ommen to Dalfsen, from station to station; a distance of 26 kilometers, following the streambed of the old river, crossing it twice: Near Ommen to get to the Northern shore, and halway, near Holt, heading to Dalfsen through the Southern area. Passing woods on river dunes, pastures and nature conservation areas, passing a number of estates - or locations where once stood a manor.
The imaginary impressions include wide views of the landscape. The track is available in Garmin, generic and CSV formats.

This is the first of two stages in the Reggeland area. This little river (once an important trade route) runs South to North, from the hills in Twente to Ommen where it enters the Vecht river. However, in the route we took today, the stream seemed to be opposite, probably because the Vecht had higher levels.
The area lies between the hills of Salland in the West and Twente on the Eatern banks. These are sandy grounds, but relatively more fertile. Apart from woodland and moors, agriculture has been a important for ages: grazing sheep on the moors. In winter, spinning and weaving their wool for textiles was a normal activity.
It is no surprise that, when the English inventor Thomas Ainsworth - who created the first automated looms - came to the area In the middle of the 19th century, he opened the first Dutch weaving mill in this place; the factory started the village: Nijverdal (which means “Busy Dale”) was built around this factory. Thomas lived - and died - in an estate near the village.
But today, most of this business is gone. Today, Ten Cate, one of the remaining Dutch textile companies, still has a large complex in the town.

The walk to Nijverdal follows roads and paths in an agricultural environment; just before Nijverdal, a small patch of the former marshy moorland still exists, and is crossed twice, to get to the sheepshed in the Northern area.
The route has been tracked for about one third - my batteries gave up…So the rest has been “tracked” by hand - but it is the actual route. The whole track is available in Garmin, generic and CSV formats - and of course, here are the images…