The Elbe Valley 2012 – Part 1
Although hardly Famous we were definitely Five: Clive, John, Stuart, Tom and me.* A 4.00am start, a bus, a plane, a taxi, a train and another taxi had taken me to the village of Krippen with the other four. Krippen is on the River Elbe opposite the town of Bad Schandau in Saxony (Germany) near the border with Poland and the Czech Republic. We were there at Clive’s invitation for six days’ walking and two days sightseeing – the sightseeing being the cities of Dresden and Meissen and anything else interesting we passed on the way. We were going to follow two named walking routes, the Malerweg (Artists’ Way) and the Sächsische Weinwanderweg (Saxon Wine Walk).
Stuart, John, Clive, Tom, me
All photos on this and following pages © me except ‘Bastei Sentinel’ (CW); ‘Sandstone panorama’ (CW). Canaletto picture of Pirna from www.pirna-altstadt.de/. Please note: I make no attempt to keep external links up to date so they will probably slowly die.
* Not some of my companions’ real names.
23 May
“Breakfast at 8 o’clock”, announced Clive the evening before, adding that we had to have our bags ready for collection in the hotel reception by 9.00. “Every morning?” we asked. Every morning!
Breakfast over and rucksacks on we headed for the first challenge of the day – a ferry across the Elbe to Bad Schandau proper (we had been staying in Krippen on the opposite bank). This was the first of several ferry crossings over the next few days and they all went without a hitch. The fare for a single crossing varied from 80 cents to €1.10.
In Bad Schandau we spent rather too long shopping for food and last-minute necessities but we did manage to fit in a quick visit to the baroque church. I was particularly taken with an exhibition of modern woodcut prints on the theme of ‘Angels’ which the others ignored. I also managed to buy the only 1:25,000 topographic map of the area available in the town so the day had started well.
We finally left town a little after 10.00. Our first objective was the Lilienstein, the first of the sandstone outcrops on our route. Clive, in Leader mode, was unhappy with the absence of Malerweg signs. With hindsight this was because we weren’t actually on the Malerweg: it passes some kilometres north of Bad Schandau and we wouldn’t join it until we crossed the river again later in the day.
We followed the riverside cycle track and a suburban road to Prossen; then a footpath took us first gently then more steeply uphill. Steel stairs with handrails were in place for the final section up to the summit. The flat top cut by vertical-sided gullies gave several viewpoints over the Elbe valley.
After an equally steep descent back to the river and a ferry crossing we were in Königstein (the town). Clive was delighted to find Malerweg signs at last, but still uneasy as he thought they were pointing the wrong way. We ignored him. With nowhere shady in the centre to have our picnic lunches we started on the moderate climb up to Königstein (the castle). As soon as we found somewhere suitable we stopped to eat.
The path led us into the car park at the foot of the castle walls. In German it’s Festung Königstein – Fortress rather than Castle (Schloss) – and an impressive sight. There’s an elevator which goes up the outside of the walls from the car park or, apparently, a lot of steps to get into the fortress itself. We declined the opportunity, opting instead for a coffee (Tom) or beer (everyone else) at the open-air café by the car park. Having introduced the rest of the group to German dark beer (dunkelbier) on our first night, an acquaintance that all except Stuart kept up for the rest of the holiday, I took the opportunity to expand their horizons to include white beer (weissbier). I felt it was my cultural duty.
After descending from the castle the rest of the day was an easy walk through fields, woods and villages a little way above the sweeping bend of the Elbe until we finally reached Rathen and our third ferry of the day which took us back to the north (right) bank and our hotel.
24 May
The highlight of Day 2 was the Bastei (“Bastion”) which we reached just 40 minutes into the walk. It’s another sandstone outcrop, but much larger than the ones we’d visited before. Astonishingly it’s the site of a medieval village and there’s a modern walkway you can follow (€1.50) around the pinnacles and chasms. There’s also an impressive bridge built in the mid-19th century linking two clusters of towers. The Wikipedia entry gives a good history and description.
Down from the Bastei and back to the river at Stadt Wehlen for our last ferry crossing. Stadt Wehlen has a “Cyclists’ Church”: we were intrigued to see what that might be. It turned out to be a church with a banner outside announcing it to be a Cyclists’ Church. Apart from that there was nothing inside or out to indicate any connection with cycling. As John helpfully pointed out you couldn’t even get your bike inside to be blessed without carrying it up the steps. We sat in the sun waiting for the ferry (” service on demand”) to see us from the far bank, and sure enough after a few minutes it set off to pick us up.
A short climb through woods and a field path brought us to the village of Naundorf where we lunched beside a pond. Then after a 4km walk along a terrace path through woods above the Elbe with only occasional glimpses of the river we dropped back down to the riverside at the quaintly named Ober-Vogelgesang, “Upper Birdsong” in English – it’s a suburb of Nieder-Vogelgesang (Lower Birdsong).
The day’s walk, and our time on the Malerweg, ended with a long, hot, dreary walk along a tarmac road alongside the Elbe into the town of Pirna. We saw one other walker. Everyone else was on bicycles; mostly heavy, sturdy family models ridden by people of the same type. Bizarre sight of the day: a middle-aged woman on a heavy bicycle with a basket on the front handlebars. In the basket was a small chihuahua-type dog with its head above the basket rim. Attached to the basket – a small pink umbrella to keep the sun off the pooch.
The bad mood the walk into Pirna had put me in was made worse when we reported at our hotel to find our bags hadn’t arrived. Phone calls were made: they were definitely on their way. Pirna is about 25km by road from our last hotel in Rathen. How long does it take, I asked. Loudly. Several times. The others didn’t seem too concerned, and suggested sightseeing. I suggested beer. Stuart backed me up on this suggestion and we walked up to the central square, had a quick look round, and subsided into an open-air café.
An hour later the bags had arrived and a shower and change of clothing put me in a better mood. Pirna’s a nice town whose main claim to fame is that Canaletto painted a picture of the square.
Starting tomorrow we would be on the Wine Trail.
Pirna by Canaletto