I do love a good forest. I recently spent a couple of weeks in Germany, a country covered in beautiful forests, and had the chance to go walking amongst the trees.
German forests tend to have wide, graded paths that can be used by walkers, cyclists, and any vehicles that need access. Even on a miserable day after a good drenching it’s still possible to walk amongst the trees without getting covered in mud.
On my first walk, about 5.5km around the forests of Winterberg, I took my Canon G5x II with me and grabbed some shots.
Below are some the photos from that grey Spring day:
It’s nice to see a working forest, complete with saw mill, and this one is healthy. I say that because the last German forest I explored was in the Hartz mountains where an invasive beetle has been destroying the trees. This particular beetle does seem to prefer evergreen trees and doesn’t seem to have either made it into the Hochsauerland where these photos were taken, or found the right sort of trees to get a good feed.
I should mention that when I set out on this walk I was actually looking for the source of the Ruhr river, which ends as a significant tributary to the Rhein, meeting it in Duisburg. In fact the Ruhr river has given its name to an entire industrial region in Western Germany, so it’s not too insignificant and I thought it would be worth hunting down its source.
I’ll finish with a few more photos taken on another walk to the same spot, but on a slightly more cheerful day and with my Canon 90D in hand:
Vivi Somnium 