A Year Long Pilgrimage

As I write there is a massive thunderstorm in progress, long lightning flashes, and the accompanying rolling thunder, and the rain has just started with big heavy drops.  Not sure how well this bodes for tomorrow- the rain is set to continue till about lunch time.   After yesterday's delightfully cool weather, today has seen a substantial temperature increase.  The path continues to be hard work, having to constantly stop and check where the path goes, and continually look out for the signs.  The signs on this path are poorly designed, with a little black arrow at the bottom of the sign if the path turns etc.  There is no way that i can see which way the arrow is pointing unless I deviate,  and walk right up to the sign, breaking the rythm each time.  Added to that, when the path turns the signs are sometimes 4 or 5 metres in the new direction, and very easy to go sailing past, which of course means retracing steps.  Look hard and you can see the AU signs, for the Ausonius Way, and

I left Bingen early, 7.10am, by bus, three days ago.  The forecast was for temperatures in the low 30's, and added to that, I had descended the river bank to reach Bingen,  and didn't much feel like ascending by almost the same way.  Thus the reason for my 50 minute bus ride, by a circuitous way, to Reinböllen.   Reinböllen It took me several attempts to leave town, with a very quick lesson learned for this way - its easy to get lost.  At times the way marks are few and far between, which in turn meant regular stops to check.  This kind of walking doesn't make for steady progress - stopping, starting, retracing steps because a turn was missed.  All this made it quite tricky. The waymark The path is not always clear On reaching the first big town, Simmern, having completed about 20kms, I decided I would stop there.  I went to the tourist office to ask for help in finding a room only to be told that she couldn't help because it was too late in the afternoon (2.00pm!), but

Our last day into Bigen was quite arduous.   It was the hottest day since we began, and quite humid.  Added to that, with a lot of climbing up and down the nearer we got to Bingen, we both felt pretty weary.  We had few places to stop and rest, and it wasnt until we were about 4 kilometres from Bingen that we found a restaurant open where we could have a cool drink and something to eat.  Up until this day we have found a bench to sit and rest most times when we were in need, but the last 12 kms or so they were few and far between,  and with our ability (or rather Edith's) to have ticks find us, we were very reluctant to just sit on the grass.  Once bitten ... as the saying goes. Lots of little bridges to cross on this stretch.  Leaving Stromberg would have meant a stiff climb out of town, and so our host, instead of returning to the bottom of the hill, delivered us to the path at the top.  A bonus. The locals, being a Sunday, were out in force.  They drove their vehicles to somewhe

Today we were meant to go 10kms to the town of Stromberg, where we were to be  collected and driven to our accommodation, 5kms off the path, in the village of Genheim.  We accidentally got a lift - not because we were trying, but because of where we were resting, and somehow we managed to still do 12.7 kilometres! Poppies brightened our day Paths through fields, .... ..... and forest, ... and even through golf courses, with a warning to watch out for flying golf balls! We missed Hildergard at one point, or rather we ignored where she was pointing, as there appeared to be no path to turn onto.  This meant a rather lovely, but unnecessarily, long detour back to her, where she pointed us across a grassy field.  We looked hard to try and distinguish some sort of path amongst the grass, and we were on on our way again.   Hildegard is pointing....... ....... to the path ...... ..... and we are off on it We had a delightful lunch break in the village of Schöneberg, collecting a stamp in our c