Definitely derailed: A refuge in the forest
Spring already did it and also summer seems to follow the pattern: the most beautiful seasons of the year let us down. Being out of sync, exhausted by Corona stress and other things, surrounded by drizzling rain and fog a shack saves the day: the refuge close to Hahnenklee. Without any chance of outlooks the hut seems to be like a Fata Morgana in the desert for us. An illusion which we can only believe in that moment when we sit down.
The “difficult” healthy climate walk
Still on friday good weather is forcasted for sunday. Then our luck turns. They say that rain is likely with a chance of 80 %. So what can we do? Well, according to our experience most of the time the weather was better than predicted. That makes us confident. But: Already on sunday morning it is raining. We still decide to give it a try. We agree on the “difficult” healthy climate walk. Even though the hike does not sound difficult at all so we stretch the distance in our way.
Poking in the fog
Upon my arrival at the train station of Seesen it already rains. Still I am not worried because my weather app tells me that rain will have stopped by 12 o’clock. We drive to Hahnenklee. The popular spa and hiking destination looks abandoned. Because of the fog you can hardly see anything. Due to construction work and lack of knowledge of the place we have difficulties to find the starting point. We park the car close to the holiday park and get to the Triftstraße right from there.
We immediately find the “Hahnenkleer Bergstraße” which is lined with chestnut trees. We like the parkway characteristic of the way, this cheers up our mood for the rest of the walk. We are sure that everything is well signposted and that we will find our way. We reach the “Head forester Müller memorial” after a while. From there we follow the way to the Diestelplatz. It works. Everything turns out fine until we reach the fork “Rolle”. The drizzling rain, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, is our permanent companion. However, Christian amuses us with some nice stories, so that time flies up to this point.
Where is the Rinderstall?
Admittedly we make a mistake. We drift away from the described way. We want to go to the Rinderstall, which is a restaurant in the forest. It is said that it takes only 1.2 kilometres to go there.
After the long lockdown we want to spoil ourselves with a cozy coffee break, therefore we decide to make a little detour. However, it happens at the next crossing: the signpost lies turned over in the ditch. Shit. Which way is the right one? We follow the forest road until we are left with nothing. We do not believe it. We take a look around, helpless and at a loss. There is nothing else to do but to turn around. Half way another hiker crosses our way. We address the guy and ask for the Rinderstall. The man smiles and says, that the Rinderstall is close to us on the left side. We are puzzled but he seems to be confident.
The rescue: the refuge Rolle
We continue. Far and wide we cannot spot any restaurant. We come across the turned over signposting again and are at a loss like before. We decide to try a parallel way and get lost in a parallel world. By now we are completely lost. After some back and forth we reach the fork “Rolle” once more. We see that there is a refuge of the same name. We follow the sign and climb a narrow path. That is exactly what we wanted. We cannot believe our eyes when the lovely hut appears in front of us. This is the perfect place for a break. We unpack our food and Christian treats us with some cookies.
We are better off by now and relax. We feel good. In a better mood we continue our hike. Our next stop is the Altarklippe. However this outlook is also hidden in the fog. The original walk to the cliff is closed, however we realize it a little bit too late. Therefore we walk down by accident and have to climb up again when we realize our mistake. This is the point when we lose our Wanderlust.
We are looking for the quickest way back to Hahnenklee by now. Once more we are passing by the fork “Rolle” and use our reclaimmed knowledge for the return path. We choose a path called “Keilerstieg”. And it is a good one, it is a very nice and attractive hike leading us to the “Pfeiffer-Brunnen” and back to our starting point.
Everything is closed
It is almost 5 o’clock p.m. when we reach our car. We want to have some coffee. However, tough luck again, everything is closed already at Hahnenklee or is about to close. A little bit depressed we drive back to Seesen and sit down at the Italian café. At least we manage to get some coffee and ice cream before they also close. What a relief.
