Mark

So let’s cut to the chase. We woke to wet tents after an overnight rain. If you’ve ever camped, you know that feeling after a “good” nights sleep on the ground. But packing up a wet tent in your backpack along with damp clothes is a special treat altogether. We left with a “cheerful” attitude as you will see.

The views of the sun rise and the early morning mist however still inspired.

After passing the first few villages with restaurants (closed of course) we were jokingly whining about never getting coffee/tea and our caffeine withdrawals.

The next village ahead looked even less promising. It had, maybe, 4 buildings and at least one was a barn. Turning the corner we saw an open door and an oddly large restaurant/biergarten for such small place.

Here began a morning of 6 miracles. Thanks for all that petitioned on our behalf.

1) We found an open cafe for coffee early in the morning in the tiniest of villages.

2) The coffee was good and strong

3) For my sister’s sake they had English tea which we’ve rarely found

4) They had cakes and we were given a double portion gratis

5) We made a call to a lodging in town we’d tried to reach at least five times. They answered and had a room available.

6) It was less expensive than most places we’ve stayed.

Leaving that little village we were on a God given high. God does like showing off!

We passed some sheep. One very old gal grazed near the fence and us as we passed by. She made a great photo opportunity. She looked so old, dirty, and arthritic. All I could think is you are soon going to be someone’s meal.

During the day, our route merged with the Neandertaler Weg. I thought that trail blaze was fun.

To get to our destination however was still going to be a tough long day. I remapped our way and found a couple small short cuts (which inevitably meant a path through stinging nettles) but we still ended up with a second consecutive 18+ mile day. But there was nothing to be done but get through it.

Our long coffee/tea stopped helped a lot as did our long 1hr lunch break. It was at a playground and Nadine took some time to have a ride on the zip line. (So did I).

After lunch, we faced a steep climb through Albeck. In this village the Bosch family (very interesting history here …

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch

After the shortcut, our path travelled through the aforementioned mass of stinging nettles and oddly, it has been over two hours now and my legs still feel the small electric shocks.

We finally arrived at our destination and it was a Gastehaus/Pension. Our room is small but suitable and they were hosting an Italian Tapas (yes Italian) night. It wasn’t the cheapest meal but it was fun tasting different things. I have to admit the best thing was the after dinner coffee. I’m sure Nadine agrees.