Late start to the day since the hotel did not serve breakfast until 8.00 am, meaning that the first train we could catch was at 9.41.  Again we nearly missed the train because there was a 4 minute walk between platforms and the only ticket machine was on the other side of the line.

The walk began with some spectacular scenery of the river and highway as we walked along the ridge from Solnhofen towards  Eßlingen and over the twelve apostles, massive outcrops of limestone on the edge of the ridge.  We crossed the river and then ascended through a forest to Maxberg, and found our walk continuing through a stone factory!

On the way back down to the valley floor, we passed a well-maintained shrine commemorating the victims of several wars before entering the beautiful village of Mörnsheim.  As Paula and I entered the town we could see Maddy far ahead scaling the ridge to the Schlossberg overlooking the town.  Paula and I stopped for a leisurely lemonade at Gasthof Zum Brunnen.

We steeled ourselves for the sharp ascent to the castle when dark clouds warned us of an impending rain shower.  Yesterday's experience meant that we quickly donned our wet weather gear just in time for torrents of rain, but thankfully no lightning, to descend upon us.  Half way up the hill we found a bedraggled Maddy sheltering in someone's garage!  We continued on to the the mountain and found a sheltered spot to eat our packed lunch.

But I could not have picked a worse seat in the woods.  Maddy declared that she was not ready to eat and continued up the hill.  Paula and I relaxed for a while, ate our lunches, and then Paula pressed on too. I am not sure why I waited but after about 5 minutes I noticed one of the yellow/red Panoramaweg signs on a hitherto unnoticed path leading back down the mountain.  I looked up to the right and there, plain as day on the tree next to me, was an arrow pointing our walk down the hill.  Gulp! Wife and daughter had walked off into the forest heading for who knows where?

Fortunately, they found each other and the path back and by the time we were reunited, had in their possession a bounty of wild raspberries for us to feast on.  Not long after we reached the site of the first major dinosaur fossil discovery in the area - an archaeopteryx which provided the first positive evolutionary link between reptiles and birds.

There followed a walk through the cornfields until we reached the small town of Dollnstein.  After a well-earned drink at Hotel Post we made our way to Ferienwohnung Geggs, a bit out of town, but well worth the trek for the warm welcome and the heated swimming pool.  While in town Maddy made good friends with the tamest bird, an elster (magpie) named Rudi who was quite happy to get quite close and personal. We later sprung him knocking over a sugar shaker so he could get at the contents!