I went to bed very sore last night and woke up a lot better. As I got up I remembered my friend in the mountains who, following a poor result from an operation on his back, decided to help his medication along by walking up hills every morning (obviously he had to walk down as well). This exercise takes away the pain that his meds used to, but more effectively. Just prior to my hill walk I [...]
The cheapest places to stay are often around the railway station as most of you would know. They’re cheap because they are often in poor shape, they are 1-2 star, there is the noise of people coming and going, and anyone sleeping rough is seen to be a person to fear. Well, not in Germany where we’ve been. They are in 5 star shape but 3 star, our experience is that Germans are not [...]
By the way, it rains every day in Germany but not real rain, and I stand by that until we have a dropless day. Today another very grey cloud came to town but it just dampened us a little. On the other hand it has only rained once where we got drenched and that was my mistake. Also the good thing about clouds is I find they can make an ordinary photo shot better. [...]
No bus trips today, just one train and an older woman attempting to stop me sitting down a insisted that I get another seat away from Corrie so she could sit there. I was getting no help from a national security adviser (he had that written on his computer) so I rested on my backpack which really had ownership of the seat. She soon left, then after 5 minutes returned to take up residence [...]
The usual pre croissant walk took us to another part of town and passed two beautiful houses, one lived in by the town architect. His house personifies those grand old mansions. Then it was a bus ride to our forest walk in Wasserkuppe. But there was a difference of opinion about timetables, so we asked an off duty driver to help us out. He assured us that German buses leave on time so be [...]
To find good walks we sometimes take trains to towns that have a few towns in between. Today was one of those days. The German trains always come into sight a minute before arrival time and I set my watch to it when it leaves. Today we did that three times in nearly three hours as we had, you guessed it, changed trains three times. Our last stop was Fulda. At some town stations there [...]
We have made changes to our walking plans because of a range of factors. Firstly there was no camino trail starting in Berlin and my old back injury had a poor relationship with my pack. So we trained to Leipzig and found a track but there was no information on accomodation as we walked and I was unable to carry my pack for long periods. We discovered a train that goes for some way so [...]
Yet another beautiful German town also situated close to the Thuringian Forest and iconic as it was where Germany’s first democratic constitution was signed after the First World War. It became in 1999 the European Capital of Culture. It is situated within the valley of the Ilm river, a tributary of the Saale river I talked of in an earlier post. The terrain is hilly. So we began our walk in the flatter part [...]
So Luisa (from day 6) has been called the grandmother of German Classicism by transforming Gotha into one of the most important cultural centres of central Germany. Goethe travelled there frequently to engage with scholars and appreciate the art collections. She was known as someone who was full of espirit and a thirst for knowledge. She was cheerful with a lively spirit and a passion for women’s issues. She was well before her time [...]
Gotha is another town on the edge of the beautiful Thuringian Forest. One of the German caminos is from Leipzig to Eisenach and the information office had a map. Great that it was perfect until the street I was on fell off the map. I searched for a long time with no luck so when things aren’t working I look for a river. There wasn’t one, which is rare so I found a creek. [...]
