• 25th October 2013

Autumn watch, German-style

The BBC is about to kick off its Autumnwatch for 2013. This is our version, sampling how Germany is looking, right now, all over the place.

Autumn is advancing all across Europe, and we’re all settling back into our normal existences. Most of the summery stuff we were wearing a couple of weeks ago has gone back into the box.

But even sitting at your desk and shuffling spreadsheets, as you undoubtedly are, there is a way of getting a taste of what you could be doing in Germany this season, thanks to that wonderful invention, the webcam. While many of them are basically hugely dull traffic-watchers, there are also some that will give you a good foretaste of what a place can be like.

Have a look, for example, at this set of cams in the Mosel Valley, a whole collection of them ranged up and down some of the most scenic bits of the river, where the vineyards are looking ripe for harvest. These cams are pretty state of the art, and allow a certain amount of spying, too. So if you’re a serial adulterer in Bernkastel, or Traben-Trarbach, you need to be aware that Big Brother (or Sister) could be following your movements.

Up in the Harz Mountains there’s no snow yet, so they are still using the toboggan run, the metal Rodelbahn. Elsewhere, the big summer attractions are falling quiet, with the rollercoasters of Europa Park looking a bit forlorn. And the North Sea camp sites are looking pretty empty. However you might catch a few swimmers in outdoor pools of some of the hot water spas, such as this one down in Bad Endorf in Chiemgau, the bottom right hand corner of Bavaria. A bit of a chill in the air isn’t enough to keep wellness-loving Germans away.

Meanwhile up in the mountains behind, the skiing areas are in transition. There’ll be people pisteing around on this grass in a few weeks’ time. If you want to see whether the snow has arrived in the Bavarian lowlands, too, then this is the place to do it.

Of course there’s some images that don’t change, whatever the season. There’ll always be trains in the yard, ships on the Elbe, and trucks on the road. That’s Germany.