FKT: Stefanie Schout - Annweiler Richard-Löwenherz-Weg (Germany) - 2022-05-12

12 May is my birthday, for which my employer generously gives me a half day off. As everyone else was busy working, I decided to head to Pfälzerwald for the afternoon and do my first ever solo FKT attempt. I had done Richard-Löwenherz-Weg as a hike a couple of years ago, and had really liked it. What I did not remember was that half of the uphill struggle basically happens during the first 2k (at least according to my trusty watch). I was struggling quite a bit, especially because it was unseasonably hot for mid-May, and I really missed my trail buddies Wiebke and Chrissi, who can be hard to keep in check on the trails at times, but this was the first time I really realized how much easier they make trail running for me (apart from generally being great company and fun of course!). Also, I’m officially middle-aged now, and I guess it’s starting to show. Anyway, once I had passed the lovely forest burial site (with a long blindworm on the path), things started to look up and running got a little easier. After some nice downhill trails, the ascent to Rehberg came into view. It is quite a long uphill stretch, but the views from the Rehberg tower were absolutely amazing (I took some pictures, but can't upload them here for some reason). After that, it was basically all downhill (without the infamous ‘couple of bumps’), and I especially enjoyed the part where the trail serpentines all the way down to the Kurpark. Apart from 2 or 3 places where I had to look at the navigation app on my phone, the trail is really well signposted. I didn’t get lost – only when I got back to the town of Annweiler did I miss a turn and had to make a quick u-turn. I really enjoyed this little trail and hope to return with my trail buddies some time, for even more fun (and hopefully a faster time, too). I took my running pack with a water bladder, but ran out of water for the last 3k, as my valve was leaking and I had really underestimated how hot it was. Apart from Rehberg tower, I saw almost no one on the trail, but I can imagine that it gets very busy on weekends, so an early start or off-season attempt may be best for this route.