landscape portrait Neckartal hiking Bare rapprochement between Gehgenuss and geography
By Michael Hahl 
from Eichendorff to the information society Walking is more as a movement in the landscape: Walking is the intense perception roamed space that is more than just background experience. has its own life. The individual increment it shows us his inherent being. Thus, a multi-day hike through the Neckar Valley to a park-scientific approach.
My journey begins at the western boundary of the Park Neckar-Odenwald in Heidelberg, the capital of romance. " Old Bridge starting point. Goethe was once "in a beauty, as perhaps no bridge in the world. Through the arch you can see the flow Rhein Neckar to the shallow areas. Western look! I get up the river along the old towpath to the nature reserve Russian stone and climb uphill through bizarre granite rocks of the "Neuenheimer Switzerland. East view! Halfway up I will open a spectacular view of the Neckar valley, which reminds me of a landscape painting by Ernst Fries from the time of the Heidelberg Romantics.
Surprisingly, we discovered in the old romantic paintings and Eichendorff'schen magic words something of what today regains importance: The outer landscape becomes a metaphor for the interior! Sensual experience of nature and self-awareness are close together. And it broadens the perspective of the 21st Century, that of Romanticism: We are children of the Information Society. Also wanting to understand the complex relationships among the knowledge of Earth's history, nature and culture, the ecological consciousness. We want to recognize the nature of the biosphere, "the philosopher Jirí Cejpek. We need new sustainable human-environment relations. And somewhere between creep Gehgenuss and geography are such in our perception. is
Early Settlements and unromantic castles at the Abbey Neuburg pass it on to Neckargemünd where coming from the Kraichgau Elsenz the Neckar achieved. She has chosen a valley that once constricted by a 16 km long, later Neckar loop was formed. In 1907 was found in wall, in the glacial deposits of the former river loop, the now world famous lower jaw of Homo heidelbergensis, an evolutionary transitional form of Homo sapiens. Even this early man was a wanderer! But 600,000 years ago was his nomadic way of life standard, yet far settled, farming innovation unimaginable distant future. The Neolithic settlement in southern Germany began about 5000 BC, much later came the Celts, Germans and the Roman intermezzo. The Alemannic and Frankish conquest from the third to the tenth century AD was one, we explore today as a settlement history.
A story with geologically-related contrasts, even in our region: Kraichgau and Odenwald - two natural regions, one dominated fertile of limestone and loess, the other by silicate-acid red sandstone, hence "settlement-" in the South, "Jungsiedelland" north of the rock border. The Odenwald Neckar Valley has special status, because even enabled on loess and Auenlehme early settlement. Binau, for example, in the 8th Erstdokumentiert century, the story begins in the 9th Mosbach Century as a settlement to a monastery. By contrast, the Odenwald forest wilderness of the High until several centuries later for country-manor Kolonisierungsbestrebungen interesting.
In view of the exposed Dilsberg my way out the Neckarsteinach castle group, and I'm resting at the red sandstone castle ruin gunwale. Adventurous is not only the positioning of the swallow's nest on one of the extremely steep slopes of the Neckar valley, also exciting is the brand new state of research: gunwale was not, as has been consistently adopted, establishing the land claims of Steinach, but it was in 1335 as a counter-castle of the Archbishopric of Mainz to - the name says - to "harm" in particular the Steinacher front castle, so to set a strategic counterpoint. "Cold War" in the Neckar valley! Romance turned to the Castle Road until much later one, in an era when there was no longer a knight more.
Dynamic Even the Neckar river valley
"moves"! Over millions of years it has changed its course several times. As witnessed by the current mountain, remaining peaks, once surrounded by meanders, which were later cut off and dry fall. Eberbach, "City of the outstanding mountains" with the old town atmosphere, equal to exhibit more of these historical relics flow. The most striking are the young and the older Ohrberg Schollerer hump.
On the way up to cultural landscape Breitenstein than I look and the striking Eberbacher river bend, another track moving Geology: When it began to lower the break clods of the Rhine Graben, took river systems to run their course, followed in a westerly direction to the emerging gap in the mountainous border. 30 million years ago is likely a small run-Neckar in Heidelberg area have formed, the source areas in the Odenwald were way up arching. Since the reduction process continued the Rhine Graben, had to the young river sawing deep into the rock formations of the Central Mountains and could be the source area by headward erosion constantly shifting to the east. When he's running up to the Space, where today is Eberbach, had extended, he reached a much older river system that drained the Danube. The greater erosive power of the young could tap into this Neckar south oriented waters and a large-scale flow reversal began.
is some evidence that the Itter was once the upper reaches of this old, south flowing system. The Eberbach Neckar-kink represents the first major Flussanzapfung and is a key legacy of the southwestern river development. The valley, which the Neckar created millions of years, today we can walk through in a few days, the Neckar and I - we definitely have a different measure of time!
The art of flowing Castle Zwingenberg and the Wolf Canyon are more stations on my entertaining hike. In Neckargerach I make a trip to the Margaret Gorge - it also bears witness to the flow of history - and then change my view of the Minneburg the shore to go around the central mountain, another mountain circulation. Unnecessary steps are now impossible, and whoever gets involved in a multi-day hike, learn step by step the living art of taking their time-taking. Hiking is slowing down, Wormholes flow as the flow.
I use the Guttenbacher barrage around the Neckar cross again. Once, the Celtic named "Nikar" a wild water, and today he is impounded waterway, tamed and decelerates from 27 steps between Mannheim and Plochingen to ensure year-round navigability. The 20th Century converted project corridor Neckar "required reductions in ecology: the intact for a stream continuity is so important for fish and small animals was significantly restricted. Today renaturation create a certain balance. - Further upstream, the slopes of the Neckar bleed Schreckenberg and Hamberg, the transition from red sandstone to limestone is documented. I dwell on the Bismarck tower with views across the estuary of the loess Elz. Then tell me my way into the medieval town of Mosbach, where I besiegle another culinary hiking to get me stronger for the last stage.
the morning I get in a southeasterly direction over the hill and come with a sun-warmed wine slope to the bright gray Burg Hornberg. The gently undulating limestone hills give the Neckar valley here is a completely different appearance, as in the Odenwald, where the river is flanked by the massive cliffs of red sandstone is. The boundary of the Park Neckar-Odenwald leaving behind me, I walk to the Baroque castle Horneck, closely linked to the Gundelsheimer Old Town, cross the Neckar and soon reach Wimpfen, the old imperial palace.
It is the secret of a landscape to get to the bottom when you walk in it, if you look at their sunny rocks sets or watching the water as it flows. Hiking in the Neckar valley makes the independent life of a great natural and cultural area felt. Somewhere between Gehgenuss and geography expanded, quietly and nimbly, the perception of the external and the internal landscape - a smooth process of knowledge! And with that thought I arrived at the end of my hike.
publication for Neckartal-Odenwald - citation as follows:
HAHL, M. (2009): Landscape Portrait Neckar valley. Hiking Bare rapprochement between Gehgenuss and geography. In: The nature park is moving. 2009 program. Eberbach. P. 4-9.
copyright on text and photos: Michael Hahl
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