Wandern(Hiking)

AS I am born and brought up in Pune, Walking was just not my thing. Till the age of 23 I almost never walked...it was always riksha, my best scooty, or car..but walking and that also for pleasure...no way.

But when i came to germany, i didn't have german driving license, no car and taxi was not affordable(its still not that much affordable)..so only one option was walking, walking and walking :)

Once in my gym i saw one event notice "Wandern on 1st May"....that time i heard the word Wandern for the first time. Then one of my german friends told me that its like a tradition in germany to go with family or friends on 1st of May for wandern i.e. nothing but walking tour, hiking. I really liked this concept. Normally in May weather is good...and 1st May is a public holiday so to go out with whole family or friends ín a fresh air and enjoy.....really good concept. Ofcourse that year i register myself for the first time for this hiking event from my gym and it was really pleasant experience. Blue sky, green fields around, group of almost 40 people, and walking in forest, fields ...just wonderfull experience. It was around 15 k.m. tour...then in the afternnon took a break in one little resturant middle of the forest for coffee and cake...it was soooo nice. After this years i went every year for wandern.

My hiking interest increased more after my marriage. My husband is a complete sports freak. Biking, hiking, snow boarding...all possible sports. We bought a big map of hiking ways near our city and did hiking almost every sunday in spring and summer. Soon I got used to walk upto 20 k.m.easily in 7-8 hrs. Every sunday we used to get ready in the morning with special hiking shooes, special sticks in hand for me if i need some support while walking up or going down from mountains, rucksack with enough water and small snack packs.....:) We used to choose always some nice ways in the mountains, fields, forest. The nature I saw every time was amezing. I must thank my hubby for introducing me to this gr8! experience. Because of him i started enjoying hiking. After every hiking tour i felt really fresh.

This hiking tours in germany does not have any age limit... Till now saw even old people above 70 years also enjoying this hiking tours in mountains, in forests.. I really appriciate these people's energy,way to look at life. Even my hubby's grandmother who is above 80 years now, but still in the summer she goes for small walks of around 6-7 k.m., swimming. She tries to enjoy her life and pass time with quality.

There are many people who does hiking tours of 3-4 days with rucksack. They walk particular k.m. in one day and in the evening normally sleep in some special Hütte (huts) made for such hikers and then next day walk further. In this hutte there are no luxirious arrangements like in ahotel but just a big hall where u can sleep and next get some breakfast. Till now I never made any such hiking tour as i am still not so sure about my physical condition but may be some day will do it.

Till now the best hiking tour i made with my hubby was in ischgl in Austria. That was an amezing experience for me. It was first time that i did hiking in such a high mountains where weather was always changing . At the top of the mountains sometimes it was so foggy that it was not even possible to see a road after 50 meters. It was 3 days tour. The nature was so beautiful.

Now again spring is there and soon our wanderung/ hiking tours will start. Lets see how many hiking tours we can manage in this season.