Corona diary: the Frog King of Lammer Holz

Christina/ March 28, 2021/ The daily grind

Just the crown was missing otherwise we would have met the incarnation: the Frog King of the Lammer Holz! The stupidest thing: I did not even try to find out whether it is a enchanted prince! What a wasted opportunity! Well, at least I have my Braunschweig horse whisperer with me, who saves us just a couple of minutes later from the end of the world.

That’s the way the cookie crumbles
The need for movement during Corona lets me act bravely. Even though the weather forecast is not promising at all I stay optimistic. Whereas my hiking mate has reservations: “there will be scattered showers from time to time, we have to take that into account.” But I think to myself: “Well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

The sun is shining at the start, the winds though, are strong as well. We pass by Lehndorf and its paddock in direction of the Westpark. At the end of the way we cross the federal highway and hike towards the nature reserve Lammer Holz. We discover a couple of calibrated watersheds and a chatty lady with a dog. While we are admiring the beauty of the lake the lady tells us that there is more to see. “Did you see the storks? And do you have an idea about what is going on here when the toad migration starts? They make you walk like this.” She make a rocking motion to show us what it looks like. We are curious by now.

The Frog King of Lammer Holz
We move on and finally it is in front of us: the stork’s nest. It is empty yet but that changes quickly. We approach a pond and make a discovery. At first we see two coots, than two storks on the fields and in the water a lot of toads. It turns out quickly that the toads seem to be sociable animals or are they simply in love?

And then it suddenly emerges from the shallow of the pond: the Frog King. It clings to the shore and wants to be photographed. Unfortunately it crosses my mind too late that this could have been an enchanted prince. However there is not time for self-reproaches as the wind gets stronger and stronger, the clouds darker.

The horse whisperer
My hiking mate gives us another 15 minutes to the next heavy shower, I would not. We are looking for a shelter. We come across a paddock and see the sign saying: “Keep off!” Shit, shall we get soacking wet by obeying the rules? The first heavy raindrops are the answer: We ignore the ban. However, we are not alone, three horses are also there. I am a little bit nervous about them, how will they react to us? That’s the horse whisperer’s moment. My mate approaches the animal bravely and makes himself acquainted with the horse. After that I dare to come closer.

The thunderstorm begins: At first it is only windswept rain that comes down. Than, snow and volley follows. I can hardly imagine what would have happened without the animal’s hospitality. After the heavy shower we thank the horses for their help and move on towards the Lammer Holz. We reach the edge of the forest, we cross it and reach the district Ölper. We take the way back via the Ölpersee. Once again we spot dark clouds on the horizon. It is just in time that the reach our starting point and thus a safe habour.

Share
Share this Post