Walking the Isar days 4-5: enjoying the wilderness

Von Helen

Day 4 As we knew we would be spending the day in the nature with no possibilities for refreshment, we made sure that we took a small picnic with us before leaving Wallgau Our destination was Vorderriß and we found ourselves in the middle of a beautiful nature reserve. We walked as far as possible…

Walking the Isar days 2-3: a very young and lively river

Von Helen

  Day 2 The rain stopped in the night and after an early breakfast we made our way down the mountain. We were rewarded for getting up at 5am by being the only ones on the track down to the Kastenalm. What an uplifting and wonderful experience, feeling the day starting, hearing the wildlife become…

Walking the Isar Day 1: where’s the source?

Von Helen

  Day 1 Today was all about finding the source of the Isar and because the Isar is a mountain river, we travelled up and up. Starting in Scharnitz at 964m, we took a taxi (no laughing) to the Kastenalm at 1200m.it was a 9 seater bus and full, so my bad conscience was not…

English Tea Time July 2015

Von Helen

Despite temperatures which were more suited to a beer garden, I was delighted to welcome all who came to the Tea Time. With the blinds down and the high ceilings it was, I believe, bearable. It is always a great pleasure for me to see a room full of people with various mother tongues, all…

Talking in the past

Von Helen

The English language offers many possibilities to tell stories in the past. When we tell a story we are creating pictures in the listener’s mind and to do this in a good way we have four main tenses to choose from. As I’ve said many times before, being able to position when things happened /…

The Thames Path Days 11-12

Von Helen

Our destination for today was Staines, a town just before London and known for its proximity to Heathrow airport. Understandably it took some time to get used to the planes flying overhead and the stark contrast of the beautiful nature and the endless noise of the planes coming in to land at Heathrow made us…

The Thames Path Days 9-10

Von Helen

So hard to believe that we’ve been walking for over a week now.Our first big shock came when we started walking on the 9th day. The path led us through the town of Reading and it soon became apparent that this was an area which was a little ‚rough‘ with rubbish strewn everywhere. How could…

The Thames Path Days 6-8

Von Helen

As lovely as Oxford is, it was somewhat of a relief to get back on to our beloved path on day 6. Leaving the town behind we passed many boat houses belonging to the different Oxford colleges but it wasn’t until we’d walked for about 90 minutes and experienced all the commuters cycling to work…

The Thames Path Days 4-5

Von Helen

The beautiful idyllic landscape continued this morning on our way from Newbridge to Eynsham. The path was easy to walk, with the stinging nettles cut back. With the sun on our faces we passed many sheep and geese and even saw a man and a woman swimming upstream. Now that’s what you call excercising in…

The Thames Path Days 2-3

Von Helen

At the end of day 3 we have managed a total of 68 km. Do I feel proud? You can say that again!so what happened after we set off in Ashton Keynes. We had glorious weather and the most beautiful tranquil scenery, meeting just 3 dog owners the whole day on the path. The scenery…