PREPARATION AND SAFETY ON YOUR HIKING TOUR
The great thing about walking is that you can do it practically anywhere, at any time of day, in any weather! Let's take the starting point of the BÄR branch in Düsseldorf, which is located on Königsallee, as an example: Lace up your BÄR walking boots and head out of the store door. You only have to walk a few hundred meters on asphalt to get to the nearest park - the Hofgarten. There are beautiful paths that lead under old trees along a bridle path to the Napoleonsberg viewing hill. A few kilometers further and you are at the Rheinauen. Idyllic cycle and hiking trails lead along the river with views of Germany's most famous river, and there are numerous places to stop for refreshments. And if you are drawn even further afield, head towards the Eifel, which is a paradise for hikers with its national parks.
While we usually know our immediate surroundings well and can just start walking, it is advisable to have a plan when hiking through unknown biotopes and landscapes. Various hiking guides offer tour suggestions with route descriptions, maps and tips for every region. Various apps that you can download onto your smartphone and that offer numerous tours are becoming increasingly popular. The advantage: you often only have to determine your current position and the apps will spit out suggestions. If we enter the BÄR branch in Düsseldorf as the starting point, we immediately receive suggestions for seven tours from the store door - with information on length and difficulty, photo impressions, places to stop for refreshments, tourist information, etc., if applicable. And of course you can be guided by GPS (which conventional book publishers now also offer). But wait! Before you set off, don't forget the most important thing: the right footwear. Because nothing hinders a beautiful hike more than aching or wet feet. When choosing shoes, consider the surface you are walking on. The rule of thumb here is: the rougher and steeper the terrain, the higher the demands on the shoe. A distinction is made between lightweight running shoes such as the HIGH PERFORMANCE, EASYRUN or LADYRUN for flat terrain, mid-height trekking shoes that are as waterproof as possible (GRAN BECCA or TRANSEUROPA 2.0) for classic hikes and sturdy, ankle-high hiking boots for mountain and snow tours (BERGKOMFORT, FELDBERG or INNSBRUCK).