Allison, Nadine, Mark

We slept in! Well, Nadine didn’t, she got up to see the sunrise, but unfortunately it was an overcast morning. Breakfast was served at 8 am and what a breakfast. The meal covered all the basics and the entire surface area of the huge table. Granted we also made sandwiches for lunch from all the leftovers.

I (Nadine) gave my second or third yellow arrow to our hostess and host at the lodging today.  I gave them a brief description of the arrow and what it means to the Once Lost Trio.  Jesus ist der Weg, die Wahrheit und das Leben.  I thanked them for not only blessing us on this journey but the many people that have come before us.  It was a special moment.

The day began with the climb up to the castle. We did this last evening for fun without back packs…it was a lot easier yesterday evening.

At the next large town of Heidenheim , we stopped at the tourist information building just as they were opening to get a stamp for our books. The  building was joined with a Lutheran church that had quite a history dating back to the 700s. It was so nice to walk into a church and see Christ front and center. The Romanesque style of the interior is beautiful in a simple way.  This church was greatly influenced by a British missionary Wunibald (so there you go Mum!). You can read the fascinating story here (you may need to use a translate feature on your browser):

https://www.artefax.de/geschichte/heidenheim/heidenheimeins.html

Hitting the road again we saw some beautiful views. And of course many creatures including cows, frogs and magical caterpillars and hedgehogs.

We walked through lots of farmland and some forests today. At one point we had to take a giant leap across a broken bridge.

Just kidding that shot was staged. Just off the screen to the right was a temporary replacement bridge. But the opportunity for an action shot was too tempting.

For lunch we stopped at a picnic spot surrounded by farm fields. It sounds so perfect. The only down side was the smell of silage from the fields. But when you are hungry, you stop and eat.

Do you ever wonder what we do all day while we walk?

We ended our walk of 15.2 miles in the town of Oettingen In Bayern (home to the beer by the same name) by 3:30 pm today which is pretty good with our late start.

One of the churches in this town is directly across from our dwelling for the night.  The bells are beautiful right now but I wonder…will they toll every quarter hour tonight?

Mark did a grocery run while the ladies showered. We’re having salmon and veggies tonight – a welcome change from the tasty, but ever present meats and dumplings.

As you can see from our maps page we are getting deeper into our journey. We are well past half way through Germany and have passed the 400mi mark.