bruce Posted 16 August , 2009 Share Posted 16 August , 2009 Dear Egbert I don't mind if you start a new thread or continue here. I am just fascinated by your pictures of an area of fighting I have never visited, and which I now want to see for myself. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete1052 Posted 16 August , 2009 Share Posted 16 August , 2009 The accumulation of sediment in the lake may have been accelerated by the destruction of the vegetation on the mountains by the shellfire--trees and plants have the function of holding the soil in place. Many man-made lakes silt up anyway without something like shellfire as a contributing factor. The rock outcroppings on the hilltops would be fairly normal even without the effects of artillery fire. I can't tell from looking at the photos whether the rocks are igneous, such as granite, or metamorphic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 17 August , 2009 Share Posted 17 August , 2009 Are you guys ready for the Schratzmännele_Barrenkopf_Kleinkopf? A new thread or continue here? I would start a new thread, Egbert. Long threads can be hard work for readers, but more seriously, it would be a better reference thread for people who want to find out about Schratzmännelé and Barrenkopf. They are a different area from la Tête des Faux and merit an individual thread. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostonian Posted 17 August , 2009 Share Posted 17 August , 2009 They are superb pictures Egbert. As a matter of curiosity, how much is there to see there if you were to drive? Would a day be enough, or would it take more? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 17 August , 2009 Share Posted 17 August , 2009 Almost everything is a walk, not a drive. I would say that in one day's drive you could probably visit two sites, including parking, walking and then driving on to the next site. My timings allow for pottering round and just absorbing. Bonhomme - la Tête des Faux - Bonhomme (driving from le Bonhomme, parking at the Gîte du Devin then walking up) is a good five hours. Col du Calvaire - la Tête des Faux - Col du Calvaire as a circular walk is about 12 - 14 km (parking at Col du Calvaire). As a walk from Col du Calvaire to la Tête des Faux and back the way you came, I would allow four or five hours. Hartmannwillerskopf / Vieil Armand would be most of an afternoon if you explore beyond the cemetery. HWK is easier than TdF. Le Linge and Barrenkopf - again several hours. Le Linge is quite accessible, Barrenkopf is a hike. Both le Linge and HWK are sites you can park at and walk straight into. It's impossible to get near to la Tête des Faux by car. Reichackerkopf - several hours (plus 20 minutes getting up there from Munster. We used a long, narrow and winding forest track to a park near a centre de vacances and I feared we'd sump the car.) But parking at the Col du St-Marie aux Mines, you can walk for 20 minutes up the hillside and see some solid bunkers. Visiting cemeteries is as long as you want it to be. A visit to le Linge and Barrenkopf easily incorporates both the Hohrod German Cemetery and the French Cemetery at Col du Wettstein. The cemetery at Trois-Épis is also readily accessible. I like the smaller cemeteries near Metzeral, which would be part of a visit to Reichackerkopf. I think if I had one day only, I would plan to be there early and visit two sites plus the major cemeteries. I can give links to two Circuits Historiques if interested. I haven't used them myself. A one day visit would need planning. Things are sometimes visible by serendipity - even at the top of the Ballon d'Alsace, which is a nice walk in itself with amazing views, you see trenches very clearly - but usually you don't see a lot until you get out of the car and start walking. For those who are also interested in the Holocaust, there is the concentration camp of Natzwiller Struthof in the Vosges west of Obernai; and vestiges of WW2 and the Colmar Gap. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 17 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 17 August , 2009 (edited) Excuse my poor English knowledge, I do not understand your question completely "if you were to drive". Well the Vosges w/o a car is impossible. After parking you need a complete day for such a climb/walk/visit. And there are a douzen similar mountains to climb with rich WW1 heritage. I for myself have already identified another 6 climbs over time which I am interested in. Most mountains can be accessed 2 times, one from the German side and the other from the French side, do double it. 2 peaks with lots of tourists (sorry Gwyn of course not in winter time or off season ) though are accessable by car, the HWK and the Lingekopf. For all others: you must be physical fit......your company.....and your dog as well..... did not see Gwyn's excellent post reply: after a 5 hr walk/climb at 30 degrees celsius I am done , so was the messenger dog. I did not take into consideration tough British women like Gwyn. Edited 17 August , 2009 by egbert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 17 August , 2009 Share Posted 17 August , 2009 Egbert, I've done la Tête des Faux in July and in September. Both times I was knackered. And ravenous. Fortunately the auberge at Col du Calvaire does pleasant enough food. Last Sept I went up la Tête des Faux and then went to Trois-Epis for some food and then did the cemetery and then went somewhere else. I plan the days so as not to waste fuel or time. I never rest when I'm on holiday - I take the attitude that I'm only there for a few days, and it's an investment of time and money, so I want to do as much as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halibag3 Posted 26 August , 2009 Share Posted 26 August , 2009 Hi Egbert, thanks for sharing great pics of a sector of the old frontline rarely covered on this forum. And the funny thing is that I was sent (just yesterday) pictures of an old German cemetery called 'Friedhof Rabenhühl' - must be in the areas you visited, or close by. Cheers. Halibag3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 26 August , 2009 Share Posted 26 August , 2009 There are two old German cemeteries on la Tête des Faux. The one Egbert has photographed is called Friedhof Hexenweiher. (It's also the one in my set of Vosges pictures on the WFA forum.) This was the first one to be filled. Its name is from the swampy lake which Egbert recorded: l'Étang du Devin or Hexenweiher, posts 4 & 6. The Friedhof Rabenbühl was used after Hexenweiher was filled. It's named after the Rabenbühl, which I believe is la Grimaude, a rock wall close to the funicular station. There are gravestones and an altar. Both Friedhof Hexenweiher and Friedhof Rabenbühl were cleared to the great German cemetery Hohrod (which Egbert visited, posts 158 onwards - and my pictures show it in snow). Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 27 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Mighty Buchenkopf after the war 1919 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halibag3 Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Egbert, Gwyn, This is another sector to put on the 'must-see' list as, by the look of it, it is so different in atmosphere from the well-trodden Somme, Ypres Salient etc. Pity the Haut-Rhin is so far from me - or, for that matter, Britain - and, to make the most of it, I suppose it's highly advisable to choose a 'base' somewhere in the area and explore methodically. Your recent posts, Egbert, and especially the memorable 'secrets of my Grandfather's trunk' of November 2005 have incited me to take a serious interest in the German army of 1914-18 (about which I know next to nothing - shame on me !). Thanks again for your generosity. Cheers. Halibag3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 27 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Halibag, thanx for the post. It seems that Grandfather's trunk makes an impact. And yes - I hope Great Britain stays mainly at the Somme and leaves the lonely Vosges mystic until I have climbed the main peaks - alone with the messenger dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Some of the men who died in this region are in Trois-Epis cemetery, which is rather a special place within the village itself. These are two photos which try to capture how I saw it one May afternoon. and Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 And this is Hexenweiher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 And Hohrod: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Pity the Haut-Rhin is so far from me - or, for that matter, Britain - and, to make the most of it, I suppose it's highly advisable to choose a 'base' somewhere in the area and explore methodically. Yes, and include time to visit Alsace itself, which is beautiful, with a lovely climate, and there are plenty of other stunning places in the Vosges which are not war-related. Personally I'm not fit enough to spend a whole week non-stop clambering round battlefield sites, so I like to walk in the vineyards, buy wine from viticulteurs, linger in the villages, visit Strasbourg and Freiburg, walk above the forest line and eat in fermes auberges, go to nice restaurants, enjoy Christmas customs, visit village exhibitions. There really is loads to do. I go two or three times a year and always find different places to explore. Emotionally, I couldn't do nothing other than war-related things - it would be overloading. It's also good to combine Alsace / Vosges with parts of Germany. The Black Forest is obvious, or the Mosel / Saar if using the Belgian motorways. From Calais it takes 4 - 6 hours depending on route, destination and driving conditions. Sometimes we stay in the wine villages and drive up into the Vosges; sometimes we stay in the Vosges and drop down to the wine region. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halibag3 Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Gwyn, if you are the author of the four photos (as I think you are), then congrats ! They are of a very high quality (contrast, framing, etc.). You have an eye for stunning pics and it shows. Please go on and let us all enjoy more often the fruit of one of your passions. Well done ! Cheers. Halibag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halibag3 Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Gwyn, I've just taken a quick peek at your personal website and, well, ok, all is said... Brilliant. Halibag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 Thank you, Halibag. Yes, the photos are mine. I try to analyse and communicate what I feel, although I take record shots as well. Thanks for the comments on my personal website. It needs several months-worth of updating because I went into crisis about taking photos and virtually stopped because I truly believed that they were rubbish and held no interest whatsoever for anyone, and I'm only just beginning cautiously to emerge from that. I'm very grateful for your unsolicited positive comments. I'm planning my own Vosges website; it's just time. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Trim Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 Hi all, thanks to two threads on the forum I now have two more places to visit; Verdun and the Vosges. Have just ordered up Christina Holstein's book on Verdun. Now to find more printed information, in English, on the Vosges. As usual time will be in short supply. Would four hours be about the journey time from a Parisian airport to Verdun be about right? How about three hours from Verdun to somewhere central in the Vosge? Perhaps from Scotland Paris is not the best place to fly to. Ah decisions, decisions! Len Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 I've never flown to Paris and I've only been to the Verdun area by car. One option worth considering is flying to Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg airport, which is now called EuroAirport. It's actually just north of Basel, so about 60 km from the Linge area and about 50 km from Hartmannswillerkopf by good though eventually mountainous roads. Alternatively, using the motorway north from the airport, it's quick to get to Colmar and then head off west into Alsace and the Vosges (though the motorway traffic is very congested in peak times). Strasbourg also has its airport but that's to the north of the areas Egbert has described. It might be a good option for seeing both Verdun and the Vosges. I would say three hours to get from Verdun to Orbey (near le Linge) or three and a half to get from Verdun to Munster, using motorways round Strasbourg and down to the Colmar area. We tend to leave the motorway at Phalsbourg or Saverne and drive down through Alsace, which is much prettier but takes longer. Alteratively, Verdun to Orbey via Nancy, Lunéville, Baccarat, St-Dié and le Bonhomme is a pleasant way to get straight into the Vosges and would probably take about three and a half hours. Once in the Vosges it's possible to build in things to see en route to one's accommodation. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halibag3 Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 Len, any flights to Basel/Mulhouse or Strasbourg (much more closer than Paris) ? Cheers. Halibag3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 Len - there isn't much in English but I'm looking through my links. Here's a general tourist leaflet (but in French, I'm sorry) - Massif des Vosges. A couple of walks, in French and German: Sentier militaire. I haven't used these leaflets but I have paper versions and they're good. The tourist address at the bottom might be able to help. This has an English translation: Linge 1915 Parc-Ballons-Vosges is a tourist site for the Vosges area. Tourisme-Alsace has English pages. More to come when I have a little more time. Gwyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 For those who are also interested in the Holocaust, there is the concentration camp of Natzwiller Struthof in the Vosges Not only holocaust but also the execution place of some SOE operators, and 'Nacht und Nebel' prisoners, i.i.r.c. See http://www.xs4all.nl/~aur/layout/frames.ht...attlefields.htm for some English articles on the Vosges/Alsace. Regards, Marco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 28 August , 2009 Author Share Posted 28 August , 2009 Ryanair flies to Karlsruhe-Baden airport (FKB) which is only some 45 minutes away from Buchenkopf. I started my trips from nearby the airport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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