No “fifth wheel on the car”: On a single hike in Thuringia

In times of online dating, “single hiking” seems like a fairly analogue offer. However, it doesn’t work entirely without the internet, because the appointments to which nature park guide Susanne Heinrich takes her groups are available online. Participants also register here.

Susanne is the Thuringian hiking guide the protected brand “Singlewandern”which is already established in the Rhineland, the Eifel, Switzerland and other regions.

We have arranged to go for a walk on the Wildcat Trail near Hütscheroda in the Wartburg district. Two men and four women had registered for the eight and a half kilometer long round. Someone had recently become ill, and so Michael from Eisenach is the “rooster in the basket”. And that feels good for him. Michael is here to get to know a woman, and a very specific one: Antje. The two of them have their first here today Date. Antje had read about the hike for singles and asked him if he wanted to register too.

“I also searched digitally – that’s how we got in touch,” says Michael. “They drew my attention to it and said: There’s this hike where we can get to know each other while hiking.” At first glance, the two already seem like a couple. It is still unclear whether they will, even if Michael thinks the encounter is great and Antje says that “the spirit” is right.

The group also offers a certain level of security for Antje and the other participants. There are other people there who look after you and who you can talk to. It’ll be a nice trip either way – and above all, it’s “free and not as forced as when you meet up for coffee,” as she says. “Even if you go home alone, you have had a nice experience.”

Antje has already been on another tour with participant Andrea. For example, the two women talked about vacation and new hiking boots. When she talks about it, the mood is relaxed. “You’re out in the fresh air, you see something different and meet other people and you get tips for new hiking boots,” says Andrea. And Antje adds: “We ran together and that changed your life!” The group laughs. “It definitely changed my life in terms of running shoes,” jokes Andrea.

She comes from Hesse and joined on the recommendation of a friend. She lives in Düsseldorf, where “single hiking” has been around for a long time. That’s why she gave Andrea a voucher. Today Andrea went hiking for the second time.

It doesn’t bother her that there’s only one man on tour. She talks about her fulfilling work, caring for her mother and aunt, her large circle of friends and the good conversations with the other women. She would be open to finding a man here, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In any case, she finds the atmosphere nicer than online dating.

In addition, people no longer want to commit themselves online. Everything is interchangeable. Real contact, like this, is simply more fulfilling. That’s why she would take part in a tour of Thuringia again.

At a corner with wooden sculptures, nature park guide and single hike organizer Susanne tells us something about the works of art. It’s about the region and the shots of a hunt that can be heard in the background. Susanne is on a hike with singles for the third time. You still remember the first tour – during which something very unusual happened: a surplus of men.

“Four men had signed up for the first hike. I hardly slept the night before – because they were a bit disappointed that there weren’t any women there. But this isn’t a dating agency or anything. The reason we do it is so that we can make contact makes recordings, doesn’t sit at home, is on the move and maybe even exchanges numbers to drink coffee or go on further hikes.

One of the men was there again on the second hike. And it was like most people: “Women go out more, do and do.”

The participants Gerlinde and Doreen share a fate. Their husbands have died. For Doreen it was spring. Today’s hike is “the first time” for her, which took some effort. “The couples we used to do something with continue to do something with me,” she says. But sometimes she feels “like a little fifth wheel on the car.” Painful memories would also come back – for example when she visited the onion market that the man had attended the year before.

Doreen isn’t looking for a new life partner here, she’s hoping for a connection, “so that I no longer have to do things alone on the weekend, to find friends or like-minded people with whom you can meet up sometimes and say: We’re going now Go hiking, you don’t have to go alone.

During the planned hike through the Dragon Canyon Do you want to be there again when the weather is right? Hiking guide Susanne has decided to go to the Christmas market with the participants after the tour on December 7th – of course only with those who want to.

Gerlinde is not alone here either – she has Yole, her little gray dog, with her. The two often go hiking, including long tours. When she was once out with a hiking group that had been hiking together for “forever and three days,” she felt like an “outsider” as a woman without a companion. That’s why she calls single hiking a “super idea”. It’s also a “safe thing,” praises Gerlinde. “If you hike alone, you’ll be alone if something happens.”

Susanne keeps an eye on all participants. “It’s not just about finding your life partner,” she says. It’s about having fun and getting in touch.” That worked well this time too.

The next two hikes take place in December: On December 7th there is a hike on the Drachenschlucht – on December 28th on the Betteleichenweg.