A couple of weeks ago I bought a topo map so I could find some hiking trails to run instead of spending all my time pounding pavement and dodging cars. Luckily for me the hills around Ribeauville are thick with running and hiking trails that I could use while Nita, Donna, Kim and Ryan were hiking up to the castle by a more direct route.
At the foot of the imposing mountain we had some second thoughts, but onward we went. I left them to hike the main tourist route while I headed off on what should have been a 4 mile round trip run through the deep shaded woods that would let me meet them at the top where the 3 castles are perched. Donna, with her busted leg hiked a bit and then descended into the town to buy everydamnthing she could get he paws on.
My run was tremendous. I ended up taking a slightly shorter route that took a tad of the distance off but make the run much steeper. Lots of flowers, deep shady woods, steep hills, critters wandering about made for a really enjoyable change of scenery.
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| Lots of things to trip over on the trail. |
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| From one castle to the other |
At the top I ran into the first and smaller of the towers and stopped for some pics. Just a few hundred yards away was the larger of the fortresses on the mountain. After a brief stop at the first I headed over to the larger to meet Kim and Ryan climbing the first set of stairs, sans Nita.
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| The path to the other castle. |
Nita was bravely working her way up the ridiculously steep and crappy ascent. She stopped to rest her knees from time to time but finally she made it up! A grand achievement, I'm very proud of her for sticking it out all the way up.
We goofed off on the ruins for quite a while. It was nice and cool up there and the thought of heading back down the icky trail they had just climbed up didn't seem very fun.
Lots of pics. Too many to post here, and none really give the feel of the place.
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| The small fort. |
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| 2 story ruin of the great hall overlooking the valley. |
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| Small private chapel. |
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| Ryan and Kim"Jam Hands" |
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| The view from up top. |
After wearing our cameras out we walked over to the smaller fort where Ryan and I spent some time being dumbasses and climbing all over areas that were clearly unsafe. Hey, what could go wrong on top of a French mountain castle ruin??
As we were leaving we noticed a wall of rain heading our way across the vineyards. It was oddly beautiful to see the rain from above the clouds. At one point, it split into two rain showers that left a center section of vineyard with little to no rain. I guess someone was mad at the grower...
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| The rain wall splitting around the valley below. |
Instead of taking the steep route home I talked everyone into following me back the way I ran up. While it was longer, it was a very pleasant walk down through the forest instead of a scramble over rocks. It was a really, really nice way to end our time on the mountain. We took a slightly different route back that took up by old house ruins, someone apiary and massive downed trees.
Very glad we made the effort to go up the mountain.
On teh way home we stopped in Riquewihr for lunch and exploration. Damn place was overrun with Viking River Cruise tours and bus loads of German and Chinese folks all fighting for a slice of the cute. Fortified with lunch we got the hell out and headed back toward Hunawihr to tour a small fortified church. Cute town, not a lot to see but worth the stop.
Back at home we met up with Fernando and Debbie for a late round of drinks and an early bedtime. Long day of a lot of miles under our feets.
Good day!
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