Corona-diary: A circuit trail around Altencelle

Christina/ December 23, 2020/ The daily grind

Here it is again: the second lockdown this year has arrived in Germany. Once again I look out for rewarding excursion destinations in the neighbourhood. This time I discover a new hiking trail close to Celle, more precisely at Altencelle (the old part of Celle, but not the historic town). The path is called the “C1” and leads via Osterloh and Bockelskamp to the ancient settlement of “Kellu”. The tour is about 15 kilometres long, has almost no ascendings but is full of nature and history.

Alongside the Osterbruch channel
We start at the parking lot “Im Sande”. On an information board we look at the complete route. At the start we have some rain but it stops later on. The narrow path alongside the Osterbruch channel is a nice walk with the water on the left hand side. It kind of romantic. We walk through oaktrees, pines, alders and birch trees.

On a crossing a right turn would lead to “Lachendorf” (smile village). Well, that sounds promising to me. Does laughter has its origin here? Some kind of cheering up is always welcomed these days. However we make a left turn and move towards the “Osterloher Alpen”. What? The Alps? Come on in this flat landscape? We see some kind of hill through the trees. Is that it? Actually the Osterloher Alps are a huge mountain of sand which has been blown upon from the shore of the river Aller. I am astonished.

At the Osterloher dam
Just right behind the Alpes the landscape becomes very idyllic. We come across a NABU recultivation project to procted the beauty and the richness in species of the Aller lowland. The fired-bellied toad is supposed to have found a new home here. It is a really nice place, no doubt.

Just a couple of minutes later we reach the village Ostrloh. Next to traditionell big farms we see some really nice mansions. This seems to be a popular “hideaway” of the rich and the beautiful. We leave the place towards south and reach the Osterloher dam. This is a recultivated sinuosity of the river Aller. We enjoy the beautiful view and continue alongside the course of the river until we reach the next crossing. We take a little break at an open barbecuing area close to Bockelskamp.

The prehistoric settlement Kellu
We cross another woodland and cross the track of the former Allertalbahn, which used to run from Celle to Verden. We pass by an industrial area and reach Altencelle. We move to the Gertrudenkirche, a church build during the 14th century. It has a wooden clock tower that seems to be typical for this area.

We follow the signs back to the parking lot. On the way we stop at the prehistoric settlement called “Kellu”. Kellu means bay. We are back at tour starting point. Two more items are on our today’s itenerary: the historic town of Celle and cloister Wienhausen.

Christmas huts non-alcoholic
Having arrived at the old part of Celle we stroll over the market place. We come across some Christmas huts serving sausages and soft drinks instead of mulled wine. There are only a couple of people around. Sure, without alcohol the whole story seems quite boring.

I order some coffee, Christian rewards himself with some French fries and later on with a portion of funnel cake. We walk through the city centre and take a look at the castle of Celle. The old town is also well known for its half-timbered houses. They say they have more than 500 altoghether.

No Christmas market this year at cloister Wienhausen
Finally we want to visit cloister Wienhausen on our way back home. I have already heard a lot about it but have never been there so far. We are only allowed to enter the cloister compound but even that is worth the effort. In front of the church’s entrance we meet four ladies. They tell us that they normally have an event taken place here on fourth Advent – but no so this year due to the Pandemic.

Wienhausen also is history-charged as a walk through the village tells us. Once again we come across nice farms, a wooden clock tower and a mill. We have quenched our adventuresomeness for today. Very pleased with this nice change in times of Corona we drive home.

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