Tour dates: 06 Sept to 13 Sept 2009.
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This tour was to have been led by Rosemarie Howis, whilst Joan and I were to have been clients. Due to a little misfortune in Canada, Rosemarie was unable to lead and so I led the tour.
We flew in from Heathrow airport to Berlin Tegel airport. From there we had a 2˝hr drive with a stop at a restaurant on on the autobahn. Our Destination was the Hotel Erbgericht in the village of Krippen on the banks of the Elbe.
View from our hotel.
We were on a side-road
The main road through the village.
After a train ride alongside the Elbe to Königstein our initial walking path looped around a wooded hill.
Here stopping to photograph some rocks.
We ascend the Nadelöhr (Needle eye) to reach the Pfaffenstein.
The ascent is a mix of steps and staircases
The first of many steel staircases.
We will see many more during our holiday!
Without the ironwork it would be a serious climb.
Once at the top we did a short excursion to the Barbarine.
Later we visited the nearby open air cafe for lunch.
The paths back to the cafe included some quite narrow sections.
A train then a ferry took us to Schmilka
It is a small village with block-paved streets
We started up an old road
 
Later the path became a series of staircases
 
On the way we passed this strange double tree
At the top is a good viewpoint
Not necessarily with good views though
After a cafe stop we continued towards the Kuhstall
The path has a net descent
After a lunch at an open-air restaurant we visited the Kuhstall
It is a huge open-ended cave
It seemed a good place to take a group photo
....for a superior-quality group photo,
click here
Near the Kuhstall is the Himmelsleiter
60%of our group ascended it
Other photos of it
This is the famous Lichtenhainer Wasserfall
Most dripping taps could do better!
40% of our group took a tram ride to Bad Schandau
60% walked back past some of the Schrammsteine rocks...
...and on through Ostrau
Returning to the hotel via the ferry
View Photo Set 1/3 | Set 2/3 | Set 3/3