Short Walk in Canton Basel Land, from Gelterkinden to Rothenfluh

(This post published on December 22, 2023)

Saturday January 30, 2016 -- We were invited to a co-worker's of Urs' for afternoon coffee (he lives in a place called Rothenfluh in Canton Basel Land), but wanted to do a walk as well, so we traveled only as far as the train station in Gelterkinden, a larger city from where it was a leisurely 6-kilometer walk to his place.

There still is little snow this winter. so we can do some nice sunny-day walks on dry roads and trails!

Switzerland's favourite event, the week-long Carnival (Fasnacht), starts in most cities on February 4th. Even the smallest towns decorate their streets, or prepare for parades with special music called "Guggenmusik". In Gelterkinden, there were many costumed figures literally "hanging around" town....

We started at 11 a.m. from Gelterkinden train station. We didn't take a detour into this church, unfortunately.

The main square in the town of Gelterkinden was decorated with carnival figures.

Lots of carnival figures just "hanging" around. Many of them are intentionally "scary" looking. (The purpose of the Fasnacht is to scare off the winter spirits in the hopes that spring will come soon).

The walk to Rothenfluh is just over 90 minutes along a flat trail, approximately 6 km.

The next town we passed through is Ormalingen, and on its outskirts is this pretty church along the trail, so we popped into that one. This is the Evangelical church of St.Nicholas, built in the 14th Century.

The detour into the church in Ormalingen was worth the stop because of the lovely 14th-Century frescoes. As with almost all such churches at the time, the frescoes were whitewashed at the time of the Reformation, and only brought to light again in 1907.