And finally another shade of green :-)

I whish you a good night. May your dreams be as beautiful as the colours of this walk.

Sachsenwald, 18 October 2009

I woke up stiff and as if wetness and cold had gotten into the bones. As coffee and breakfast and a hot shower didn't help very much, I went through my maps, looking for a place not too far away, where I hadn't been before, to stretch my legs and my back and to get myself moving. At least the weather looked promising today after lots of rain on Friday and Saturday.

With 68 km² the Sachsenwald is the largest coherrent forrest areas in Schleswig-Holstein, and one of the largest in Northern Germany. The entire forrest was given to the Imperal Chancellor Prince Otto von Bismark in 1871 for his merits in the foundation of the German Empire. In 1989, 2003 and 2005 the Bismark family sold parts of the forrest to the shipowner and remote relative Eberhard von Rantzau, who is now owning about one third of the forrest.

Mushrooms and fungi were growing everywhere you cared to look. As I have no noteworthy knowledge at all about mushrooms, I rather collected them with my camera instead of poisoning myself in the evening.

And as many eadable and highly poisonous mushrooms look similar, I spare you with any names I have found in a book.

The light was dazzling!

No moose, however some sign of wildlife. Probably a deer or a roe.

These bronze-coloured ferns had truly a slightly metalic shimmer in the sun.

Crossing the countryside highway L314, I went into the forest section "Buschhege West", where mushrooms and their forayers became regulars.

Roundabout here I turned left into a trail along the creek Süsterbek. My map showed me a trail crossing where I could cross the creek. It was one of a couple misguidings this topographic map showed. In this case the reason might be, that it rained a lot and the shore was so swampy that couldn't ford the creek. In dry season you can easily jump over it. Well, it didn't help. I walked the path till I reached the railway track and knew I was too far. That's when I turned back for the first time this day. However this path was well worth the 30 minutes I spent on it.

This looks like a cheeky little fungus. Or

perhaps it is shy.

the path to these areas. At the wild-boar park I turned left again in the hope of a railway crossing and a lovely path along another river and two ponds called Stangenteich and Kupfermühlenteich (Teich = pond).

According to a newspaper report this is one of the forrest houses owned by Dr. von Rantzau. He must mad for hunting because in a trail opposite the house the next photo was taken. Furthermore I soon observered that every 100 metres another two stands, new and old ones, were placed.

I followed the path, where these hides were standing, for it should cross or go below the railway tracks and continue to the creek "Schwarze Au". It took me just a couple of minutes to see that was no crossing and that huge iron gates were blocking the path to natural beauty (at least that's what I expected this winding little creek and the ponds would offer). As I wasn't ready to risk my life on the tracks I turned back. Just a minute later I heard and saw how wise my decision had been as a ICE (intercity express) rushed pass and shortly afterwards a freight train. I turned back into a path running parallel to the main track in the hope to find another way across the railroad, but there wasn't. At the end I ended up exactly where I tried to cross the little creek Süsterbek two hours earlier. At this side the footing was just a minature little bit better than on the other side, and finally I found three rotting branches which I cast into the water and got across. The boots were muddy, and I praised my forethought to wear gaiters. Praised moreover my trip to Wales years ago, where I was forced to buy this pair, because the sheep pasture stood under water. They never let me down.

From that ford onwards I took the well frequented path to Friedrichsruh an further on to the S-Bahn train station at Aumühle.

Last roses of autumn. Haven't they got a stunningly intense colour for this time of the year, do you think?