Tag: hiking

About Millers, and Hiking, and Singing

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“Wanderlust” is originally a German word and the meaning is slightly different in the German language: it includes the yearning to go and see foreign lands but has more to do with “itchy feet” – because “wandern” means “hiking” in the sense of “on shanks’ mare”. Germans used to go hiking into the big wide world and sang while doing it.

Probably the most well-known song of this genre is: “Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust” (hiking is the miller’s delight). Most Germans will think it is a folk song and describes a miller by profession hence it is mostly illustrated with windmills and watermills. In truth, it was written in 1820 by Wilhelm Müller (that would be William Miller), a German author.

Ragtag Daily Prompt: Wanderlust

My Solitary Walk Attracted Hairy Company

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This incident deserves a few words more than six, sorry about that. It happened in the south of France a couple of weeks ago. While my lazy family were rolling over in their hotels beds I went on a hike to an old watch tower up on a hill. I followed the road, verified on google maps and komoot. Half way up the hill the road was blocked for cars due to the fire hazard because of the hot, dry weather. Fair enough but this added about an hour to my originally planned hike and I started to accept the idea that I might not go all the way. I parked the car and started.

I soon came across signs that said “private road” and “no access” but I trusted the maps and went on. There was a house nestled amongst the trees. And then a pack of dogs came running towards me. Admittedly, two of them were old, slow and overweight but the three others came pounding at me at high speed, barking loudly. One nipped my hip and I needed no more convincing.

I turned around. It took me half an hour to reach my car, closely guarded by the black dog who had made contact. He wasn’t threatening, not really, but he was there and accompanied me to the parking area.

I never reached the Tour de la Massane.

Six Word Saturday

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A Walk on the Wild Side

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One of our most memorable vacations was walking the Otter Trail on the Wild Coast of South Africa, in the Tsitsikamma National Park.

Hiking along the steep coastal ways, wading through river mouths (and on one memorable occasion swimming through one) and up the river course to collect sweet water, watching dolphins and spotting otters, all the while carrying all supplies on our back as there were no other people within at least two days’ walk. We woke every night to look for Halley’s Comet (that dates the vacation, doesn’t it?). Halley’s is definitely in our past and not our future.

The wildlife we saw in abundance were dassies (hyrax). I’m having difficulties in reproducing these old prints of photos but this one rather gained in the process. It does look like a painting, doesn’t it?

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Past Square #21

[Disclaimer: The photos have been photographed from prints.]

We Had a Farm in Africa

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NOT.

But we lived in Africa. And for the rest of the month I thought I share squares from this past.

We used to go hiking with an outfit called “Trailblazers” and we travelled many thousands of kilometer in this comfortable looking bus, a vehicle bought from the South African prison services (I guess it was cheap).

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Past Square #20

[Disclaimer: The photos have been photographed from prints.]