#52hikeschallenge

Accompanied by a protestant priest and a catholic Father, a group of pilgrims trough all age groups followed part of the route on which protestant bible translations were smuggled during the counter-reformation.

We were stepping on historical ground, which became clear right away, when we saw 3000 year old burial mounds, or followed along a path built by the Romans (if you look closely you can see the tracks the wheels of the carts have worn into the stone)

After a while we entered an area that had been devastated by a massive rockslide more than 600 years ago. Today the area is a nature park famed for its biodiversity.

This is the mountain from which the rock masses tumbled down:

The weather was perfect.

Hiked distance: 17 km / 10,56 miles

The trash that can be found on or next to trails always causes my blood pressure to skyrocket.

Everyone tends to occasionally drop something, be it a candy wrapper or a used tissue, but what can be found out there is far more than what people loose accidentally. It's the deliberate littering that angers me so.

Why is it impossible to take the empty soda / beer can home, after one enjoyed the drink? The cans are dangerous for animals! Every year many animals die painfully because they swallow pieces of cans and the metal cut them open internally.

And don't get me started on cigarette butts! A butt takes up to 15 years to decompose, and poisons the soil and our water in the process. And yet nobody seems to care. Flipping the butts on the ground is apparently acceptable behaviour.

I only can ask my fellow hikers:

I brushed the border to of Slovenia at one point (the big white stone in the right picture in the middle row marks the state border). 30 years ago this place was guarded. I'm rather glad borders around here are not that significant anymore.

Hiked distance: 17 km / 10,6 miles

(plus the distance I walked to the train station)

I combined a visit to mum with a walk along the river.

On the lefthand side of the river runs a dirt road, which is needed to reach the farmland, but is also a popular running trail, is used as a bridle path, and is even part of a pilgrimage trail (the parts of that trail running through our valley I fully intend to walk later in the year), while on the ride hand side the river is accompanied by a biking trail.

The small cluster of trees you can see in the picture above is a small nature reservate. As a result of ground subsidence due to coal mining some shallow ponds formed, which are now a habitat for various bird species (app. 200(!) species).

Here I turned around this time, as the sun was already going down.

The first signs of spring can already be noticed. The grass is starting to look green again, and hazel bushes are in full bloom (much to my chagrin, as I'm allergic to them), but I didn't see any spring flowes yet.

Hiked distance: 12,5 km / 7,8 miles

I don't think I've taken my bike for a spin this early in the season before. Normally my first bike ride of the year takes place around Easter.

When I started out after lunch, it was still sunny and not too cold for biking (I'm not fond of biking in freezing temperatures)

From where I parked my bike, I took a trail I discovered through a hiking app and thought it might be a nice Nordic Walking trail in the warmer season.

This little brook looks very peaceful here, but is responsible for severe flooding on a regular basis. After thunderstorms in the mountains it turns into a raging torrent.

What I didn't expect was that today's walk would turn into a snow hike.

The trail follows the brook into a side-valley with not much sun exposure - hence the snow.

Anyway, I surely will revisit this trail in spring, once the snow has melted.

Biked distance: 11,19 km / 6,95 miles 🚴‍♀️

⬆️ 85 m / 278 ft ⬇️ 90 m / 295 ft

Hiked distance: 6,46 km / 4 miles 👣

Nature is still dormant, but I already noticed some bushes and trees preparing to spread pollen. Pollen are the part of spring I'm not really looking forward to. Just thinking of them causes me to sneeze.

Distance: 6 km / 3,7 miles

⬆️ 240 m / 778 ft