Ruine Pfeffingen - Homeless shelter?

It has been a busy weekend. Saturday we took a trip to Laufen to Sport Shop Karrer to see about renting langlaufskis (cross country skis). We managed this successfully, even though we had to do it in German. Now we just have to find some snowy place to make use of them! Sunday we took a last walk through the Basel Weinachtsmarkt and had the last cup of glühwein for the season. Then we continued on a walk along the Rhein for the rest of the afternoon.

Monday we decided to head out to the ruins we had seen overlooking the valley during the train ride to Laufen. Looking over our hiking map, we decided these were the Pfeffingen ruins, and we could get there by taking the 11 tram to Aesch and walking to the town of Pfeffingen, about a 20 minute walk. From there, we followed the signs to Ruine Pfeffingen. By the way, that is not snow on the ground, but frost. The moisture in the air around here forms some pretty impressive frost crystals, as you can see in this photo.







This was another fairly extensive castle ruin with bridges leading to it on two sides, and a gorgeous view of the surrounding valleys.


There was the tall tower at the end of the cliff, and a smaller tower at the right of the bridge we walked over, but you couldn't go into either of them. There were warning signs saying something like 'For your safety, and for the protection of the stonework, don't climb on the stonework' and there were no stairs that had been built as in the other towers we've seen.


As we were walking on the trail around the big tower, we saw this sweater that had been rigged up in one of the windows (the only window available to see that area of the interior). Lifting up the corner to peek through, we saw that someone had set up camp inside the restricted area in the ruins, carefully hiding all their gear so that it could not be seen from the viewing area. From the amount of stuff lying around, they had probably been there for some time; likely they remained undiscovered because virtually no-one in Switzerland goes where you aren't allowed to go.

Here you can see the stairs on the left that lead up to a metal rail - the viewing area. Behind this is the interior of the tower, where the little camp was set up. From the rail you could not see any of the person's belongings.

When we were done here, we decided to try to see another three ruins that are on the map near Pfeffingen. We headed out along the fields on the wanderweg, but it was too late and we did not make it to see them. We had to head back to Pfeffingen and Aesch so we could catch the tram home. We may head out tomorrow to explore the other three, but we'll have to remember to check the tram's holiday schedule. The walk from Aesch to Basel is about 5 hours, so it would not be pleasant to miss the last tram home!

Heading away from the ruins, sun shining through a stand of fir trees.
Looking back at the ruins in the distance.
View of the valley with haze wisping through.
Viewing platform in a copse of fir trees where we stopped to eat our lunch.