Category Archives: Hiking

Germany, Hiking

Main Red Wine I

 

From water’s edge to wine-hills, (literally, Weinberge in German); From an easy start to a more challenging effort; From one side of the Main River, to the other, then back and forth again. This trail provided variety and a sense of anticipation with each kilometer through this little-known corner of Franconia.

Churfranken is in the northwest corner of the Mainviereck wine district of Franconia, and the long-distance Fraenkischer Rotwein Wanderweg (Franconian Red Wine Trail) is designed to showcase as much of this corner as possible. As it meanders along, wine loving hikers will discover the towns and landscape of the red wine for which the trail is named and the area is famed.

Vineyards of Churfranken

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Germany, Hiking, Nutshell

Fraenkischer Rotwein Wanderweg I: Nutshell

 

Trail Name:  Fraenkischer Rotwein Wanderweg I (Franconian Red Wine Hiking Trail) (FRW)

Trail Type: Long-distance trail; well-maintained, with mixed surfaces and stairs, good marking on most of the trail, although missing in a few places.

Length:

Total – 79 kilometers/49 miles

Segment (first three stages): 48.3 kilometers/30 miles

Convenient to:

Aschaffenburg, Germany

Marking:

A Franconian wine glass (fat-stemmed), mostly red in color, often with the words Fraenkischer Rotwein Wanderweg, set on a green and white background on a square.

Fraenkischer Rotwein Wanderweg Signage

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France, Hiking

The Tour de France and Vineyards

 

This is a post about a long-distance cycling itinerary. But I was not cycling it. The most famous cycle route in France, the Tour de France, has an itinerary that changes every year. Fortuitously, in a perfect storm of time and place, I was able to watch it as it passed.

Fortunately too, there was a short vineyard hike I could do in the area that day. It began in the center of Rosheim, an Alsatian town in the department of Bas Rhin, and a town where the Tour was scheduled to pass through in July 2019. Rosheim is a delightful small town, with a lot of town spirit as I would find out. The trail leading out of town passed several well-maintained buildings of great historic value. In fact, the trail through town followed along the car route Route Romane d’Alsace, or Romanesque Alsace Route, demonstrating that this town has had a long and illustrious past, worth a detour in any visit to lower Alsace.

Romanesque House, Rosheim

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France, Hiking, Nutshell

Circuit du Vignoble: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name: Rosheim – Rosenwiller (AKA: Circuit du Vignoble/Vineyard Tour)

Trail Type: Short-distance; well-maintained and with mostly wide paths, either paved or hard-packed earth, with very good marking on the trail

Length:

Total – 8.7 kilometers/5.5 miles

Convenient to:

Strasbourg, France

Marking:

Yellow circle on a white background

Yellow Circle Trail Sign

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Germany, Hiking

A Saarweinwanderweg Hike

 

There are discrete places that our memory captures in perpetuity for reasons unknown to us. Saarburg was one such place. A combination of road closures, road work detours and searching for a shortcut, took me there one afternoon. One glance at the compact historic center, rising dramatically above the serpentine Saar River, impressed itself so firmly in my mind that when I found a wine-themed hiking trail there, I knew that I would have to return to hike the trail.

Saarburg and its Vineyards

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Germany, Hiking, Nutshell

Saarweinwanderweg: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name: Saarweinwanderweg

Trail Type: Long distance circuit; almost exclusively paved or hard-packed surface, well maintained, and fairly well marked.

Length:

Total: 77.4 kilometers/ 48 miles

My stage: 16 kilometers/10 miles

Convenient to:

Trier, Germany

Marking:

White rectangular signs with blue lettering  (See featured photo above.)

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Austria, Hiking

Water to Wine

 

From water to wine, and wine-gardens, the literal translation of Weingarten, German for “vineyard.” That was both the theme and the reality of this circuit hike by Sankt Stefan ob Stainz. It was here in Styria, Steiermark, in German, that I began my exploration of the wines from this southeastern corner of Austria.

Vineyard near St Stefan ob Stainz

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Austria, Hiking, Nutshell

Zachgraben und Weingaerten: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name:  Zachgraben und Weingaerten (Zach Creek and Vineyards)

Trail Type: A mid-distance circuit trail; some sections maintained, others rougher, with varying surfaces, from paved to mud. This circuit is not marked (See comment)

Length:

Total – 10.1 kilometers/6 miles

Convenient to: Graz, Austria

Marking:

None (See comment!)

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Hiking, Spain

Catalonia’s Cava Capital

 

While Barcelona is the political capital of Catalonia, its cava capital is Sant Sadurni d’Anoia. This small town in the hills behind Barcelona is as devoted to cava as fans of sparkling wine are devoted to cava. Thus, the trail through the area around this town encountered plenty of wineries and vineyards, in a very rural area not far from Barcelona.

Countryside: Sant Sadurni

 

I began this trail from the train station in Barcelona. The train ride to Sant Sadurni was super easy from Barcelona. Not only that, but a special deal includes round-trip ticket with a tour of the Freixenet sparkling wine facility, which happens to be right next door to the station. So, after the informative tour, and the free tasting, I headed out on the trail.

Freixenet Cellars

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France, Hiking

Hiking Sancerre

 

Flowing over 1000 kilometers from its source in south central France, the Loire River passes through a rich variety of geological and scenic landscapes. On its northbound trajectory, on the upper half of the river, it passes Sancerre, home to a great viticultural tradition, and start point for my hike, covering this small section of France’s longest river.

Vines and valleys define Sancerre and its surroundings. Add vistas and charm, and you have an idea of this appeal of this trail. Set along a crest fronting the upper Loire River, the town, like the wine, is uniquely memorable and easy to like for all the reason above.

View from the Esplanade

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