…Orbis.
Well, not quite accurate – it’s actually Urbi et Orbi (“to the city and to the world”) – and Orbis, a small town in the Palatinate with a population of 700, is anything but worldly, having only recently struggled out of the Middle Ages.
(They don’t call this neck of the woods “Alt Welt” for nothing…)

But it’s the source of the Selz river/stream/creek/dribble which meanders from upcountry through the agricultural countryside down to the Rhine in Ingelheim.

It was of massive significance in bygone days (as in: 14th century onwards) with over 40 watermills guarding its length to service cereal crop farmers in pre-road days.
Of which there were many.

And there’s a good cycle track that follows it all the way.
( overdid it as usual, starting in Kirchheimbolanden, mastering a climb for which the bike could have used crampons and unnecessarily tacking on another 40km for a coffee at Paul‘s in Mainz on the way back up another hill to home.

Good thing it was a moderate 31°C….

In the shade.

Of which there is little

The Source

The are/were 137 bridges across the river on its 61km journey to the Rhine.
This isn’t one of them.

And – 1.7km from the source – it’s about the cleanest/clearest spot. The rest rivals the Platte river in Nebraska in the “too thick to drink, too thin to plow” stakes.

And at the confluence of Selz and Rhine, it’s a bit of a disappointment. (Did I mention that it’s not navigable?)

Bloody hell, I’ve taken better pisses than this…

16 Sep This entry was published on 16 September, 2020 at 11:08. It’s filed under Agriculture, History, Nature, Out and about and tagged Kirchheimbolanden, Selz. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.