The Westweg 2018. Pforzheim to Basel, Germany скачать в хорошем качестве

The Westweg 2018. Pforzheim to Basel, Germany

A year after finishing the South West Coast Path in the UK and bitten by the long distance path bug, my wife and I decided to try something a bit different. I had lived in the Karlsruhe area of what was then West Germany from 1974-1976 and had done some hiking in the “Nordschwarzwald” during that time and afterwards, and so the Westweg (West Way) from Pforzheim to Basel seemed like a good choice. At about 300 km all told, 2 weeks would be a typical time to complete the whole thing in one visit based upon our pace on the SWCP. The route was established over a hundred years ago by the “Schwarzwald Verein” and is, therefore, well marked with lots of accommodation options along the way. The Black Forest is a beautiful and, therefore, popular area close to many big urban centres, so we chose to go in October in order to minimise the crowds. We were only partly successful in this. This is also Wildsaison (Game Season) so we knew that good eating would be in prospect. Unlike the SWCP, no single luggage transfer company exists to move your stuff along to the next hotel. Our attempt to arrange individual transfers failed miserably and we ended up sending our luggage back to friends in Karlsruhe and carrying what we needed. The walking was pleasant without being spectacular. Much of the route is in the forest but as we moved further south, from around Feldberg and on to Belchen and Blauen, the vistas opened up nicely. We enjoyed generally excellent accommodation, food and especially drink. After living in the area and being associated with it all my working life, I know my Badischer wines and we took full advantage of the fact. All accommodation was prebooked once our route plan was in place. Sometimes we were unable to find something right on the path and had to detour slightly. On one occasion we had to detour significantly – from the Hornisgrind down to Ottenhoffen. This is when it pays to know about the Konus card. Most hotels hand these out on request. They allow you to use public transport anywhere in the Black Forest for free. Using this, we simply bussed back up to the route the following morning. If you’re interested in recording your achievement, pick up a “passport” at the tourist office in Pforzheim. This is a card with thumbnails of all the regional Gates – or Tor – that you’ll find along the way - as you’ll see in the video. Each gate has a little stamping machine built in. Stamp your passport and present it the tourist office in Lorrach and they’ll give you a completers pin as well as a small gift. (Don’t get too excited about it). Don’t expect a super smooth presentation with on-the-fly selfie movies etc. This is just a no-frills video travelogue – but it’s every step of the way, warts and all. If the weather was crap, chances are the photos will be crap too. Hope you find it useful. Enjoy !