A last early morning walk. There are eight different roads leading out of this Rothenburg village of Schienfeld, I have been along six of them so I’ll be able to complete all roads out by 0900. The road I took at 0730 took me over some low undulating land along a main road, then past a quarry and on to a small village. People were either having the day off, couldn’t care less about work or were dying. It was deathly quiet, maybe in respect of the rest of the village, and in respect of God (it was a Sunday).  After a few kms I returned home along a ‘car and truck road’ satisfied wIth the amount of kms I had walked before a substantial breakfast.

While the sitting committee toyed with tomorrow’s plan, I ventured out again into the fields along a narrow track then onto one of those tracks with a grass middle and concrete slab wheel tracks, realising that they had a history and had little to do with exclusivity. Then there was a town (another with a ‘closed down demeanor’), that seemed to be hiding in the valley bush. It was a holiday, an ‘everyone at work day’, or it was closed permanently due to chemicals and explosives from mining ventures.

This was a good time to return because I know that the sitting committee would not be happy if their favourite breakfast material was gone. So back again to see what the ‘sc’ was up to. We were off to Rothenburg to explore this ancient town with our friends. There were the usual stunning buildings, nothing that really represented a platz, a castle wall that provided great views as it would have to the town’s defenders many years before. We soon heard a rumbling below,  realising it was a small river with a big voice. 

Before we left I wanted to get a feeling for this renowned ‘Tauber River’ that swung its small hips through sharp valleys. So I walked down to it, not public access, and did some rock hopping to the best photo point and looked up to see a stunning valley impasse of rocks, trees, houses etc.

The Tauber Valley is exceptional and there’s no better way to find this out than by putting your feet on one of these mountain passes and experiencing the unusual juxtaposition of mountains, hills, and tree varieties that will stun you. 

I could taste the feast of nature as it put its arms around me and fed me with its delights too numerous to show in one day, too fine to explain with clarity and too fantastic to describe in such a short space of time. I haven’t experienced myself but I believe everything I wrote, and I wrote it so I could remember what I did not see in its deepest part but understand by just touching it on the outside a little of its meaning.

Then there’s the magic of the river that winds its way through three major wine growing areas:  Franken, Wurttemberg and Baden in its oh so brief 122 . It’s not big but it has an intellect that stretches the imagination. We may be back.