My plan for the summer is to do a long hike at least once a week, and since today’s weather promised to be the best of this week, I set out for a nice long walk this morning. I chose the NS walk between Culemborg and Beesd station, with beautiful Dutch scenery.
It was weird to suddenly realize I was walking on the Mariënwaard estate, where almost exactly 15 years ago I broke my back. I think I’m fitter today than before that day, but it has taken me very long.
Today we visited a forest- and a field chapel. In the forest we found the chapel Dekke Tönnis – Fat Tony – for St Anthony. For fear of wildfires from candles the entrance was barred. Even more bars made the statue of the saint impossible to photograph. But it was a good place for a picknick!
After hiking through the beautiful forest we went to the Bruder Klaus Feldkapelle – Brother Klaus Field Chapel – a chapel built in 2007 in a very modern style. Parking is a kilometer from the chapel, so it’s a brief pilgrimage to get there. From the outside, the building looks a bit like a climbing wall. Inside, there is room for two people, it’s a really intimate space with big marbles in the walls that let the light in. It’s beautiful and has a very special feeling.
We were awed by the destruction in Bad Münstereifel, still visible after the floods two years ago, but driving through the Ahr valley, we saw that it was much worse there. It’s unimaginable what happened there. We ended the day with Flammkuchen in Bad Ahrweiler, where the marketplace was restored.
Did a beautiful hike today in the vicinity of Bad Münstereifel. A Roman sanctuary to the matrons – three goddesses – was very special to find. People had left some offerings, like Mexican coins and Dutch pre-Euro coins. They wanted to make a sacrifice but not one that’s actually worth something? What does that mean?
The town of Bad Münstereifel was badly damaged by the 2021 floods, now two years ago. The process of rebuilding is still ongoing, but it’s definitely worth a visit!
I’ve been back a while, but finally the weather gods and employment gods joined up to give me the opportunity to photograph a misty morning on a quiet work-at-home day. So happy! Much better than seeing the fog from the train!
If you follow my posts, you know that I love misty mornings. So you can imagine I was happy this morning in Pilanesberg! The antelope in the foreground is a tsessebe.
Sometimes you take a photo and you come back home and it just doesn’t do anything for you. If that’s the case, it may be worthwhile to take a second look at it a couple weeks later. This one matured pretty well!