Day 8 - 34km - which makes it a total of 200 km!!!!!!!!

It is Sunday and we have taken the day off. Yesterday we pushed ourselves to the limit by walking our furthest distance yet to reach the beautiful town of Worms. I am typing this from the Dom Hotel next to the cathedral, listening to the Sunday bells. We are both exhausted and have nothing planned for today that does not involve sleep, Internet or food. My sister Ulrike was so kind to find us accommodation that covered most of the following requirements: a bath tub rather than a shower (difficult to find in the inns of Germany but important for my tired legs), two beds (luckily most double beds in Germany consist of two seperate mattresses and a single duvet each which gives Gary and me at least a chance of s o m e sleep ) and wireless LAN. She managed to get it all!

A good nights sleep has been the biggest challenge so far – at home Gary and I are used to our own bedrooms in a blissfully quiet location. As I said in an earlier blog, we are physically tired but our minds have not had anything to do most of the day. We tend to fall asleep immediately when we go to bed and wake up 2 hours later tossing and turning to get comfortable without disturbing each other – we are not particularly successful as yet and are looking forward to today's upcoming siesta.

Back to walking....... yesterday we left behind the hills and forests of the Odenwald and Bergstrasse. We are still following the Nibelungenweg but have now also joined the E8, one of the European long distance walk ways which we will be following for the rest of our journey in Germany. Here you can see the profile of yesterdays walk: http://www.fernwege.de/d/nib/002/skizze/index.html which was thankfully pretty flat but also very boring with long straight man made walk ways through man made forests and tarmacked side roads through huge fields.

We have not met many walkers on our way but to our delight we bumped into a lovely couple yesterday who are walking from Cologne to Vienna, all 1600 km of it. They have the more difficult journey ahead because they will have to cross the alps. I hope they make it!

Whilst I am very tired today and glad that this computer is only two feet away from my bed, I am raring to carry on tomorrow. I am fueled by all the support we are getting especially from our families. My brother Juergen and my sister-in-law Luise were going to drive all the way from Erfurt to Worms to spend some time with us today. Because Gary and I were so tired we moved the meeting to a bit later in the journey. Aufgeschoben ist nicht aufgehoben! My mother calls me every night to see how we are doing. Gary talks to his mum every night too. She is very supportive and since she has found out that we keep a diary on-line she has been wondering if she should learn using a computer. Both my sisters have been absolute stars. Danke Maedels – ihr denkt halt mit!

I know the theme songs are Gary's baby but I am sure he will not mind if I announce our current choice for overall theme song for the journey:

Crazy - Gnarls Barkley

I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that phase.
Even your emotions had an echo
In so much space

And when you're out there 
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy
Does that make me crazy
Does that make me crazy
Probably

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice
Come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are,
Ha ha ha bless your soul
You really think you're in control

Well, I think you're crazy 
I think you're crazy 
I think you're crazy
Just like me

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking, I want to be like them
Ever since I was little, ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done

Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably

Day 7 – 18 km 166km

which equals 100 miles or 4 marathons. Not bad what the bald eagle and I have achieved!

Like Gary I am not thinking about anything in specific when walking but am never bored. However, I have been trying to focus my mind on a subject and I must admit that I have not gotten very far. I am musing about the analogy between what we are doing and achieving goals in business and life. So far I have only come to one important conclusion: However far Gary and I manage to walk every day, we celebrate every step we have done. I know that I and many people (female trait?) celebrate or even acknowledge their own progress way too little and beat themselves up way to much. This brings me to the subject of moving goal posts which I am a specialist in. So my second conclusion is: DON'T move the goal post until you have achieved the original goal and acknowledged it and bought yourself *a big fat chocolate cake* (insert own favourite *here*).

This morning we left Beerfurt and ended up at a delightful Naturfreundehaus which is a kind of a Youth hostel for grown ups. Gary being British had of course other ideas about the Nature in Naturfreundehaus. I let him explain:

What can I say, fellow Brits of a certain age? Imagine “Carry on Camping”, imagine “Return of the Pink Panther” where Inspector Clouseau's embarrassment was shielded only by a well positioned guitar? We are next to a mixed table of sixty-somethings and I sense it is just a matter of time before they decide to pursue “Natur”. I think I will have to get myself one of those “pouch” things – not because I have anything to hide, of course, but because it is simply not British!

Day 7

Yesterday's weariness, that you may detect in yesterday's entry, seemed to evapourate today. Perhaps yesterday's malaise was due to the relentless forest, or perhaps tiredness, or perhaps our final departure from the mighty river Main, that we crossed four times, and had been our friend and comforter for so long.

Whereas yesterday was simply tough, today was tough and exhilarating. A lot of uphill stuff but, boy, was it worth it – big serious dark green, fuck off, hills with views extending beyond the range of one's eye. Beauty so staggering that is was a surprise to find ourselves alone within and on it.

If the previous day's accommodation and food was magnificent, last night was journeyman at best. I feel ungenerous saying this, as the proprietor was friendly and helpful in every way that one could want. Her Pension had seen better times but I am sure she knew it. But her warmth was sincere, even to the extent of encouraging us to take the remaining breakfast rolls and ham to make our lunch – something we have done surreptitiously in other places.

Today was another contrast. Unable to find a hotel in our chosen destination, we climbed a big hill to stay in the German equivalent of a “Youth Hostel”. Sort of ironic, as everyone else there, and there were a lot of them, seemed to be at least ten years older than us. A quick side note to say that, after Doris retired to bed early-ish, I got talking to them in my pigeon German and what a friendly and lovely bunch they are.

Anyway, my point was going to be that this basic accommodation and food has its own special joy. It does not pretend to be grand, nor aspire to it - it is simply basic accommodation, in an amazingly scenic location, with basic but good food served with warmth. It does not fall into the trap of aspiration and is better for it.

This I know, by implication, damns last night's hospitality and it makes me feel ungenerous in doing so. The notion of generosity is one that has stuck with me from my recent readings of Buddhist teaching. Though a long way from being a Buddhist, as the glass of Weissbier in front of me will testify, I take the importance of generosity seriously, especially as my instinct is quick to judge, rather than be generous, no matter how hard I try to be so.

The picture, by the way, is teh view from just outside where we stayed.

All in all, another great day, with a tricky musical choice. I am going to have to go for “You can't always get what you want” by the Stones.

Day 6 – 24 Kilometres – Total to date 148 Kilometres

Today was pretty tough. More up and down than on the level and most of it very steep. A lot of the walk was in beautiful, thick forest. This is great for keeping cool when climbing hills but, for me, does not give me the sense of progress that I get from open countryside, where one can see villages on the horizon getting closer with each step.

It is also easier to get lost, as one path through trees looks much the same as another. And although it seems churlish to complain about such gorgeous countryside, I find that the forest walks can tend towards monotony because of their unchanging internal landscape.

We spend so many hours walking that I started to wonder what I think about whilst walking. After all, there is nothing to do except walk and think. My conclusion is that my mind just seems to wander as I walk, without fixing on anything significant or meaningful. Thoughts arise and dissapear without effort or concern. So far, I have not been bored nor craved the company of my iPOD which waits in eager readiness at the very top of my rucksack. I am simply content to walk and let my mind wander. Is this a form of meditation I wonder? Is is just being?

Today's journey ended after a long walk when we stumbled, exhausted, down a steep slope, into the village of Beerfurth, in search of somewhere to sleep and eat – in that order of priorities. The place that we found is modest by yesterday's standards but is good enough for needs, except for perhaps the shower. It seems to have just two heat settings: scalding and extremely scalding. The longer it ran, the hotter it seemed to get. Having lathered up, I was reduced to standing some distance from the stream of water from the shower-head, splashing water towards me with my hand, in the hope that it would cool in the distance travelled. Miraculously, it did but made the experiences somewhat less satisfying than usual.

Before going, I wanted to say that if you had written to either of us, or posted a comment on the blog, please forgive us for not getting back to you. Devoid of Internet hotspots, we have resorted to sneaking into the infrequent “Internet Cafes” with a memory stick. It takes most of our time to update the blog, leaving little or no time for replying to emails or comments. But as soon as we find a hotel with a fast wireless connection, a jacuzzi, free massage and not on a main road, we will rest up for a while and catch up with you all.

Oh, I nearly forgot today's musical choice. I think I will have to go for Paul Weller's “Wild Wood” although “The Long and Winding Road” by the Beatles ran it pretty close today.

Day 5: Perfect Day - 24 Kilometres – Total 124 Kilometres

Day 5: Perfect Day - 24 Kilometres – Total 124 Kilometres

Today has been such a good day for so many reasons that it is hard to know where to begin.

I'll start with food. The picture above was, until this evening, one of the best meals I had ever eaten. Fortunately, my cooing, started sufficiently early to prompt Doris to suggest that I take a photograph.

Over the years, I have eaten my fair share of Bratwurst and Sauerkraut but this was in an entirely different league. It was served up by one of the oldest Inns in Germany, Gasthof zum Riesen, in the very old town of Miltenberg.

I have eaten in some posh nosh in my time, and enjoyed them greatly but it is the simple meals that have given me the most pleasure. My list is as follows: Pie and Mash in Kelly's in Roman Road; Salt Beef in Bloom's in Whitechapel; Sardines in Portimao in Portugal, Spaghetti Vongole in Porto san Stefano in Italy and, now, Bratwurst and Sauerkraut in Miltenberg. None of them was expensive but every single one of them made my soul soar.

And so to this evening. After walking for 24 Kilomteres, a fair amount of it uphill, we stumbled out of the forest, to encounter Gasthof Geyersmuehle nestling in the woods. We were shown a lovely spacious room facing the woods and decided to stay. It is said that quality is the gap between expectation and experience, rather than objective judgement, and perhaps this played a part but nothing prepared us for the epic quality of food and wine served up. A perfect end to a perfect day.

There were a number of other things that made today so enjoyable but one was certainly that my main physical challenges seem to be under control. In particular my Archilles tendon problem seems to be manageable. Not only did I walk through some of Europe's most magnificent scenery, along the majestic Main river, and deep into the Bavarian forests on its banks, but, for the first time, I finished the day without so much as a limp or hobble, for all the world, perambulating like a normal person.

Before we left, I pondered the challenge of “being” rather than “doing”. Interestingly, we have not turned a page of a book nor spun the wheel of our respective iPODs. We have simply walked, eaten, blogged, slept...walked, eaten, blogged, slept...and so on. Five days, not a page read, not a Podcast or record listened to. I have, frankly, had too much to drink to ponder this further without getting pompous, so I will leave it there for now.

Eagle eyed readers may have spotted that I referred to Doris's “Day 4” blog but that they couldn't find it. Alas , I fear, it is destined to be like Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes, hidden from public view, attaining legendary status but not emerging until another era.

The key thing that you may have missed is that, yesterday, Gisela, Doris's sister, and her husband Toni, drove their children Felix and Juliana, 140 Kilometres with their bikes in a trailer, so that they could cycle along our route and surprise us. And then insist on carrying our rucksacks for a couple of kilometres. Amazingly generous.

Today's music? It was a close run thing, with Bob Dylan's “Temporary Like Archilles” but I'll have to go for the obvious with Lou Reed and “Perfect Day”.

Day 5 by Doris

It is finally time that I contribute to this blog again. My only earlier attempt was not posted as it did not pass Gary's quality control. I was rather put out at the time but with hindsight he was right (him being right does not happen often – so savor it). I had written a 'we started here, then went there, then there and ended up here' kind of entry when I hardly could keep my eyes open.

We have found our rhythm and a daily routine very quickly. The day starts by waking up and assessing levels of pain and stiffness that remain from the previous day. I have been very lucky with little pain. Yesterday I woke up completely without, today after our first very hilly walk I have some but I know it will be gone as soon as I have warmed up. Then we have a hotel breakfast – some more varied then others but all Continental featuring at the very minimum bread rolls, German sausages, ham and cheese. I make up two sandwiches which we take along for elevenses but they usually are all we eat until dinner together with a couple of apples.

We know the distance we would like to achieve on the day and set out to achieve it. We might not be the fastest walkers but we very determined ones. Every day we have either achieved the distance we had set out to do or we added some more because we did not want to stop at 3 pm or like yesterday when Gary had his first pain free walk we took on a challenging walk leaving Miltenberg at 2 pm.

We find a hotel just before our legs go on strike, we shower and I wash what needs washing. Then we have dinner and Gary gets out his special 'tool' to measure the distance we have actually walked. It is a shoe string with a knot in it. The knot represents 21 km which has somehow become our badge of achievement and is regularly surpassed. Then we decide where and how far we are going to walk the next day.

We are tired and tend to be in bed between 9 and 10 pm – one would think we would both just pass out and sleep through the night. But whilst we are both physically tired, we have not had any mental challenge during the day and we find ourselves in a very unusual situation that makes us both sleep very fitfully with minds racing. I guess it will take time for our minds and bodies to adjust to their role reversal.

Whatever happens, I am immensely proud of our achievement so far. We have walked 1/10 of the way already, are both in good spirit and acceptable physical condition. Gary and I make a really good team. The weather has been cloudless blue skies since we have left and we have had more than our fair share of encouragement from our family and friends and many well wishers along the way.

Life is good on the road

Day 4 – 26 Kilometres : Total so far 100 Kilometres

Doris has already covered most our our day and, in particular, the surprise visit of Gisela, Toni, Juliana and Felix which was a real treat.

Here are some other random thoughts on our journey so far.

Every day seems to begin and end the same way – limping. More often than not, this is due to stiffness and minor tweaks that are soon walked off. Last night at dinner, Doris commented that she “had lost control of her feet”. I wonder whether it will ever be thus? And have to admit to a certain satisfaction in this “badge of honour” of a tough day, soon shaken off.

My troublesome tendons may or may not turn out to be more serious. Doris said not to mention them but I feel that an update is necessary. As we are now only occasionally on-line, I feel like a war zone hostage or Big Brother participant, unaware of what the public at large or the tabloid press are saying about by Archilles Tendons. I feel the need to put my side of the story.

In short, today was tough. I really didn't know, this morning, whether I would be able to walk very far at all. Up and down hill is particularly difficult, so we decided to stay level. The soreness was omnipresent but so was the magnificent scenery of the wooded river Main valley – a real compensatory bonus.

I am a little surprised to have ended the day, having walked 26 Kilometres and pushed our total distance walked to 100 Kilometres – achieved a day earlier than planned! And right now, I feel no worse than yesterday but tomorrow is hilly, so we shall see. Doris, suggests a relatively short walk and some time off. Sounds sensible and quite unlike us.

I'll try not to write about this topic again but crave your indulgence so far, as it is one of the few physical things that I genuinely fear could put an end to our journey, if it gets worse. Hopefully, it will not and it will settle down to be a troublesome nuisance or dissapear altogether.

Changing tack, and if you have read this far you should perhaps consider getting out more, I have been considering whether each day should have a musical theme. So far my thoughts are:

Day 1 - “Kind and Generous” by Natalie Merchant
Day 2 - “In the City” by the Jam
Day 3 - “Feats Don't Fail Me Now” by Little Feat
Day 4 - “With a Little Help From Our Friends” by Joe Cocker and the Grease Band

If I ever get on-line again, I'll see if I can find some links to the music, on YouTube or elsewhere. In the meantime, please post your own musical suggestions if you can be arsed.