Adventures right on your doorstep: Used the weekend for a lovely canoe trip on the Blau river, through the beautiful reed landscape of Blaubeuren. Almost two hours of relaxing paddling and silent bird watching. Found a shopping trolley in the water, starled a pair of little grebes (in German: "Zwergtaucher") and their hatchlings and, finally, avoided the attack of a swan family (of eight!).
In 1911, the year it was invented in Ulm, the Patenter-sled was specificated as a steerable toboggan with flexible runners, which front can be bend lateraly while steering it. 100 years later, the Patenter-sled is still famous around Gerhausen, where it was manufactured until the sixties. Once a year, the historical sledge is celebrated with a unique race, 200 meters downhill on an icy forest trail.
Best time so far through out the years is around 17 seconds; the average speed of the two-seaters is close to 40 km/h (24 mph). But even more spectacular are the crashes...
Thaw, sun and 15° (C) last sunday - snow, high clouds and frost one week later. To breathe some fresh air instead of staying indoors all day long, the kids and I decide to climb up the hill to the ruins of ancient Rusenschloss. Up there, the vista of the valley is wonderful, despite the overcast sky. (Blaubeuren, January 23rd, 2011).
2009 October 4:
Another gorgious Indian Summer day. We went for a walk down the Blau-valley towards Blaubeuren and found several spots to place the camera...
