Querweg photo dump 7: Hegauhaus to Steisslingen

Monday May 23

The highlight of our penultimate day was the expansive fortress ruin Hohentwiel--like Hochburg on steroids.

Naturally, our day began by climbing up.

From Hohentwiel, we could see all of the ruins we had passed the day before: (a) Hohenhewen,  (b) Hohenstoffeln, (c) Mägdeberg, and (d) Hohenkrähen.

On the way back down, we encountered sheep. On this trip, we learned that sheep generally do whatever sheep want to do. Also, they sleep by hiding their heads behind one another's heads; if they can't see you, clearly you can't see them, and all is well.

Farther down the trail, we turned around to see what this sign said, and discovered the trail we had just come down was closed due to a rock fall. Oh well.

From Hohentwiel, we hiked down into Singen. The Neo-Romanesque church was built 1909-1911.

In the afternoon, a storm blew in. The wind picked up, and as we headed into the woods, branches and pine cones started dropping from the trees. The sky rapidly turned dark, and we decided our best bet would be to head up to Hohenfriedingen, non-ruined ruins, where we knew there was a restaurant. 

The wind blew harder as we headed up the remarkably steep trail. When we finally reached the castle, the doors were chained shut, the restaurant was closed, and there was not an awning or other potential shelter in sight. On the bright side, literally, was the bright side--not a cloud in the sky on the side of the hill opposite the stormy side we had just climbed up. After pausing a bit at a picnic table outside the castle walls, Elias picked a less steep route back down, and by the time we returned to the Querweg, the storm had passed.

Komoot had consistently overestimated the amount of time it would take us to hike most of the trail. Sometimes we figured Komoot knew we'd stop to play at playgrounds in the middle of the woods.

We arrived in tiny town Steisslingen relatively early, despite the storm delay. We found a late lunch at a cafe, and sat outside playing cards until our hotel opened. It was another somewhat dreary, sleepy spot,  several miles too early along the Querweg for hikers aiming for Konstanz--but we were aiming for Ueberlingen on the other side of the lake, and were happy to be done hiking for the day before the rain finally burst down from the clouds.

Lots of Fachwerk in Steisslingen

Ta da! ~12 miles, and perched to veer off the Querweg the next day.