Rheingau

"Playing Ingress is about to boldly go a way which is sometimes a very, very badly chosen path. " ( +Attila Radnai ) .

I spent this weekend at the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. The 65km-stretch of the Middle Rhine Valley is a part of the official UNESCO world heritage. With its more than 40 castles and fortresses, historic towns and vineyards, graphically illustrates the long history of human involvement with a dramatic and varied natural landscape. It is intimately associated with history and legend and for centuries has exercised a powerful influence on writers, artists, composers and exotic matter.



The Rhine is one of the world's great rivers and has witnessed many crucial events in human history. The stretch of the Middle Rhine Valley between Bingen and Koblenz is in many ways an exceptional expression of this long history. So I could write about a lot of places I visited, meals and drinks I enjoyed and funny boat trips a had. Or the 58 unique portals captured or many of the 97 unique portals I visited.

But just today +Ingress asked us to share our most unique portals we've ever visited. Until the last weekend my clear answer would have been: The Radiotelescope Effelsberg of the +MaxPlanckSociety ( see my story here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AttilaRadnai/posts/WnRGGpdr254  ).

But this weekend I found a second candidate for this title. I stayed in the "Hotel im Schulhaus" in the pitoresque town #Lorch. Near this town is a hill and on the top of this hill resides the ruins of the fortress Nollig ( Intel link: https://www.ingress.com/intel?ll=50.04727,7.799735&z=15&pll=50.04727,7.799735  ) . Burg Nollig was built in the 14th century at the mouth of the Wisper stream as part of the town’s fortifications. Its modest dimensions prove that it was not a typical nobleman’s castle, but party of its history is still unknown today. Today visitors climb up to the castle ruins from the town via the legendary “Devil’s Ladder”.

I thought that that's a clever name invented by some marketing genius in lure more adventure seeking tourist in this romantic region. Just beside it the famous wander route "Rheinstieg" is winding up to the fortress.

I wanted to capture that portal and some nice pictures of the valley in the early morning. On Google Maps it looked like a piece of cake. I could drive up there by car, take some pics and get back in time for the breakfast with the family. Because of this I didn't prepare a hiking backpack for my tour but took my big Lowepro photographer's backpack with me. It contained my camera, tripod, 6 lenses, a DJI Mavic 2 Drone, batteries, chargers and other equipment. I think it weighted more than 13,5 kg (30 pounds). Since its a trolley-backpack hybrid model it's very easy to move around - at least within urban areas.

But while going there, I realized, that Google's map wasn't up to date. About 1,5km before the road climbed up to the top it was closed down for cars. Maybe a 4x4 could have continued - but not my car. So I had to hike the rest. There were 2 alternative routes. One 1,5km long. The other just 1km long. Not too far, but both were rather steep and I was in a hurry not to miss the sunrise. So I chose the shorter one: The devils's ladder.

Well. It turned out that the shorter route made up to its name. It was more a via ferrata than a wandering path. It wasn't as steep as the ones in the alps, but even here I had to at cling the the provided ropes and climb the iron rungs in order to get up to the hill. There were several moments when I considered it as a wrong decision to take the fully loaded backpack with me, when my feet slipped on the rocks underneath them.

But since these stories on social media platforms are almost always there in order to boast about a success, you already assume that I finally made it.

My heart pounded like the beat at a techno party.  My breathing must have sounded like Darth Vader when I filled my lungs with the fresh air. But the workout was only half of the reason. The other one was the view from up here. It was absolutely breathtaking and heartmelting.

The sun was still setting behind the next hill and started to recolor the scenery after the dark night. A layer of fog lay over the rhine and moved towards my position like a silky blanket that got tucked away in the Morning. The clear sky above the river valley was painted with awesome colours.

But first things first. I took my scanner and captured the portal of the fortress (or better: the last remaining tower). But I didn't fully deploy it. It's not my usual way of playing, but I had reasons to do so.

I wasn't allowed to throw links from or to this hard to reach portal since I got informed beforehand that I will be just near the link channel of a 401 MMU BAF over half of Central Europe ( Operation PAF: https://plus.google.com/+IEToday/posts/VyskDyst1D2 ) . I didn't wanted to interfere with this operation with some links from remote areas that are hard to clean just some hour later. I even wished that I could have been part of the operation. But I was spending my weekend with 14 other family members and therefore I would have been the wrong weekend to take part in my beloved nightly Enlightened operations.

I was able to take some great shots at this location. The pictures in this post are just lowres versions of the preview apps.  HiRes-Pictures got queued to my Photoshop Lightroom-Backlog whis reaches back several months. Since we are blessed with a wonderfully warm fall (over 27 C in mid October) I rather spend my time outside or with my family than sitting in front of my computer. Maybe that's the same reason why Ingress Prime got delayed again ;-)

After a while I stowed away my stuff and enjoyed the lovely morning for 2 minutes without any technical device. Just sitting there on a bench. A #payless moment ( +MasterCard ).

For my descent I went for the longer, but easier way. This time I didn't had to watch every single step so I could enjoy the lovely colors of the red and orange landscape around me.

This is how it should be. Take the hard way to reach your goal early and in time and then slow down in order to fully enjoy your victory. On the way I submitted a bridge to OPR on which two wandering routes cross each other. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the reviewers will be mercyful.

Well. Long story short: It felt like I climbed a mountain to reach the portal and strolled down a hill. That's why "Turm bei Lorch" (Tower near Lorch) will be my most memorable historical portal. At least until today. Who knows #wherewillingresstakemetomorrow ?