Day 21 of the Walk to the World
Cup – MAY 30th
Muringen to Ripsdorf – a warm welcome
to Germany
A longer drive from Malmedy this morning
– a second night in the camper van had not done much
for my early morning good humour and leaving Tom and Anthony
to sort out our route, we went wrong right from the start
of today’s walk. I didn’t remember Muringen
at all and it became clear why when we realised our mistake.
Fortunately, we were soon back on the right road which took
us out into some proper remote countryside, past streams
and a succession of ponds, through a large forest on roads
and tracks – we saw only 3 vehicles in over an hour’s
walking. Coming out onto a major road, we turned left and
made our second mistake of the day. This one cost us one
mile and it was disheartening re-tracing our steps but it
had to be done. Chris rang to check our progress and came
back to meet us but we decided to continue on to our planned
first stopping point, a tall radio mast on the road to Dahlen.
We had been soaked twice by heaving downpours by the time
we arrived at the van after 3 hours and over 10 miles walking.
Chris had the water on for coffee and sandwiches prepared
and it was comforting to hear the rain pounding down outside
to know that we had missed another drenching.
Our second stopping point was to be in
Dahlen, a further 5.5 miles on and the route took us through
the Winkel Wald, a 60-minute walk through the forest and
out by a Daimler-Benz airfield and test track before dropping
down into a pretty and immaculately clean, German village.
The weather had brightened with periods of warm sunshine.
The third walk of the day took us climbing
high out of Dahlen and through another forest, this time
on a narrow track with shafts of sunlight slicing through
the gloom. My legs were starting to ache but coming out
of the trees and turning left towards Waldorf, the views
to both sides were spectacular. The wind was blowing across
us from the North-West and the sky was black and threatening
but with patches of blue and areas of sunshine both near
and far. The 20 minute walk was exhilarating being blown
around, watching the colours of the landscape change as
the clouds flew by. Another steep drop into Waldorf, a smaller
farming-village and then a last 2K on a zig-zag road climbing
up to the van and the end of another good day’s walking.
Chris had booked us into a hotel in Stadkyll,
Art Haus am See, situated on the edge of the town with views
over a beautiful lake. We drove down and met Mehmet Fistik,
the owner, a well-known mime-clown and character. He had
contacted a local journalist and after a long soak and a
good meal, I spent an hour talking to Fritz-Peter Linden
who works for papers in Trier and Cologne. Mehmet joined
us for photos and bought a round of beers. A very warm welcome
to Germany.
Yellow jersey award – Anthony –
always ready to help, nothing is too much trouble for him.
Distance covered – 20 miles
(plus 1 in the wrong direction). Total covered – 411.7
miles
