March is here and spring is not too far behind. March also means that Easter egg markets are here, too. Last year we enjoyed a weekend outing that combined an Easter market, a volksmarch and an overnight stay at the Gästehaus and Weingut Helga May. We had a wonderful time and would love to do that again, but we are thinking about doing something different this year. We’re considering visiting the Easter market in Trier and then doing a volksmarch in Luxembourg City.

We found an excellent website for Easter markets in Germany: ostern-in-deutschland.de (in German). See it for a list of Easter markets as well as links for wine festivals and Christmas markets.

Lorraine’s Valentine card included a finalized itinerary for a trip to Scotland. We plan to do the permanent trails in Edinburgh and Glasgow. This will allow us to get the IVV stamp for the United Kingdom for our Europa Cup booklets. Bob has also been looking into short trips to do permanent walks in Norway and Greece.

For us, the first sign of spring comes in an expanding list of upcoming volksmarches. We spied a few this week that are worth adding to your calendars:

• March 10-11: Ansbach;

• April 9: Bischofsdhron;

• April 21-22: Orscholz;

• May 19: Dankmarshhausen; four walks and one swim in one day;

• May 19: Clervaux, Lux.

We should be getting fliers soon for the annual Ramstein Spring event, as well as the July walk in Stuttgart, and we’ll be sure to share the details.

Another sign of spring is Sunday’s walk in Margraten, Netherlands. The annual Lammertocht, or lamb’s walk, is one of our favorites.

One of the control points has several outbuildings containing about a hundred newborn lambs and their mothers. The chorus of “baas” is so cute.

This walk is also very close to the American Cemetery from WWII, which is always worth a visit.

• This weekend’s walk at Mühlhausen/Enz, Germany, is a Stammtisch walk for the Stuttgart German-American Wandering Club. The prize is a B-medal, but two years ago they had a very interesting prize that you might be able to get this year too. It was a desk organizer that will hold pens and pencils and is also a digital clock, calendar and thermometer. There just might be some available this year. • Thanks to our fellow walkers for sending in brochures, all in date order! Here’s the list this week: William Castro and Maureen McHugh-Castro, Michael and Michelle Connor, Celia and Austin Entwistle, Cath and Rob Floyd, Bob Gambert, Richard and Donna Glenn, Wayne Henry, Tim and Luchi Lynch, “Pat” and Cheryl Patterson, Richie and Young Sook Reeder, Rick and Wanda Sciascia and Nancy Shawley.Email volksmarch information to two.walkers@yahoo.com. Mail brochures to Bob and Lorraine Huffaker, CMR 460, Box 278, APO, AE, 09752.