Le Randonneur: Le Hohwald

21 June 2015: In 1989, Mary and I hiked the mountainous portion of the GR5 (Vosges, Jura & Alps). In early August, we flew from the United States to Frankfurt, took trains from there to Schirmeck and started hiking. Nine weeks later, on 4 October 1989, we arrived in Nice. It had been a wonderful experience, and we immediately began dreaming about hiking the entire GR5, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

We moved on in our lives. William was born on 4 October 1990 (an auspicious date!) in The Hague. Chloé was born in Poissy (near our home in Saint-Germain-en-Laye) on 28 June 1993. They grew up and now live in the United States. Mary and I progressed in our new careers. The dream of someday hiking the GR5 from start to finish lived on – and eventually became a plan!

So here we are: We started hiking this morning in Schirmeck, about 7 weeks after dipping our toes into the North Sea at Hoek van Holland and starting to hike south. Memories and emotions surged through us as we began to hike up the GR5 from the point where we had begun in August 1989.

Our destination today was Le Hohwald, a place with its share of family memories – many of them focused on the campground. I camped here and hiked around the area in 1981, three years before I met Mary. She and I camped here during our GR5 hike in 1989. We returned to camp and hike in the area in 1991 (with William) and 1994 (with both William and Chloé). When we arrived in Le Hohwald today, we looked around for familiar sights. We followed tradition by having choucroute for dinner. No camping this time: We're spending the night in the municipal gîte d'étape.

The day ended happily for me, as I received Father's Day greetings from William and Chloé, sent by text message (SMS) to my telephone – a technology that did not exist in 1989.

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Red rectangles mark the GR5 in the Vosges. Here's the first one that we saw, in the center of Schirmeck:

Departure point in Schirmeck:

Views of Schirmeck and the castle that looms over the town:

Lots of good forest walking today.

The German Concentration Camp, Struthof, lies beside the GR5, about 5 km from Schirmeck. We visited Struthof in 1989 and planned to do so again this year. However, the camp was closed to visitors this morning, because a special ceremony was held there. We will return for a visit some other time. Today, we walked past the camp and the quiet cemetery after the ceremony. In the evening, we shared a table in a restaurant with a Norwegian couple who had attended the ceremony. The man's father, a member of the Norwegian resistance, had been imprisoned at Struthof. The Norwegians were very friendly and interesting. We enjoyed our dinner with them very much.

A rose had been placed on each grave.

Beautiful clover:

There wasn't much food available in Schirmeck this morning, but we managed to put together a good picnic with visits to a boulangerie and an épicerie. The only thing missing was a good bottle of Riesling!