March is a month I like for hiking, especially as the early spring flowers often start popping up. That said, the weather can be unpredictable and searching for the first wildflowers is often down to luck.

My first hike of the month was right away on the 1st, and as all but one March hikes, it ended up being quite gloomy – cloudy with a chance of rain showers, though the rain didn’t come. The hike took us through the lowland fields and woods around a river, a place that can be among the earlier to awake.

What we saw the most were the marks the September flood left on the landscape, especially the meandering riverbanks, in the forms of accumulated deadwood and the tall grasses still quite beaten. It seemed that, despite the few warm days we’ve had already, nature was still reluctant to wake up, so we’ve only seen a handful of snowdrop patches.

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The next week, I took the train to a location I usually just pass through – a place where the railroad follows a river (well, for now, as a tunnel is planned to be built in the 2030s to straighten the track and increase speed). The morning was freezing, but the day eventually warmed up to 15°C, which was quite a difference.

Right at the start, there are some rock outcrops above the river, which I took the chance to see both from above and from below.

I spent some parts of the journey on the lower side of the valleys and some on the plateaus above, which made it pleasantly varied, compared to the previous week. Unfortunately, just as the previous week, flowers were also hard to find.

I finally had my luck when I reached the ruin of a castle – in the form of a single wall and a small patch of flowers below it.

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The third hike, on the 15th, led me to a place I’ve been to over 20 years ago. Just as the first one, we also saw some hints of the September floods there. In fact, there was a risk we’d need to change our plans, but the bridge damaged by the flood was repaired in time.

This time, we’ve had our wish, as a section of the forest along the river was carpeted by flowers, which definitely brightened up the otherwise gloomy day.

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The final hike of the month, on the 29th, led me to the hills. Again, with a gloomy weather and a chance of rain showers (though those only came when we were safely in the bus on our way home). The hike started a short distance from a place we’ve been to a year ago, and shared a short section of the trail – including a stop at the rock formation.

I took a detour to a place with a spring, and this was rewarded by groups of flowers preferring the damper parts of the woods.

And I also found a few more flowers in the woods.

As the day progressed, the clouds gathered more, so by the time I reached the lookout, the visibility was miserable, but – as I mentioned before – the rain held off for long enough for us to leave without getting wet.

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March weekends turned out to be cloudy, so I hope April will be a bit more optimistic, though it’s a month that tends to be tricky with weather, especially in the first half. We’ll see what it’ll bring.