Given that we hadn't been getting as much sleep as we have wanted to over the past few weeks we decided to catch the 08:20 train instead of the 06:20 one. This train was a tiny bit full but we managed to get window seats, well stairs anyway:
So we decided to power right on, the first day was about 8kms from Bad Schandau to Lichtenhain, past the worlds dodgiest waterfall (water every half hour to really dodgy german folk/beer hall music)
The second day was from Lichtenhain via the Kuhstall (Cow Stall a big hollow used in medieval times to keep the cows in) over Großer (556m) Winterberg through Smilka across the border to Hrensko. Phew that's a bit of a mouthful but you should have seen how our legs felt after about 12.5kms and roughly 500m down not to mention about 500m up.
Sure beats driving across the border eh?
The third day was from Hrensko, through the Edmundsklamm and Wildeklamm (klamm = deep gorges - mainly filled with water) past the Prebisch Tor (Právčická brána) back through Hrensko across the border and up to Bad Schandau. Thats 24.5kms though a couple of parts of that had to be taken in boats as the gorges were totally full of water.
The big circuit from Hrensko, including the boat stations and the hotels/restraunts that make up most of this walk was determined by a 17th century monach August I who decided it would be nice to go for a walk in the woods but didn't want to get his feet wet or dirty and wanted to have a beer and a nap on the way - in a real house in a real bed. Sensible sort of fellow really.
On the last day we did a walk from Bad Schandau up to the Bastei (an old fortress) and back to Bad Schandau, actually we caught the bus up and just walked back given that we were completely shagged by this stage. None the lest we clocked up another 10kms or so.
The Bastei Bridge which you can see here was only built in stone in the 18th century, before that it was a wooden bridge which they chopped down every time someone was trying to attack. Doesn't sound very sensible. Though on top of the large rock near the middle of the bridge there was a giant catapult - which does sound pretty sensible. Given that its a few hundred metres down to the river from there it does not strike me as being a surgically precise instrument.
* so pseudo-wilderness I say. Well I call it that for a few reasons, there are fairly well marked tracks, with a lot of people on them given that its a long weekend. There's any number of small towns around, usually no more that 5 or at most 10kms distant from anywhere in the national park. There are hotels and restraunts in the national park so you don't have to carry food or too much water. And you can always stop for a beer and a nap along the way. So in that sense its not very wild.
That having been said once you're out on the tracks walking along you don't really notice any of that. The views are amazing, the whole scenery is a bit like the Grampians. It was definitely great to get out into the fresh air a bit. We'll definitely be coming back here for more walks so if anyone wants to join us for some give us a shout. Should be fun.
And to finish some more views, these are from around Kleiner Winterberg (so day 2)
