Where's Bertie? He's in a car park at the north end of Kamnader See. Exact location: 51.43864, 7.27745
Weather: Overcast but dry until mid-afternoon. Mid-teens.
You may have noticed that when we move on from one place to another, we almost always go straight to our night stop and then see what there is around it. Today I knew that the only thing at our destination was a lake, and that didn't sound like enough entertainment for a day only forecast to be a little bit damp. So, I set about finding somewhere to go for an intermediate stop.
Feeling like I'd spent half the day trying to work out what to do with half a day, I finally made a decision*: we were going to Herbede (10km away) to visit the castle ruins of Burg Hardenstein. The car park I'd identified didn't work out, but there was plenty of roadside parking, so we sat outside of a block of flats having lunch, before setting out on foot.
From Google Maps, I'd thought we would be walking roads to the castle, so it was a pleasant surprise, having walked fifty metres back along the road to head off onto a lane that soon became a track. Then we entered some woodland...
Autumn is definitely upon us
... I looked at the map again and realised that the 'castle on a hill' was actually 'a castle on the river'. Having parked at a high point, quite a bit of height was lost before we came upon this:
From which we had this view along the Ruhr:
The castle dates from the 1300s, but, as you can see, bits of it look like they were finished last week. To me, the preservation work didn't look sympathetic, but then I'm no expert and maybe after a few years it will have weathered in nicely and start looking old again.
There wasn't an awful lot of poking around to do, but it was a pleasant walk through the woodland in each direction. We learned from an information board en-route that, had we felt so inclined, we could have done a 6.5km circuit taking in a number of industrial points of interest in the woods. As it was, we stumbled across two of them, both related to coal mining.
Back at Bertie, we gave brief thought to visiting the mining museum a 1.5km walk away, but given the time of day opted to come straight to Kamnader See instead.
Not sure how well they're visible in this snap, but the 'stalks' sticking up out of the water have people on top - it's a sculpture.
Weather: Overcast but dry until mid-afternoon. Mid-teens.
You may have noticed that when we move on from one place to another, we almost always go straight to our night stop and then see what there is around it. Today I knew that the only thing at our destination was a lake, and that didn't sound like enough entertainment for a day only forecast to be a little bit damp. So, I set about finding somewhere to go for an intermediate stop.
Feeling like I'd spent half the day trying to work out what to do with half a day, I finally made a decision*: we were going to Herbede (10km away) to visit the castle ruins of Burg Hardenstein. The car park I'd identified didn't work out, but there was plenty of roadside parking, so we sat outside of a block of flats having lunch, before setting out on foot.
From Google Maps, I'd thought we would be walking roads to the castle, so it was a pleasant surprise, having walked fifty metres back along the road to head off onto a lane that soon became a track. Then we entered some woodland...
... I looked at the map again and realised that the 'castle on a hill' was actually 'a castle on the river'. Having parked at a high point, quite a bit of height was lost before we came upon this:
The castle dates from the 1300s, but, as you can see, bits of it look like they were finished last week. To me, the preservation work didn't look sympathetic, but then I'm no expert and maybe after a few years it will have weathered in nicely and start looking old again.
There wasn't an awful lot of poking around to do, but it was a pleasant walk through the woodland in each direction. We learned from an information board en-route that, had we felt so inclined, we could have done a 6.5km circuit taking in a number of industrial points of interest in the woods. As it was, we stumbled across two of them, both related to coal mining.
Back at Bertie, we gave brief thought to visiting the mining museum a 1.5km walk away, but given the time of day opted to come straight to Kamnader See instead.
This See is a reservoir on the Ruhr and it's an attractive body of water, even in the light rain in which we found ourselves walking today. Given the number of huge car parks, and the fact that there are separate foot, rollerblade and bike paths running along it, I surmise that it's a popular place on a nice day.
Bertie's original parking spot here had him sitting looking at the start/end point of tomorrow's parkrun, but during our wanderings we espied this car park which, whilst a bit further away, offered us a more level pitch for the night. As usual on a weekend night, our fingers are crossed that it proves to be quiet.
(*A chunk of time was also spent contemplating an art museum in Bochum, next to a large park, but it was a not inconsiderable detour, would have involved driving across a city, and the parking availability nearby was too uncertain.)
Your photos are quite small and do not do justice to themselves, BUT if one clicks to enlarge the difference is massive. I do have the advantage of a Mac desktop with a large screen, but even for somebody looking on a mobile phone it is worth the effort.
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