The elegance of a dead hedgehog

This story ends with a dead hedgehog, and it was elegant. 

The weather was miserable last Saturday morning but it did not deter three very enthusiastic hikers from heading out to Solingen Schloss Burg. I am actually not sure how enthusiastic we were at the onset, but the prospect of finishing 14kms of hiking to be followed by waffles sounded like a productive way to spend most of Saturday.

We headed off towards Solingen to be treated with a gorgeous view of the castle surrounded by hills. Cute pavilions dotted the landscape giving it a very magical air.

Picture taken off their website as it was too awful-weathered for us to take any pictures

One of the pavilions 

Katja, Svenja and I set out into the woods armed with a route guide book. Katja had done the trail a number of times and we felt safe in her presence. We trudged along, up and down hill, meeting the random hiker, random dog well on our way.

Conversations ranged free from dating blonde men, to job security, to staying fit, to wine, and we were to watch out for a viaduct.

The viaduct was to elude us. We walked back and forth a little, all the time going 'Where the f**#! is the viaduct?!" Actually we were about to name the hike 'Where the f**#! is the viaduct?' until the hedgehog appeared later.

The hike was supposed to be 14 km, and I was a little concerned with the wandering aimlessly if we would ever make it out, but lady luck shined upon us and confident with Katja as part of the troop, we found the ff**#ing viaduct, if anything, by chance.

But we actually wandered on to the Klingelnfahrt, which is a historical route defined by the Nazis to create trade in the area. There was a sense of walking through the path that had been thronged by many...

A quick pause to catch our breath and inhale some nourishment.

We rewarded ourselves with a quick break, managed to stop a deranged Nordic walker to take our picture as we perched precariously on logs eating our brötchen, soya milk, and hmmm..more German bread!

The hike went on beautifully, by streams, some sharp uphill hikes (my every muscle is still hurting) and we made it out to the cable cars. Oh, yes, there was the highlight - yet to come. The Solingen Seilbahn.

Picture from the site

Essentially, it is an open air cable car, well, more like a swing on air that takes you up and down the hill for a mere €2.60. I felt like a child all over again!

YES, it really is that primitive

With a random goat or two thrown in!

We made it up gleefully to treat ourselves to Solingen's traditional Kaffetaffel and waffles.

Over the Wupper on the seilbahn!

Malaysian ringgit note under the glass at our table- huh??

We made it up to a traditional waffle place and sat our sore and tired selves down to consume some calories. The table we were at was interesting with a glass top that had currencies from different parts of the world under it - and voila, within my reach - the Malaysian ringgit. What can I say, but Malaysia boleh!

But, I told you this story would end with a dead elegant hedgehog. We made it back to the car, and as we got out of our gear, Svenja noticed the hedgehog. Katja approached it to determine status. I stayed away as I was afraid of contracting whatever the headgehog had contracted - yes, I can be a crazy biologist that way.

The hedgehog was dead. We left it as it was, in its elegant state, and I am sure the other two were plagued of hedgehog dreams as I was!