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Hike number 2 in the Rother book for the Ruhrgebiet is already a red graded walk, which means it is moderately difficult, a grading usually associated with hikes in the Alps. I believe that the sheer length of this walk is the main reason it is graded red, but there were also at least three lengthy uphills, one of which was in open sunlight. I confess that I broke the walk into two sections, using the tiny station of Kalthof as the midpoint. The timing to this point was 2h15 in the book, but I managed it in 2h00. It began with a lengthy walk through the woods, followed by a section walking along asphalt country roads past farmsteads and a trout farm.


Leaving Ergste, the way followed a lengthy route through peaceful woods


Much of the route led along country roads


Nice bucolic scenes in the country

The second section was given as 3h30 and on the second day I completed it in around 3h07, so that means timings are quite conservative in the book. To begin with, this part of the route followed country roads past farms, fancy country houses and riding stables, then went all the way through the town of Sümmern, quite a pleasant place. Some 2km after Sümmern the way disappears into the woods on forest tracks for the prettiest part of the route. I managed to push all the way through to point 5 (out of 6) on the route map, Hembrocker Berg, before having my picnic. This was the prettiest point on the route, a quiet crossroads in the forest which is part of the town of Menden and the only place where I met anyone else. There remained a 40 minutes downhill traipse into Menden, a very pretty and historical town with cafes and restaurants that I would like to have spent more time in (the St Vicenz Kirche is worth a visit).


Kalthof station, which provided a useful midpoint on this lengthy itinerary


On the way to Sümmern


Some parts of the walk were along tiny trails

So this route demands a certain level of physical fitness, although in my opinion it is at the lower end of the red rating. There were absolutely no difficulties in finding the way, one just follows the X and XR signs on the trees and lamp posts. I would suggest doing just the section from Sümmern to Menden, the nicest part of the route. The only thing that "disturbed" me, as an observation, was the proliferation of huge logistics centers in the open countryside, menacing featureless buildings that are going to be much more of an indelible blot on the landscape than the old industrial infrastructure has been. Same goes for these endless wind farms.


In the woods approaching Menden


There were quite a few stretches of almost indistinct trail in the forest


Menden is an interesting town with a lot of old buildings and is well worth a visit

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Oberhausen Hbf - Basel Bad Bf
Normal price €60,90

I'm not sure why I put myself through another 9 Euro Ticket torture trip but it was probably my Scots sense of enjoying saving money despite the amount of time spent on the road or, in this case, on the rails. The fact that this journey all the way to Basel Bad was de facto completely free, plus the fact that I had got around €500 worth of trips out of my August 9 Euro Ticket, was strangely pleasing. However, the trip started badly, with mounting delays on the train from Oberhausen to Koblenz, and then even more delays on the trip to Mainz meaning I missed what was a 5 minute transfer in Mainz. The next train was 2 hours later, at 12h13, so I walked up to the Best Western Hotel like the last time, used the facilities, sat in the lobby for a while then had my picnic outside. No problem with any of this, because staff recognised me as a guest from my previous stay.


Interesting Manga artwork at Dusseldorf main station


The train from Dusseldorf to Cologne was quite full but not unduly so


You can just make out Cologne cathedral through the latticework roof of the newer part of Cologne main station

It was after this nice break that the problems really began, even though I had enough time at the following transfer points of Karlsruhe and Offenburg. I think it was very much exacerbated by the endless heavy heat this summer with no sign of rainfall, now into the 3rd month. Getting onto the train in Mainz was like stuffing Bockwurst sausages into a glass jar: there's only so many you can jam into the jar. The other option is to start squashing them, which was pretty well what was happening here. Finally a loud announcement was made over the tannoy, repeating asking people to not try to mount the train and clear the doors. We eventually got going, but the trip was a horror film all the way to Offenburg. Somehow I had a seat on all sectors, though.


Waiting on the platform in Koblenz, wondering if I'm going to get a seat


I got a seat on the way to Mainz, but many didn't


Waiting for a goods train to pass in Mainz


Back to normal between Offenburg and Basel

Once in Basel, to help myself forget the nightmare trip I walked all over the city, visiting Bider & Tanner bookshop to pick up a couple of Lonely Planet guides. I had a decent dinner at restaurant Holzschopf but had to rush to catch the onward train at Basel Bad at 19h40. But it turned out to be delayed too and I got to Territet at 23h29, in reality only 9 minutes after the time I expected to get there.


Sitting outside the Holzschopf restaurant in Basel


The view when looking away from the Holzschopf restaurant


Olten station, a major train changing place in Switzerland

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Rather than write once again about my trip from Basel Bad station back up to Oberhausen (on 30th August), I thought it would be more interesting to offer my opinion about the 9 Euro Ticket concept. By the time this is posted there may be another scheme in place which has been more carefully thought out.
The trip back up to Oberhausen turned out to be the same torture as the trip south a few days earlier, with some trains stuffed like jars containing sausages, standing room only and delays piling on in each station while people alighted from and boarded the trains. For future reference, when travelling in a North to South direction and vv, the worst stretch is Koblenz - Mainz - Karlsruhe.


I left Montreux at 05h00 in the morning and sunrise occured along the northern part of Lake Neuchâtel


The Cafe Voyage in Offenburg, across the road almost in front of the station

Here are five tips in case the 9 Euro Ticket offer comes back, or if you find yourself doing something similar in the months to come:
1) Get onto the train platform at least 10 minutes early;
2) Try to position yourself where the door is going to be, although this can be more a question of good luck;
3) Choose itineraries, if possible, that allow you to board the train at its starting point, not somewhere along the line;
4) Aim for the rear of these regional trains because there are sometimes 4 single seats at the back of the carriage with a large shelf beside the window where you can place bags;
5) Be sensible and travel LIGHT;
6) Be prepared to run in case of tight connections in case of delays.


Crowds waiting to board trains in Offenburg


On the way to Karlsruhe

9 Euro Ticket Conclusion :

My verdict is as follows (I will probably try to publish it later on one of the news blogs). I think in principle the 9 Euro Ticket was a very good and well intended idea, which allowed young and old to travel and save money, as well as discover places they wouldn't go to. I think that the execution, on the other hand, was totally wrong. The whole ticketing system went from extreme complexity to extreme simplicity, with no middle point.

I like the simplicity concept, but it should have come with certain parameters. Maybe a price differential over longer distances? Maybe no cycles? My solution would have been to offer the ticket as follows: for travel within one Land, such as North Rhine Westfalia, the ticket should have been offered for €49. If travelling between two or more German Länder the price should have been €69, with the possibility to upgrade from the €49 Ticket if you suddenly decide to travel further and need a €69 Ticket. There should also have been the possibility to upgrade the €69 Ticket against an appropriate fee to IC and ICE trains. There could be a carbon offset coupon that would be tax deductible. Less crowds, no need to ban cycles, no need to shout at people to hurry up and get off and on the trains, no need to run for tight connections due to train delays.

This could have been a totally sustainable solution going forward during these times of increasing energy costs. There would be no need, or less need, for the state to subsidize the regional transport companies. In addition, the separate German Länder could contribute to the costs from their regional tax funds. Trains would have been less full and regular commuters, those who actually pay full fare subscription tickets and who were inconvenienced by the chaos caused by the 9 Euro Ticket, would have been much happier. The public would be much more likely to switch their travel habits in the future if a sustainable solution is proposed, especially if the complexity of ticketing is lowered. This experiment has ended up being a pointless madness created by a ticket concept that was simply one big freebie and it has no sustainable future.


Today I followed a different route and the train brought me to Kaiserslautern, which I found surprisingly pleasant


While in Kaiserslautern, I had a belegte Brötchen (filled roll) and a tin of Karlsberg (not Carlsberg); to be honest, Karlsberg is not a lot better than Carlsberg but they were sponsors of opera productions that I did years ago in a circus tent in the Saarland

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Ruhrgebiet Rother Hike 3: Hagen City Garden - Ennepetal Lake and Dam

This lengthy and scenic hiking route has a red designation, which I felt was justified during the second half of the route. Beginning at the city garden park in the city of Hagen, the route wound up and up through the woods, heading into deep forested and hilly country towards the south. The lengthy uphill route was compensated by a lengthy downhill into one of the valleys, following by yet another lengthy uphill along a forest track which finally lead me to Waldgaststätte Hinnenwiese. From there the designated route took a scenic way through the woods on a small path which brought me eventually to the spread out farming village of Egge.


Theater Hagen, a reasonably good opera and Schauspiel house


Karl Ewald Quelle, a spring on the trail climbing out of Hagen, which was dry at the time I passed it


Further along the way became smaller

From here, the way went along country and farm routes, finally heading into open country after passing a small Flugplatz with a grass runway which appeared to be on a hill. At this point the route headed steeply downhill (following a dry torrent stream) to the water's edge of a lake created by a dam in the valley (Hasper Talsperre). You need to continually check the alignment of the route with the map shown on the Alpenverein app. This is very important on the second part of the route, later on, which has a few navigational blank points. The Hasper Talsperre was perhaps the "prettiest" part of the hike and I elected to have my picnic there on a bench. From the lake the route led uphill through fields to the main road through the village of Oberbauer, where I was able to get a bus to Schwelm and from there an S-Bahn train to Dusseldorf (quite a lengthy trip in a very crowded bus, followed by major train delays later on).


Grass landing strip for light aircraft near the village of Egge; here you can see the original alignment of my trail disappearing into the distance; the trail was diverted when the Flugplatz was designated


Large tracts of the woods appeared to be damaged or dying


The Hasper Talsperre where I decided to have my picnic

The second part of this walk fully deserved its red rating just by itself, in my opinion, given that there was quite a lot of up and down as well as the final climb up to the Ennepetal dam. There were also a few minor navigation issues which were enough to cause some loss of time. Although in theory you are able to follow the X marks painted on trees and gateposts all the way from Hagen to the Ennepetal dam, sometimes at crucial points these route markers were missing. So a better map than the one in the Rother book is essential, along with the Alpenverein app which is very much up to date. If you are doing this route, you have to stick fairly closely to the alignment as shown on the map in the Rother book - there is one steep descent through the woods where forestry works and tree cutting have eliminated the path, which normally follows the course of a torrent (dry when I was there). This section of the walk had more of a sense of adventure about it and was entirely in deep countryside.


Heading north from Oberbauer there was an extended section of small path where the way became quite indistinct


The route lead past this rundown farm building which, oddly, had an amplified radio blaring music across the valley


Nice landscape as we approached the Ennepetal dam


This stream (the Ennepe) is on the down valley side of the dam

Reaching the Ennepetalsperre, with its impressive views over the big lake (water levels were really low), means we arrived at the end of the walk as described in the Rother book. But to get back to any form of civilization, such as a bus top, I had to walk for over an hour to reach the nearest town, called Breckerfeld. Although initially along a country road with a certain amount of traffic, the way ended up diverting away from the road along a pilgrimage route (Lennep?) which had an incredible sense of peace about it, even when the trail plunged through the darkest part of the forest. At one point the trail almost disappeared (at Kückelhausen), leaving me to improvise as to where it went exactly. It did make me think how Johann Sebastian Bach walked all over Germany in the early 1700s to take up appointments as organist at various churches. It must have taken him a while to tramp all the way up to Lübeck, no trains, no Bundestrassen. I finally reached Breckerfeld in quite a tired state, having gone along country trails and through fields, although I felt curiously energised. I must say that out of all the walks I did in summer 2022, this one stood out as one of the most interesting and most challenging.


Finally, at the official end of this hike, admiring the view from the Ennepetal dam structure


In this shot you can see how low the water level is


The way from Ennepetalsperre to the town of Breckerfeld lead along a pilgrimage route


Finally at the town of Breckerfeld which is full of interesting old buildings

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Enjoyment Tour of Oberhausen

This rather unusual outing organized by the Sparkasse bank in Oberhausen involved hopping aboard a specially chartered green bus from the local transport company STOAG, along with a select number of participants, presumably the best customers of the Sparkasse. That did not prevent them from singing a series of local Oberhausen and Ruhrgebiet mining songs as the bus rolled from stop to stop, with very funny typically Ruhr texts. I was lucky to be invited along on this Enjoyment Tour, although I am very lucky in many respects! At the end of the evening I realized that the Sparkasse was supporting local small businesses and probably offered financial aid in the way banks help to finance start-up businesses. There were 6 different stops on the tour, all of them apart from the first one offering various tastings of food and drink.

1) RWW Wasserturm, Vermessungsbüro:
Mülheimer Straße 1, 46049 Oberhausen

2) Zuckersüß und lecker Brot:
Arminstraße 4, 46117 Oberhausen

3) Geli's Café:
Arminstraße 1, 46117 Oberhausen

4) Weine und Mehr:
Klosterhardter Str 8, 45119 Oberhausen

5) Paradies sweet, Syrisches Gebäck:
Marktstraße 133, 46045 Oberhausen

6) Whiskyhort Oberhausen:
Hohlstraße 67, 46045 Oberhausen

1) I think I am one of the very few people who have been able to enter that water tower situated on the main road north out of Oberhausen. It was built in 1897, ceased to be a water tower in 1965 and is now a listed building housing a surveying office and private living quarters.


The water tower is shown here on the main B.223 road which runs north south through Oberhausen (here, looking south with the Wasserturm on the right)


It was surprisingly hard to get a convincing shot of the Wasserturm while being so close to it

2) The Zuckersüß und lecker Brot bakery is located over in the Osterfeld part of the city. Here traditional bio bread is baked, along with cakes and other sweet creations made to order for occasions such as weddings. The quality of the bread samples was outstanding, and the cupcakes were unforgettable.


This is the Zuckersüß und lecker Brot bakery


The bread was excellent, but I am anyway a fan of all types of German bread


The bread tasting and cupcakes were just being prepared here; in general I tried to avoid posting pics of people on that tour, for obvious reasons, but it cuts down my options among the remaining pics

Geli's Café is truly a traditional tearoom type of establishment in a patrician house with original furniture, tapestries and porcelain which dates from the late 1800s, taking you back to that era. We had a sample of Zwiebelkuchen (onion tart) and Federweißen (very young wine with low alcohol content, more like grape juice).


The main entrance to Geli's Café is totally unassuming


Geli's Café exists in a time warp and you feel like you have stepped back to the late 1800s

Weine und Mehr offers products from the Pfalz, up beyond the Rhine gorge, including chutneys, jams, sausages, cheese, wines and schnapps. Here we were offered sparkling wine and a substantial plate which gave the chance to try some of their different products. I purchased some simple white wines, which were cheap, fruity and excellent.


This was the feast laid on at Weine und Mehr


There was an extensive selection of wines from the Pfalz, most of which were reasonably priced with some bottles as low as €4

Paradies sweet is a Syrian shop on rundown Markstraße offering a breath of fresh air and light with its huge collection of sweets and baked goods. The milky cream dessert we were offered, with almonds, pistachio and a cherry, was anything but sweet and was incredibly refreshing.


The Paradies sweet shop was a real treat


There was a huge selection of good quality Syrian products and far from being extremely sweet, there was a wonderful balance in the flavour so you could actually taste what you were eating


A close-up of some of the treats on offer

Whiskyhort Oberhausen was the sort of shop that, once you enter it, you never come out of it! There is an unbelievable collection of whiskies and other hard alcohol and we were offered a tasting of a Balvenie DoubleWood 12 year old whisky which was matured in two different casks. Small slices of rye bread were piled high with Scottish smoked salmon, which paired very nicely with the whisky.


Whiskyhort has an amazing choice of whiskys and the canapés here were generously layered with smoked salmon


The 12 year old Balvenie DoubleWood that we tasted

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In early September all the IHG hotels in the Dusseldorf area were available for very reasonable prices, with no hotels exceeding €84 on some days. So I booked this hotel one night prior to my trip back to Scotland, my first trip to the UK since before the pandemic and my first to Scotland in 6 years.


Outside the Crowne Plaza in Neuss


Nice view of the Dusseldorf skyline from the other side of the street opposite the hotel

Accessing the hotel involved driving down a series of roads in the river port area between Dusseldorf and Neuss. This Crowne Plaza is next to the Rhine river with lots of green parkland and a great view of the Dusseldorf skyline. Otherwise, there are no restaurants or facilities whatsoever in the immediate neighbourhood, just companies, businesses, factories. This was previously a Swissotel property and it was quite in need of renovation. Check-in was very welcoming and I was offered the usual Platinum welcome drink which I enjoyed later in the bar area along with a Surf and Turf Burger. The Portuguese head waiter was really friendly and offered me a free bottle of Bolten Altbier! The downstairs reception and lobby area is open plan and is a pleasant place to linger, despite the almost 1970s nature of the decor. Among other facilities the hotel has a gym, pool and sauna, but I did not make use of them.


Reception area in the Crowne Plaza hotel


Looking in exactly the opposite direction to reception you can see the bar area

I was allocated a standard room on the 6th floor, although this high-rise had about 14 floors. I did not expect an upgrade due to the low price of the room and there was some company conference and social get together going on that evening. The room was comfortable enough, though, with decent beds and firm pillows offering a good night's sleep, although my night was rather spoiled by an upset stomach. The room actually possessed more than one seat, which is useful if you are with someone else, along with a decent desk at which you could get some work done. There was a view over the green meadows beside the Rhine and it was possible to open the windows during the night. The bathroom area contained a single sink and was in need of renovation, even total renewal. The shower area was rather old fashioned by today's standards and had fittings were beginning to come loose. Otherwise, this was a pleasant enough hotel to try, but not one to rush back to in a hurry.


The room that I was offered was perfectly decent


A look at the bathroom, which contained a real bath


View of the Rhine from the room

offerendum

To be honest, I am pleasantly surprised by the Crown Plaza. I would have imagined the rooms to be much older and more worn out.

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I was just thinking, in fact, that some of the other bloggers don't shy away from taking pictures of grungy things in hotels, such as horrible looking bath plugs and taps. I must do this on future occasions, instead of trying to take the prettiest pictures possible.
But you're right, the hotel is in very good condition given its age.

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For this flight I made sure that I arrived early at Dusseldorf airport, a whole 3 and a half hours. Although the airport seemed quite calm, it turned out that this was a prudent move, because security was a nightmare. Although I was leaving from A79, I went through B gates security because it was a shade quicker - 40 minutes in all. At least I had a couple of hours in which to relax in the Lufthansa Business Class lounge, which was very quiet and pleasant and had a good selection of hot and cold food items.


The Skytrain from the airport train station to the airport terminal building, a 5 minute ride


The landside main terminal building looked fine and not too crowded


Security was a borderline nightmare though

The flight had already picked up some 35 minutes delay, so I left the lounge in order to be at the gate at least 30 minutes before the announced departure time. But I didn't reckon with the queue of people at passport control, during which the officers were laboriously stamping each person's passport. I escaped being stamped or questioned thanks to my Swiss residential permit. When the flight finally boarded it was approaching one hour's delay. We just sat there for ages, while the air conditioning clearly didn't work and cabin crew came around with water. During this time a fire emergency apparently began to develop on the airport apron which resulted in the airport being closed.


The Lufthansa Business Class lounge in Düsseldorf Airport was nice and calm


The food offering was certainly not deluxe, but it was good enough


I love the pretzels in the lounge

So we were eventually deplaned and everyone just milled in a lost state around the gate area. Among the plethora of notifications and confusion I could see that Eurowings had rebooked me to Edinburgh with Lufthansa via Frankfurt the next morning. Only thing is, I couldn't work out how to accept the change, until the young woman standing in the line with me showed me how to do it. By that time we were standing in an endless line, three and a half hours after our flight should have departed, waiting for help from the landside Eurowings service desk. So at least I could leave the airport and get some sleep before tomorrow's flights, not to mention going through the delights of the security check once again. Once at the airport again the following morning I managed to rebook my return flight one day later than planned so that I still had a full 4 days in Scotland.

Aircraft 319
Seat 10F
Registration D-AGWO


The gate area prior to boarding the Eurowings flight to Edinburgh


Interior of the Eurowings plane before everybody else boarded

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After a short night, unable to sleep for most of it, I was back at the airport before 6am. At the Eurowings desk I managed to rebook this trip so that I return a day later, thus having a full 4 days in Scotland. Then I tackled security, which turned out to be functioning at pre pandemic normal levels and took only 15 minutes. So that left me plenty of time in the lounge, also at normal occupancy levels and not too full, for a decent breakfast. I should probably have gone easier with eating because I was still feeling the effects of the stomach upset.


Security was much quicker this morning


A ridiculous looking Condor plane, with its new cheap toothpaste livery

The flight boarded in an orderly manner, as always in Germany, at gate A39 and we left on time for Frankfurt. I am no Lufthansa fanboy, especially these days, but the whole operation just felt more polished and professional than the whole Eurowings fiasco. The problem with Eurowings is that it just inherited too much of the mess and, much worse, culture of its predecessor, Germanwings. During today's short flight to Frankfurt airport there was no service whatsoever, which was fine because I slept all the way. I had an aisle seat towards the rear, beside a couple nervous about possibly missing their connection to Atlanta. I also had an interesting conversation with an older deadheading crew member during the boarding process.

Rating 7.5*
Aircraft 319
Seat 21D
Registration D-AILM


Just before boarding my flight in Düsseldorf Airport - can't remember which plane it was but I think it was the one on the right


A view of the cabin interior from where I was sitting

offerendum

Would love to confirm it's always this way.

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Yes, my experience just a few days later with Condor was totally different and truly awful. Doesn't help when there are endless delays and cancellations with no reason or information given.

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Despite a 1h35 transfer time there was barely enough time to go through passport control, which is now quite an onerous affair for Brits travelling to and from the EU. There was certainly no time for a lounge visit, which shows how ridiculous the transfer distances are at Frankfurt airport (terminal A to terminal B is a long way). Boarding began almost an hour early, a good thing because I was able to get overhead bin space for my two bags. I was in the front row of Economy in a middle seat. If you end up being rebooked like I was, you're just grateful for any seat you can get, a bit like deadheading crew.


A bit of plane spotting at Frankfurt airport, here showing the new Lufthansa logo


A bit more plane spotting, with the old logo


And the plane that was going to carry me to Edinburgh

During online check-in I had received a message that the flight was overbooked and that cash would be offered if I volunteered for a later flight. But when I wandered back through Economy during the flight I counted 16 open seats. My neighbours were very pleasant and those on my left had just arrived from Canada. I watched them try some of the Buy on Board catering and not only was it quite expensive for what was half a sandwich, it was seriously underwhelming. I still had an upset stomach so I had a drink only, Coca Cola, which previously was free but now costs €3.50. The flight was nice enough and arrived just ahead of schedule.

Rating 7*
Aircraft 32B
Seat 8E
Registration D-AIDU


Looking back into the cabin, which shortly became completely full, on the FRA-EDI flight


My seat neighbour ordered this half sandwich and tea from the BoB menu, which cost far too much money for what it was


Arrival at Edinburgh airport, which is a little bit (but not much) more presentable than it has been in the past

nequine

At least you got a sunny day in the capital for your arrival!

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Yes, my overriding memory of university times in Edinburgh is of freezing temperatures, humid air, howling wind and endless horizontal rain, where it even rained upwards in some places due to the violence of the wind. I wasn't very happy there I must say, found it cold and unfriendly, but the 80s was not a great period. The university, on the other hand, was excellent with some of the best people and professors in the land.