Trail Name: Turckheim et Le Brand
Trail Type: Short distance circuit; almost exclusively paved or hard packed surface, well maintained, but the route itself is not specifically marked for this trail.
Length: Total: @5 kilometers/ 3 miles
Convenient to: Colmar, France
Marking:
Turckheim to Niedermorschwihr: Blue X
Niedermorschwihr to Turckheim: Yellow triangle
The “Sommer” in Sommerhausen means summer in German, but there were no signs of it the day I was there. Dark, windy and spitting rain, as is normal in the winter here, it was a good day to follow the Weinsbergweg, the town’s trail devoted to its wines, along the slopes lining the Main River, about 8 miles south of Wuerzburg.
What I Learned
Franconia (Franken, in German) is one of Germany’s 13 wine regions. Within this region there are three districts. Two of the three follow along the Main, a peaceful, beautifully winding river that ultimately flows into the Rhine by Frankfurt. Three consecutive bends form a huge triangle of land, and the wine district along the river in this area is known as the Maindreieck (Main Triangle).
Trail Name: Weinsbergweg (incorporating the shorter educational Wein-Kulturweg) Sommerhausen
Trail Type: Short distance circuit; well-maintained and almost exclusively paved, (or with very hard-packed earthen surfaces), and with excellent marking throughout the trail.
Length: Total – 6 kilometers/ 3.75 miles
Convenient to: Wuerzburg
Marking: Snail, and White grapes on a green background, or on tarmac (see trail photo below)
Just before winter solstice, I found myself in Alsace, not far from Strasbourg, wondering why I would hike on such a gray day. The short answer is that Strasbourg has one of the most impressive Christmas Markets in France, and Molsheim, near some of Alsace’s grand cru vineyards, is not far from it. So after an evening visiting the market, I headed for the hills to the west the next morning.
What I Learned
The Alsatian wine region is famous throughout France, and the world. It is a great place to try excellent French wines, at very reasonable prices. Politically, Alsace is divided into two districts, or departments. The Haut Rhin is the southern-most. Above it is the Bash Rhin, stretching north to the border with Germany. The Rhine river marks the eastern border of both, and the Vosges mountains lie on the western side of each.
Trail Name: Circuit de Trotele (One of the “Circuits de Bacchus” local circuit trails)
Trail Type: Mid-distance circuit; varied surfaces, from paved to meadow grasses, well maintained, with the route itself specifically marked in most, but not all, places.
Length: Total: 13.8 kilometers/ 8.4 miles
Convenient to: Strasbourg, France
Marking: Hollow blue circle, in places; yellow lines elsewhere
“Der alde Gott lebt noch” (The old God still lives), at least in the area of Sasbachwalden. A sea of vines, set in as bucolic a landscape as one could wish for, hold the secret to a long and happy life here, centered around wine and hiking.
As the story goes, a young man, on meeting the beautiful young woman who would become his wife, cried out: The old god still lives! They married, settled in the area, and enjoyed a happy life together. On seeing this wonderful trail, in such an idyllic setting, one could cry out the same.
What I Learned
Sasbachwalden is a small town in the Ortenau wine district of the Baden wine region of southwest Germany. It is bounded by the Black Forest heights to its east, and the river plain of the Rhine to the west. The town has approximately 266 hectares of vineyard, and along with active tourism, is a mainstay of the local economy.
Alde Gott is the name of a specific vineyard area in and around the towns of Sasbachwalden, Sasbach, Lauf and Achern. The soils are of granite and gneiss. The terrain itself is quite hilly, with several natural bowl-like formations. The steep-sided slopes ensure good drainage in this otherwise wet area. They can get up to 1500 millimeters of rain a year. To ensure maximum sun exposure, the vine-bearing slopes face primarily south and west.
