Trail
7/1/98. Forbach. It rained yesterday from about 5:30 to 9:00-the tent held up fine in it. We spent that time, however, in the shelter nearby. Jacob says he had trouble getting to sleep, but I slept like a log. It seemed to work ok to use the sleeping sheet inside the metallic survival bag, a pretty lightweight combination. Last night we had rolls from breakfast for dinner, then candy bars and crackers today for breakfast.This morning, walking into Forbach down from the mountain top after a night under the open sky felt like being in a German romantic novella, especially on seeing the people in town going about their normal workday business while we were just passing through. As we entered Forbach, a couple on a bench eyed us suspiciously, a lady at a window watering her geraniums gave us a quick glance, and a small dog in a window yapped at us as we walked by. Really made me feel like Josef von Eichendorff's Taugenichts (Good-for-Nothing). Adding to the romantic atmosphere was the babbling brook (20 seconds) alongside most of our path down.
We had decided already that about Forbach we would break off from the Westweg, to start heading for Freiolsheim. However, since we don't have a hiking map for that area, we decided to take the train from Forbach to Bad Herrenalb and to hike from there, on a trail I know (or at least hope I still remember-through Bernbach). We hope to make it to Mossbronn tonight.
Mossbronn, 6:OO. Arrived here at 3:30 (20 km today). We're staying at the Hotel Hirsch (55 DM - the cheaper hotel has Ruhetag today). We're waiting for supper (Schnitzel-23 DM), after having walked over to Friolsheim, which looked much the same after 10 years. We stopped by the Kindergarten and the house and then walked around in the woods for a while. I had forgotten how beautiful the area is and what a stunning view there is from Max-Hildebrandt Straße, where our house was located. Jacob says what he remembers is the house and the woods behind it, and just vaguely the kindergarden he (and Molly) attended here.
