Rocks & Niggles
We had planned a long weekend in the beautiful Pfälzerwald and Hauenstein was our first stop on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately, Wiebke and I had struggled with some niggles that became so painful that they made running a bit difficult (Wiebke’s foot, my calf), so we were a bit slower than planned. Despite a little bit of pain, the trail was really fun and quite runnable - it’s a great mix of small single tracks and easier forest paths, with lots of great views and cool rock formations. We started out at the Penny supermarket in Hauenstein and ran it clockwise (this is different from what the Outdooractive map suggests, but worked well for us). The route is really well signposted, and we didn’t have to look at our map/navigation app once. Other than the rock formations, the main highlights for us were our interaction with a really cute and energetic pony in the fields (we had to stop for this!), and the little chapel in the woods where you can ring the bells (Wiebke had to try it out, so we had Ringel ringing the bells!). We definitely want to come back when we’re not injured and try to run the route a bit faster then.