E11: Zappendorf – Gutenberg

Saturday, March 31: Drizzle to begin with and lasting until about midday, cloudy thereafter & quite cold

Hiking: 32.8 km

Nico’s

There was a bit more time this morning as more trams ran on a Saturday and I knew my way around the main station by now. A tram directly from the square seemed to want another couple of minutes so I wandered down to Franckeplatz and there had a few minutes to wait as well. Distances between stops seem to be very short here.

A variation on trams arriving at the station was with the line I took this morning – it went up the hill and stopped between the entrance to platform 1 and the bus station. This entailed a little detour to get my bread rolls but it was done in good time.

Bus was on time as well and I noticed that a young woman only wanted to go as far as Franckeplatz which she could do with this bus (wondered if the same would work with the bus to Gutenberg tomorrow – checking at the square tonight revealed no signs for those buses). I tucked into my breakfast as we made our way out to Neustadt, then set the GPS tracker on a sat fix. This trip really was the exact reversal of yesterday’s, visiting all of the places again with the possible addition of Lieskau-Waldheil where I spotted a few more (genuine) signs of the track. Towards the end – there were only two passengers left – the bus drove passed the turnoff to Zappendorf causing me to ask in Köllme whether we were going back; and this was affirmed by the bus driver. I sat back and enjoyed the final two sections catching a brief glimpse of the prayer column on the outskirts of town.

The drizzle was very weak and I decided against wrapping the pack in its covering for now & off I traipsed. Was soon back in Köllme to greet the returning bus driver. For a short section of the track I followed the white X path instead of the dual signage; the tracks rejoined a short time later. Then it was over the fields to where I had seen the signs from the bus. At an intersection I had a careful look around and noticed that a sign gave the marking for the E11 as a black cross on a white background, i.e. reversed. At this point I briefly teamed up with three female hikers who were on their way to Salzmünde or thereabouts, and after parting from them continued on the main road for a bit before turning into Waldstraße. At the end of this there was no further sign except for on of the reversed Xs and failing to find any other I followed these for a while until regular signage turned up again. I was at the Heide railway station at around 12:00.

Gutenberg was signed @ 14 km which was well in time, but the next section had no signs at all; then the path dwindled and it was only then that I discovered the black Xs by searching. A further section went reasonably well until a sharp right turn was signed. The previous and next sections were shared with a green triangle signed path but for a long time no black Xs at all could be seen. I went back & checked as best I could, and could see that the track should exit this park (called “Heide”) at its south-eastern corner so I headed back, found a couple of Xs on a further track, then there were no more so I followed the green triangles to the edge of the park and walked along the perimeter. Just as I was going to give up the day the signs reappeared – as I had predicted – on the south-eastern corner. This is where I stopped for lunch.

OpenStreetMap

This was just at the edge of the Weinberg Campus, a truly megalomanic group of structures that it beggars belief. I wondered whether the MechEng buildings in Hannover will look the same or whether it was a kind of GDR architecture of, “Have space, can use it.” In any case the track now went down a center strip that was a park of its own. Only at the end did signs reappear (and this is becoming somewhat of a pattern) to signal a change in direction down to the river, and then the river was followed until Giebichenstein with its castle, huge bridge (and mascots) and rocks. By now it was just after 2:00, still enough time, but then the signs stopped again. I thought that having the Klausberg there would be a nice continuation of the track – and on better days a good place for some photos, but no further signs could be found at all and I had made my way past the uni sports boathouse to the road where trams ran along, and there was nothing. Had to retrace my steps at that point and went over the very top of Klausberg this time and down on the street again – where the signs reappeared. It looks like there are signs to the river promenade – but not on it, including missing one to point the track back to the street. Anyway on the western side of the zoo the signs were back again. It was now 3:40, probably not enough time to reach the bus in Gutenberg, but I thought I would make a try for it and if I missed the bus could return here, as there were plenty of trams. With only about 6 km to complete the day, there was time to try.

From now on the signs were impeccable. Kept track of the time and with twelve minutes to go Gutenberg came into sight, but it was just a wee bit further than I thought because I got there @ 3:46, and the bus had left five minutes earlier.

Had some muesli bars & something to drink before heading back at a more leisurely pace. Took in the sign at a standing stone and was at the front entrance to the zoo with a couple of minutes to spare before a tram pulled in that would take me directly to Rannischer Platz in all of twelve minutes.

That had taken up all of the day, so now I needed a plan. I knew that a couple of things would be nice to know about the further track and then weather, and there was one gaming den down the street with sign that said, “Internet”. But only a sign. Then I checked the bus stop at Franckeplatz to see if the 300/301 stopped there but also no luck. Finally, went down to the supermarket for some things for breakfast & lunch tomorrow and some drinks. Back at the flat I threw some stuff into the fridge then it as off to dinner at the Tandoori Steak House. Must I say how relieved I was when I saw that the staff were Indian? And it was an excellent meal. Starters of those thin wafers with some sauces (de rigeur), salad from a very Turkish looking salad bar, Chicken Tikka with rice, yoghurt & naan, a large beer, a whiskey to finish it off – all for €15.1.

Told the waiter that I had seldom eaten such good Indian food in the world. That was certainly a reward for the extra long slog today.

Then it was back here for feet, sox, teeth & the diary. Nico hasn’t been seen since I arrived, so I will have to leave a note for him when I leave tomorrow.