I say “originally estimated” because this was based on a route that followed the E8, European walking route up the Rhine to Bonn and then over to Aachen. Doris has, however, hatched a plan, for a slightly shorter route, for the rest of the German route, that is now taking us directly to Aachen.
The distance and time saving will not be great overall but will, hopefully, save us a few days. I say hopefully because between us and Aachen lies a region know as Eiffel – no prizes for what that means. We will either find ourselves cleverly threading our way between some very big hills or walking very slowly over them – keep your fingers crossed.
Actually, the E8 is a bit of a swizz anyway, as it is really just supra-national labelling of, longer well-established, regional and local walking routes. These routes are great if you are a casual walker wanting to spend a Sunday afternoon, taking the most scenic route possible between A and B. Even if it means climbing a mountain and walking 20 Kilometres, to get 5 kilometres further forward as the crow flies (don't ask me why a crow – that's just they way it is). But on a walk of over 1,000 Kilometres, one gets to see a lot of great scenery and that makes gratuitously scenic diversions a bit superfluous. So the plan is to take the more direct route to goal. But don't expect us to be back any time soon– there's still a bloody long way to go.
As consequence of the change of plan, we bid farewell to the Rhine today and re-entered big rolling hills and farmland. As it turned out, it was only really the corner of the river just after Koblenz that was heavily industrialised. After that, the banks returned to gently rolling hills and greenery. Very nice but, for me, never recapturing the sheer panache of the river from Rüdeshiem to Koblenz, with it's lovely old resort towns and villages and acres and acres of vineyards. Ah I do miss that local Riesling.
It was, however, a pleasant change to return to countryside and, I feel, it is worth pointing out a couple of things about the German countryside. In contrast to the UK, German farms have massive fields with, instead of hedgerows, public rights of way that allow one to walk very easily from place to place without restriction. Also, and possibly related, Germany has a network of well used and very well-signposted bicycles paths that almost completely avoid roads. If you are an enthusiastic cyclist and value your life, you could do worse than tour Germany. Not very exciting but I thought you should be told.
Because of this, one gets to see things that one is restricted from at home. Today, Doris and I took one of her “straight-cuts” across what turned out to be a huge farm that took us nearly 2 hours to traverse. Acre after acre of pears and strawberries in particular. Our hands did wander slightly during our journey and I have to say that freshly picked strawberries, grown for flavour rather than bounce, are a thing of wonder. Here is just one field full of the marvellous things.
Which, kind of brings me to the German obsession with Spargel – the German name for Asparagus. Every village street corner seems to have a stall selling it and every restaurant has a page of its menu devoted to Spargel dishes. I promise you that I am not exaggerating. White Spargel seems to be particularly highly prized. Now I know that some people like Asparagus and I think it is kind of okay. Actually, there is a particular place in our garden in Kent where it grows like a weed. But here, it is really a national obsession. Strange.
My apologies for today's straight reportage, lacking in sparkling wit – no change there then, I hear you say – but we are both pretty tired and my feet haven't yet stopped vibrating. Mind you, they are much better than the first time that we walked 30 Km when I woke up at 1:30 in the morning and my feet were just tingling and vibrating. It was very disconcerting that first time and I was relieved the next morning to find that it had stopped.
Finally, those who have followed this blog from and early stage will know that generosity is a key theme. I will not go on about the Buddhist philosophy underlying this, or the link with Karma but suffice to say that being generous in thought and deed is a pretty groovy thing to do – or perhaps be.
(If you are interested in the Buddhist stuff then check out the very funny Reverend Kusala's podcasts at http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma9/dharmatalks.html or through iTunes – yes honest, very funny).
So at risk of embarrassing her, I want to say a public thank you to Johanne who is printing off these blogs and mailing them to my mum, so that she can read, and so she tells me, enjoy them – hello mum xxx. Thanks Johanne – your Karma is stratospheric.
The musical choice today was Doris's and is “What a difference a day makes” by Dinah Washington.
By the way, did I mention that we are convinced that are being observed by the German police, who turn up regularly in our journey, pretending not to notice us. They have employed that stealthy and clever tactic of tailing us from it front, not realising that I saw every single episode of The Sweeney and am not, therefore, taken in - “You're nicked,” I hear people of a certain age bark.
Usually, we manage to nip into the Nieberlungenweg, or similar walking path to lose them. Things got really hairy in Koblenz when we wandered into vans and vans of riot police, allegedly there to police a football match. The whole thing was, of course, staged to entrap us but we managed to evade them by donning our rain gear and ducking into an iffy pizzeria. God knows what will happen now we have nicked some strawberries.
I think that's about it – not sure when we will get online again but do keep and eye out for us – gawd bless.
1 comment:
Thanks Gary - there is something you need to know (shhh) - I have been very wicked and have a lot of making up to do in the karma area...this should just about get me back on track. Keep on trecking..
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