Marienberg

Or: We Didn't Learn Our Lesson Yesterday

On the road again, this time from Annaberg Buchholz east (like the good German I am-- Drang nach Osten) through the Ore Mountains to the tiny village of Oberlochmühle in the neighborhood of Seiffen. But first: have to stop to hike a bit through the Schwarzwassertal (the Black Water Valley), a famous hiking route in the Erzgebirge.

What's it famous for, you might ask? The black-appearing water for one. Die Teufelsmauer-- the Devil's Wall, yeah that guy has walls, rocks, even sandwiches, all over Germany. A variety of delicious and non-hallucinogenic mushrooms, if you come at the right time of year, that being September and we missed it.

So we were here for die Teufelsmauer, having eaten his sandwich in Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden last trip. Also, just the general ambience. So off we went. We knew how far the wall should be because the signage is amazing on German trails. Usually. But I didn't check the phone when we started, and I didn't set it to kilometers.

We walked along, knowing we should have reached it. Didn't see it. Nothing approaching it. So we walked at least two more kilometers before time was getting on, and we were getting hungry. We also had to get to the next place, a little pension that had very limited desk hours, by 2:30. So we turned around and headed back. We took pictures of everything that even had the appearance of something that could be called the Devil's Wall. We figured out what it was later-- the last two photos, which we took on our way back to the car.Read more