A Wanderin'

We spent another quiet day at home. Tom wasn’t feeling well and the kids became engrossed in their schoolwork. Okay, maybe that is a bit of a stretch but Rhys did spend his entire day reading a novel. I found myself needing to get out even though the weather was grey and the snow continued to fall.

I bundled up, showed Tom my planned route, kissed him goodbye and trundled out into the cold. Tom told me he loved me before pushing me out the door. The children remained affectionately uncaring of my impending adventure.

I had a map of cross-country ski trails and an idea that the trails would have sign posts. Tom was less sure, thinking that the way to follow a ski trail is by looking at the tracks and since this was only their first week of snow I was unlikely to see many tracks. It made the challenge all the sweeter.

I began my journey with light snow falling around me and spent several minutes at the end of my street looking at the sign posts. They did show cross-country ski trails and they did seem to line up with the red lines on my map but it was unclear how to ski through the large sawmill at the end of the street. I decided to walk between the buildings and on the other side came across a set of footprints in the snow leading across the white landscape.

The snow was thankfully not overtop of my low boots and their claim to be waterproof must be true as my feet stayed toasty and warm the entire trek. After plowing through the snow following the tracks I came to a bench with a grave marker. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere but I paused to gaze back across the hills. The footprints led further away so off I went.

My whole trip lasted about an hour and a half. I gave up trying to follow the map. The white of the snow was blinding but there were enough signposts to follow that I always felt confidant about where I was and that I could get back easily. I followed human tracks and animals tracks. I walked through wooded areas, across wide open hills, down roads, through little groups of houses and did not see even one other person walking the entire time. I saw a few cars and a few people climbing into cars but I guess the grey of the day discouraged others from coming out with me.

After about half an hour, I decided to follow signs that said Hopferau to try to get back to the village. The signs were well spaced and led me in a circle right back to the top of the hill where I started. It was a lovely walk and rather symbolic of our lives right now.