There are a few jokes about hiking, such as this one: A couple are walking through a forest, after a few hours the husband says, “Look, that’s a great place for a picnic.” “That’s right,” replies his wife. “A thousand ants cannot be wrong.” If you want to know whether this pearl from the joke department can also be read in the district of Roth, you have to tackle a twelve-kilometer hike around the community of Rohr. There is a new, interactive hiking trail with 20 joke stations.
The Nuremberg cabaret artist Oliver Tissot came up with the idea. “It’s about increasing the laughter,” he told the German Press Agency. “Children laugh about 400 times a day, adults only 40 times.” In this respect it is fortunate that the makers of the hiking trail, which is structured like a scavenger hunt, have included jokes for children and adults. The children will not get bored while hiking. Adults laugh more often. Hopefully. The question arises as to which category, for example, the following joke that hikers encounter on their way belongs: children or adults? “What were the last words of the gym teacher? All spears to me!” In any case, my colleague K., still a child inside, gave a little shudder.
A long time ago there was also a joke hiking trail on the Grünten in the Allgäu, but it is no longer maintained. The people of Middle Franconia should perhaps not ask the people of the Allgäu why. Instead, you should direct your attention to Switzerland, where there has long been a joke hiking trail in the canton of Appenzell, which the local tourism association describes as a tourist highlight. From 2024 onwards, the joke boards there, which are getting on in years, are to be gradually replaced.
The Middle Franconia are of course several steps ahead with their interactivity. Hikers can scan QR codes there and watch videos in which Franconian cabaret artists tell jokes, but also people from the community such as a forest worker, the pastor, a member of the volunteer fire brigade or one from the local snuff club. Last thigh slap on the jokes trail: “Why don’t ants go to church? Because they’re in sects!”