It was time. I had a mountain to climb, and my main purpose for this was to put my research into action. I’ve been walking uphill slowly so I don’t put too much pressure on my AF heart. If I do this, and over 1000 metres with no repercussions then this means I can confirm that it is not the height that causes my AF and therefore should be able to climb maybe over 1000 metres. So what might it be? I recalled it had happened during my exercise class which is highly exertive so I won’t over-exert myself today either. We had a last minute brief and set off at the old persons’ time of 0930.

The first stage was a height where most people go to for a beer or coffee, about 800 metres. My aim was 1800 metres because that was the height of the Konig Mountain. Corrie and I had our coffee and headed out to stage 2. It was an average difficulty but soon became more difficult with gravel, autumn leaves, and precipitous drops below a non railed, narrow pathway. Corrie’s knees started to give way at about 1500, and I ran out of day time at 1700 but feeling really good physically. So much so that I ran jumping from rock to rock on the way down.

We had met a young German couple earlier on who saw Corrie coming back down, then ran into me (no pun intended) further up, reporting on Corrie, and surprised at the distance I had covered even though I was taking it easy. No matter my condition, I never seem to manage for some reason (never one to do with lack of energy or strength) to get to the top. But the good news is now, that I don’t care so much except for today where I wanted a close up picture of Zugspitze, the tallest German mountain in the Alps.

Part of my run down was due to leaving Corrie for so long, though she was at a “hut” that had a cold shandy. I would have called her but no internet up there. Besides, our new German friends and a very fit German woman, about 50, helped me with distances, it was fairly quiet as not many go so high by foot. I helped Corrie finish her shandy, then back down;  Corrie doing a little shopping while I was still trying for a photo of ‘Zug’, so I went the other way but the sun was very glary and I couldn’t get a clear shot.

Apart from the above which is all about outcomes, I very much enjoyed the adventures, and Corrie appeared to as well. A great bonus was to be able to go through the old town of Garmisch  where the houses had a front line, close up view of some of the highest mountains of the entire Alps. It was a special experience to see this part of town and chat to a young mum and her child.

Crossing the fairly wild river in the wrong place took me kilometres off course providing me with my longest walking day on this walk, and it also meant that I arrived home in the dark having asked a Turkish asylum seeker for directions. Even though he didn’t know, we did have a long conversation, a little about us, and about the Mevlani whirling dervishes, the Sufi mystics, and Anatolia where I spent some time with Corrie.

Those paintings you see on buildings that I send are called Luftlmalerei (with 2 dots on the ‘u’), and they are a form of mural art native to towns and villages of Southern Germany and Austria. They are also called fresco. These beautiful paintings have quite a history and go back some 5000 years, so if you’re interested just wikipedia them.