Czech Mole / Krteček

Today Krteček has learned something about the history of Bavaria.
In earlier centuries, brine (salt water) was pumped over more than 100 kilometers via a pipeline from the Alps to the big cities where the water then was heated to extract salt from it.
Today we followed such a pipeline in the mountains. At one point, a bridge led over a small canyon. The metal construction of the bridge and the pipeline are rusty but still in good condition. But all the wood has been rotted since a long time.
It was very exciting for the little mole to balance across the bridge on the remaining narrow steel girders.
Krteček was surprised that so much effort was made to transport salty water. In Bavaria he had expected a pipeline for beer.

Krteček was so happy with the snowshoes on the last hike that he wanted to go snowshoeing again today.
We were in the Bavarian mountains and climbed Mt. Simetsberg (1840m above sea level) close to Lake Walchensee.
And it was really good that we had snowshoes with us.
There must have been hikers ahead of us who didn't have snowshoes. We have seen the holes in the snow where they have sunk half a metre and sometimes even more into the snow. With our snowshoes however it was much more comfortable.

Most of the snow already has melted in the foothills of the Alps, but of course at the top of the mountains there is still a lot of it. The weather forecast was perfect for today and we drove to the city of Garmisch and climbed 1000 meters up to Mt. Farchanter Kreuz.
Krteček had already realized that hiking through the snow can be exhausting, but today he discovered that there is a very useful tool: Snowshoes! That made it really easy.
When driving home we made a stopp near the highway and made a short stroll to a viewoint. And there we found the one an only cache of the day.

There was no hike to a mountain peak today either, but Krteček was the whole day at the fresh air.
It was a long hike of about 20 km in a moorland.
And today there was not only the landscape but also old technology to admire.
In the small village of Raisting a radio station for communication with satellites was taken into operation in 1965. The large parabolic antenna with a diameter of 25 metres is hidden under a large plastic sphere.
Krteček was impressed when he learned that the pictures of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich were transmitted using this technology.
This antenna was in operation until 1985 and now it is a technical museum.
But there are many other satellite antennas that are still in operation and the Raisting Earth Station is one of the largest ground stations in the world.

Some days ago it snowed a lot and overnight the snow depth in my garden increased by half a meter.
Trees collapsed under the weight of the snow and there is a high risk of avalanches in the higher regions. But as the weather was wonderful, we wanted to go outside and we only took a short walk along River Loisach.
For me it was quite exhausting to climb over the fallen trees that lay across the path. The little mole, however, preferred to dig a tunnel through the snow under the fallen trees and he had fun doing this.