Taunus Hike
Day 3: Idstein to Michelbach

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7/4/01, 11:45a.m., sitting on some logs on the way to Hennethal. I've been going about 4 hours. It's been painful with the blisters on both feet hurting pretty bad. I tried moleskin but it slipped off after half an hour. Very pretty route so far, although it was uphill the first 2 hours coming from Idstein. I had a little trouble following the trail out of town, but not too bad. Nice trail up through small town of Oberauroff. I've mistakenly taken 2 added loops today. On the first one I was lulled into thinking the trail went straight for several kilometers, which is what the map showed. But after a while I realized I hadn't seen a marker in a while. Fortunately, I was able to figure out on the map where I was and could take another path back to the trail. The second was a poorly marked turn-off I missed.

I just had lunch - Crackers and Tang again, plus an apple (bought yesterday in Idstein). Nice breakfast buffet this morning, with rolls and varieties of bread, plus eggs, cold cuts and cheese. Also orange juice.


Oberauroff - Morning Trail - Hennthal

5:50, Turkish bar in Michelbach. Got here around 2:30. Nice trail, mostly through fields, this afternoon. Michelbach is quite a contrast to Idstein - only seem to be 2 places to stay: a hotel ("Zur Glocke"), which seemed closed and the Pension "Schönblick" (Mühlstraße 16, near the main highway). Run by a friendly older couple. A little more rustic than my previous overnights - no telephone or tv and bath down the hall. Don't seem to be many restaurant options either. Both of the first 2 I tried were closed, which is how I ended up in this bar. All the signs and clientele are Turkish (only the beer prices are in German). But they don't seem to serve food so I guess I'll drink my beer and try to find a place that's open.

6:30. From the Turks to the Italians. Found the only place that seems to be open-a pizzeria up towards the Church. Seems to be fairly new, from a conversation at the next table. Definitely run by Italians, but German customers. Third night in a row that I'm eating outside. Weather again warm and sunny, 26-28°C (80's F), but supposed to rain Friday and Saturday.


Trail pics


Trail panorama
(in QuickTime VR - requires QuickTime plug-in)

Michelbach is more attractive from a distance-quite a nice view from above of the church and castle tower, but the town itself doesn't seem real prosperous or well-preserved. It is not actually on the E1 trail-about a kilometer off, but I needed a place to stay, and the town closer to the trail-Kettenbach didn't look like it was big enough to have any hotels.


Michelbach - Garden Gnome collection at pension

To get my mind off my blisters, I played my radio for a while as I was hiking. Among other stations, I tuned into AFN ("Armed Forces Network")-sure is a lot of propaganda being fed to our forces in Europe, although it didn't seem out of place today-July 4th.

Total km: 19 Dinner: 12 DM, room 38 DM



Taunus Hike - Bob Godwin-Jones
© 2001, rgjones@vcu.edu