If you have never walked in Germany’s Black Forest, don’t miss this weekend’s volksmarch in Schömberg/Langenbrand. Bob walked a permanent trail in Schömberg a couple of years ago with Bob Gambert from the Stuttgart German American Wandering Club and enjoyed an excellent day of walking. The weather was perfect, the forest and trails were beautiful and the stories about “back in the old Army” were amusing.
The start for this walk is the Bürgerhaus in Langenbrand, just north of Schömberg. The trails open at 6 a.m. for early-bird walkers. You can start the six- and 10-kilometer trails Saturday until 4 p.m. and the 20k route until 2 p.m. The cutoff time Sunday for all routes is 2 p.m. These trails are advertised as stroller-friendly.
A marathon trek of 42 kilometers is available both days, starting between 6 and 9 a.m.
This volksmarch is a Stamm- tisch event for Stuttgart club members, so look for their blue flag at a table in the start hall and go over and say “Hi!” They will be glad to see you.
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Clark Soeldner sent us the following information about the Aviano Road Runners’ 34th edition of the Marcia Madonna del Monte, Italy. “At last, the rain stopped and we had a beautiful, sunny day for a volksmarch. We had more than 800 registered participants. It would have been more, but two buses of walkers from Vicenza and Padua could not make it due to roads being closed for the Giro d’Italia bicycle race. We all got to meet Russ, the man who started the Road Runners back in 1973. That was a special treat. All told, it was a very successful day!”
Thanks for the feedback, Clark. We’re glad the walk went well for the Road Runners!
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Miscellaneous short notes about this week’s events:
• There is a walk in Paris on Sunday that looks like fun. Advertised as the Randonnée Montmartre — Moulin Rouge, this “journey on foot” offers routes of 11 and 22 kilometers. Start at the Gymnase Léon Biancotto between 8:30 a.m. and noon — if you ride the Metro, you’ll want the Porte de Clichy station — and finish by 5 p.m.
• The walk in Schwedelbach, Germany, is very convenient for the walkers in the Kaiserslautern military community.
• The Katzenelnbogen, Germany, event is not too far from Wiesbaden.
• The prize for completing the walk in Unterthingau, Germany, is a toy 1962 VW bus. This prize should bring back memories for the “hippies” out there!
• The prize at the San Quirino, Italy, walk is your choice between a T-shirt costing 6 euros or a polo shirt for 10 euros.
• The routes at the Montecchio Precalcino, Italy, event are repeatable, so you can walk the routes more than once for more distance credit. The cost of the walk is based on the distance you walk, but the maximum fee is 4 euros. If you walk a marathon distance, the prize will be a hat and a T-shirt. There are restoros along the course and a pasta party at 12:30 p.m.
E-mail volksmarch information to two.walkers@yahoo.com. Mail brochures to Bob and Lorraine Huffaker, CMR 460, Box 278, APO, AE, 09752.
