By a rare stroke of luck the train from Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof was a few minutes delayed, or else I wouldn't have made it. Within only a short time I found myself standing on the platform at Vaihingen, consulting my bike map as to the best route. I would initially head east towards the village of Sachsenheim, and then turn noth into the Naturpark Stromberg-Heuchberg. There are three Naturparks around Stuttgart - Stromberg-Heuchberg, Schwaebisch-Fraenkisher Wald, and Schoenbuch. Stromberg-Heuchberg is the least intact, with the forests confined to the ridges of the hills. You can get a good impression of this in the panorama below, looking north from Sachsenheim towards Hohenhaslach.
And it was such a beautiful Spring day! Look at the bright green of the new leaves on the trees! Look at the fields of rape, glowing bright yellow under the sun! White blossoms covered the apple trees, but a touch of ice was added to the day by the apparent absence of bees. I've read much about the so-called colony collapse disorder, which is apparently decimating bee numbers across the world - and I wonder if what I didn't see was a part of this silent disaster?
I continued north to Hohenhaslach and then turned west towards Ochsenbach. After a very steep climb, I found myself on the top of the Stromberg, a forested ridge running east-west through the Naturpark (the very same ridge you can see in the panorama above). Although the day wasn't hot, I was glad for the cool of the forest. Even so, I did not spend much time on the Stromberg, but instead coasted down the other side into the Zabertal. The Zaber is a minor tributary of the Neckar (joining at Lauffen - see my post from the end of last year), running through several small towns. At Frauenzimmern I started climbing out of the valley again, through rows of budding vines. It was here that I took the panoramic shot below, looking south towards the Stromberg.
I continued now along the other ridge which gives its name to the Naturpark - Heuchberg. After a short ride into the forest, I emerged into the vineyards above the small town of Neipperg, shown right. And yes, that is a castle standing above the middle of the village. I had hoped to find a shady park somewhere in Neipperg where I could eat my lunch, but alas I had no such luck. Instead, I cycled just a bit out of town where I discovered a small pond which seemed just perfect for a break.After eating my lunch I wandered down to the side of the pond and for several minutes watched the copulating water striders. Not that I enjoyed it or anything, but I did remember an article on some of their bizarre mating habits from a Christmas edition of The Economist some years back - something about the male having the ability to remove his rival's sperm from his mate (I think). Curious little creatures, and so elegant in their effortless striding across the water (which is incidently a very difficult biophysics problem). But such pleasures could not last, and so I continued on my way.
Once more climbing onto the Heuchberg, I admired the view off towards Heilbronn: the side of the ridge was here covered with vineyards. Following the ridge around, I eventually made a small mistake which sent me down to the bottom of the valley. Without the inclination to climb back up, I kept on going, which brought me to the most remarkable part of the day - meeting a largish snake as I turned a corner. The snake slithered off pretty quickly into the undergrowth, and I withstood the temptation to dive in after it and wrestle it into submission. It was a decent sized beastie as well - anywhere between 60-90cm - and was probably a European grass snake, an entirely harmless species. Well, next time the snake won't get away so easily!After this charming close encounter, it was a simple ride into Heilbronn, where I caught the train back to Stuttgart. But to finish on a very Spring note, I came across the wonderful flower display below, just in front of a tiny little church.
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