Hansaweg and Heidschnuckenwg

Mittellandkanal

After another short bit on the E1 I got onto the little known Hansaweg in the lovely town of Hameln that every German knows from the tale of the Pied Piper. The landscape now becomes flatter and flatter and soon I reached and crossed the Mittellandkanal on the E1 again. Unfortunately, the trail is now routed more and more on asphalt, mainly on bike trails. I did more and more km every day but at night me feet were hurting again from pounding asphalt. Still, there were some nice suprises along the trail like this gem of a romanic church in Idensen.

Sigwardskirche in Idensen

The E1 coincides here with a pilgrimage trail, the Sigwardsweg. I had never heard of this 170 km long trail but it had all the amenities of a pilgrimage trail. The church was looked but you could retrieve the key from a box nearby. And I enjoyed sitting in the cool church  (and recharging my phone meanwhile) a lot. But there was more: notes invited the pilgrims to use the rest rooms in a nearby kindergarten which gave me the chance to clean up again. And there was even a little has containing a free library and book exchange nearby - including a sofa for reading! No wonder it took me almost two hours to get out of little Idensen again....

Leslie in the Hotel Atlantik

In 30 degree heat I dragged myself on the my next rest day in Celle which is also the start of the Heidschnuckenweg. I had booked myself a room in the Hotel Atlantik which is a normal rather worn hotel but has a great and eccentric owner. Leslie served for more than 20 years in the British army and was mostly stationed here in Celle. After ending his military career he returned to Britain but decided that he could not live there any more because he had fallen in love with Germany and Celle. So when the opportunity arose he bought the Hotel Atlantic which now shows his other passion: Leslie is an Elvis impersonator and therefore the hotel breakfast room looks like an Elvis museum. Leslie has even been made MBE (Member of the British Empire) by Queen Elisabeth for his Elvis charity shows.

After some sightseeing in Celle i continued on the Heidschnuckenweg, another very popular German long distance trail. Near Celle you skirt a huge military training area. It is not very often that you find "No tanks"-signs on hiking trails.... The Heidschnuckenweg is very sandy and I regretted not having brought gaiters. My shoes were full of sand all the time and my hiking socks were suffering. Still, the Heidschnuckenweg was the last "natural" highlight on this trip.

Heidschnucken

 The "Heide" was in full bloom now end of August and I even saw several of the "Heidschnucken", the sheep that have given the trail its name. I was making very fast progress now, so when I had reached Hamburg I decided it was time for a longer break. With Hamburg being so close the Berlin I just hopped on a train and spent two rest days at my own place in Berlin before I set off again to continue hiking north.

Eggeweg

Sign for the "nice toilet"

 After a short connecting stretch I reached the Eggeweg at Obermarsberg and found a very nice surprise: a very nice and clean public toilet. You might be wondering why I am getting so excited about a public toilet but at that point I had already been hiking for more than a week without a chance to wash myself properly except in rivers and lakes. As you cannot use soap there my hair was in an awful state and my scalp was itchy. But this "nette Toilette" which means "nice toilet" gave me the opportunity to wash my hair - and a was very happy hiker afterwards!

Panorama on the Eggeweg

The Eggeweg turned out to be a pleasant hike, too. You mostly walk along some sort of escarpment - although the escarpment is not very high. The respective Eggegebirge must also be one of the smallest mountain ranges in Germany and rises up only to a maximum of 464 metres....

Trying to filter water through a hand towel

Still, I was hiking on the top of a "mountain range" and this brought with it the usual problem: lack of water! One day I had been too optimistic and had not detoured into a village to get water. The map showed several streams and even a spring at the end of the day. But every single stream was totally dry. But things got even worse. When I reached the spring with only half an hour of daylight left all I found was wet and soggy ground. There was even a marker saying this was the source of the stream "Aa" but there was no flowing water. I ended up scooping water out of a puddle which was milky and grey. Not a very appetizing view and therefore I wanted to filter it before using it for drinking and cooking. No problem, I had thought because I had brought several of the grey hand towels you find in toilets. I put the hand towel over my pot and poured the water in - but nothing happened. I had to find out that these hand towels only absorb water but do not work as a filter. Once the tissue is saturated it is almost water proof and does not let any more water through. I ended up cooking with "dirt"water and eating very sandy pasta that evening.

The Hermann monument in the background

I left the Eggeweg hat Detmold at the huge statue of Hermann, the Cherusker. It was a Sunday and the place was brimming with tourists. And I was to have my first sort of rest day of this trip. As Detmold is the seat of the German Youth hostel federation I thought it suitable to stay at the youth hostel there. The place was nearly deserted and I got myself a pleasant, but expensive single room. I was so tired that I ordered pizza from a pizza service - I did not feel like walking any more. Unfortunately it took 2 hours for the pizza to arrive.....
Altogether the Eggeweg which is later turns into Hermannshöhenweg was a very pleasant hike. Nothing to especially go there to hike it, but when you are in the area I can definitely recommend it. Just plan your water resupply carefully!

Rothaarsteig

First E1 trail marker

From Koblenz I hiked straight up to the trail that I would be more or less following for the next five weeks: the European long-distance trail E1. There are 11 long-distance trails criss-crossing all over Europe. The E1 stretches from the North Cape in Norway to Italy. Theoretically it will go all the way down to Sicily one day but so far it is not finished in Italy yet. But from the Alps northward it is already complete all the way to the North Cape. The German section is already sort of old which means that modern "premium" hiking trails use parts of it but deviate at some points to more scenic alternatives.

"Hiking furniture" on the Rothaarsteig

The first "premium" hiking trail I along the E1 was the Rothaarsteig, a pleasant trail that I have already hiked many years ago and now it was a pleasure to see it again. The Rothaarsteig is not a spectacular trail - but nothing with this hike was spectacular. There is a lot of forest which was quite nice because it was incredibly hot and I would have burnt in the open. It is very well signposted and what I personally liked best there was a lot of "hiking furniture" like benches, tables and huts. Plus there were a lot of springs along the way which made resupplying water very easy. Therefore I had to carry little weight in my backpack and it was easier to get back in shape. I had hiked almost 30 km per day right from the start and in the first few days I had a muscle ache every night. No wonder - I had been lying in bed for the last 6 weeks. But quickly the aches and pains subsides and I turned into a hiker again.

Gerold after breakfast at six in the morning

The nicest event on the trail was meeting my old hiking friend Gerold. I had met him and his wife many years ago in Western Australia. I had just finished the Bibbulmun Track back then and they were on a bike trip. We had always stayed in contact over the years and I had known that Gerold was planning to hike all across Germany, from Sylt to the Zugspitze. And he, too was using the E1 a lot. We compared routes and found out that we were both on the Rothaarsteig at the same time - just coming from opposite directions. We arranged a meeting point via telephone and met on sunny evening near an observation tower and a picnic area. Gerold had just come out of town and brought plenty of stuff for our celebration: sausages, vegetables and two bottles of champagne. Although I had thought we could not manage we ended up drinking the two bottles in one evening and still had no hangover at breakfast at six! I only had a sore throat from talking so much with a fellow long distance hiker.

Sauerland

At the end of the Rothaarsteig I came through the towns of Winterberg and Willingen. Although rather small they were now in summer brimming with tourists - and most of them were Dutch. I almost felt like in a Dutch colony: Hotel signs boasted Dutch owners, restaurants offered "Schnitzel Oranje" and I saw more Dutch license plates than German.... I guess Dutch people find the closest mountains here in the "Sauerland" ! Altogether I enjoyed the Rothaarsteig a lot: Good waymarking, nice views - and the most mountainous landscape on this trip.

On my way through Germany

My last hiking plans did not turn out at all as expected - and therefore I was a bit reluctant to publish my next plans, especially since I could not foresee how my body would fare with hiking after 6 week of reconvalescence.

But I am proud to say that I have already hiked 600 km now after my surgery with no problems!

So what is the plan? My doctors recommended easy hiking in Germany -always close to a hospital. And therefore I dug out an old plan: my hike from the Southernmost point in Europe to the Northernmost point, from Tarifa in Spain to the North Cape in Norway. I have already hiked from Germany to Tarifa in the winter 2013/14, but the second half from Germany to Norway was still missing. Of course the rest of the summer is not long enough to walk the whole distance of almost 5,000 km, but I decided to hike the missing part through Germany all the way up to Denmark.

Werner and I and the river Rhine

Like in 2013 when I hiked to Tarifa I started again at my friend Werner's place - but this time I was hiking North. Again I stayed one night with Werner and his wife - and again I was whining how bad everything is. In short: I was suffering from pre-trip depression again. It did not help that the night before my start date temperatures dropped down to 8 degrees Celsius. In the morning of August 11th Werner took me to Koblenz again where we had the obligatory start photo taken at the "Deutsches Eck". Then Werner accompanied me up to the fortress "Ehrenbreitstein". It was a first test for my physical condition - but huffing and puffing I kept up with Werner. After several more photos Werner finally sent me off on my way to Denmark. And I have happily been hiking ever since....

My planned route is about 1,000 km - I don't do anything shorter.... I have to be back in Berlin end of September and right now it looks that these five weeks is plenty of time. I have some speaker appointments in Germany and then I will be off hiking again in October in another place. But this is another post. I will keep you posted!

Things turned out differently than expected.....

One day before I had planned to leave for Zinnwald and the starting point of my trip through Eastern Europe it started rather inconspiciously with a mild stomach ache. I thought "no problem", delayed my trip for a couple of days and blamed it all on the Vietnamese take-away place around the corner. But instead of getting better things got much worse every day: I got a very high temperature! "No problem" I thought again and consulted my GP. She was worried but could not find the cause for my symptoms. She tested basically anything that could be tested and called me the next day.

"Pack your things and go to the emergency room of the closest hospital", she said. "You have a dangerous infection in your body and they have to find the cause." I first refused to face reality. I wanted to go hiking - and not be in a hospital, but eventually I relented and went. Doctors there were worried, too. I was not - I wanted to go hiking. "You will not go hiking anywhere in the near future", I was told when they eventually found the problem: a huge abscess in my abdomen. My heart sank. Two days I was in hospital under heavy antibiotic medication before they could operate me.

I had never been in hospital before - except when I was born - and I was scared shitless. When I woke up after surgery I was told how lucky I have been. "You would probably not have survived if this abscess had burst somewhere in the wilderness." I felt lucky indeed but my first question was: "When can I go hiking again?" The answer was depressing: Minimum reconvalescence: six week! My mind refused to accept this fact but my body forced me to: I felt plain miserably. For three more weeks I had to take heavy medication that made me feel so weak. Going to the supermarket next door became an adventure. I had to cling to the shopping cart because I felt so faint. Outside my room a hot and wonderful summer seemed to pass by wheras I could not do anything.

Eventually I was taken off medication - and then things improved rapidly. Last weekend I did my first test trip: hiking 33 km in two days - and I was worried if I could walk so much. Luckily I could! And now I am planning to go on a bigger hiking trip again - exactly six weeks after my surgery. My doctor advised against going to Easten Europe so shortly after surgery. "You want to be close to high-standard hospitals and doctors that speak your language", he told me. I believe him and don't want to take more risks than necessary. I do anything now to be able to hike again..... And therefore Eastern Europe is off for the near future. I'll have to do something in Germany.

And I do hope that things turn out like expected this time......

Eastern European Traverse Part 1

More than one year I have led a sedentary life - not because I had been tired of travelling but because I had been writing a book. The book has become a great success which kept me some more months in Germany touring talk shows, giving interviews and lectures. I have thorougly enjoyed this exciting period but now it is time to go hiking again!

I had been deliberating back and forth which of the many projects on my bucket list I should tackle and I have decided to continue with one of the two big European hiking trips: I want to hike through Europe West to East - from Santiago de Compostella to Istanbul. Four years ago I had started from the German-Czech border crossing Zinnwald hiking westwards. And I had reached Santiago de Compostella 5 1/2 months later.

On Sunday I'll return to Zinnwald and hike eastwards. Although my ultimate goal is to reach Istanbul (or any other place that can be defined as the Easternmost point of Europe) I am taking a rather convoluted route: I'll hike eastward until Eastern Slovakia and then turn Southwest again. Why? This is not the straightest route to Istanbul.....



The reason is that I had tremendous route finding problems in Romania and Bulgaria. Although both countries have great hiking areas there are no long-distance trails. The so-called E-trails (European long-distance trails) are all interrupted and there is no hope that this gap will be closed in the near future.... But other interesting trails have sprung up on the Balkan like the Via Dinarica through Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania and the Via Egnetia through Albania, Macedonia and Greece that will hopefully eventually lead to Istanbul. But instead of going straight from Zinnwald to Slovenia I am hiking one big loop. Why?

Because the trail and the countries it traveses are too interesting to be passed. I will basically follow the only international long-distance hiking trail that was created in the former East bloc: the International Mountain Trail of Friendship from Eisenach to Budapest. This trail was officially opened in 1983 and became a "cult" immediately in the Eastern European hiking scene. When the Iron Curtain fell the trail was incorporated into the E-trail network and is now part of the E3, E8 and E4. But I will not stop in Budapest but continue hiking Hungary's Blue Trail, one of the oldest long-distance trail in Europe that traverses Hungary from East to West althoug I will probably leave it at Lake Balaton to head towards Slovenia.

In three months I will hike through Czech and Slovak Republik and Poland following the Western Carpathian mountains and then continue through Hungary's hilly North. I have never hiked in these countries before and to say that I am pretty excited is an understatement. This is a trip I am really looking forward to because it interesting in so many ways: Beautiful landscape, interesting history, new cultures and some amazing cultural sights. As usual I will keep you posted here on my blog.

Press, TV and radio, reading tour

My book "Laufen. Essen. Schlafen." will be published on April 1st. As this date comes closer, things are heating up. There will be articles about me and my lifestyle in various magazines and newspapers - and you can even see me on TV or hear my on the radio. Or you can see me live on my reading tour in Germany. (All this will be in German - therefore dates are given in German format.)

Presse:  

• Ma Vie (Frauenzeitschrift): 5. März
• Bild der Frau (Frauenzeitschrift) : 25. März
• Laura (Frauenzeitschrift): 30. März
• Nordbayerische Nachrichten (Tageszeitung): 26. März
• Welt am Sonntag (Reiseteil der Wochenendausgabe): 2. April: Online-Fassung
• Berliner Kurier: 8. April: Online-Fassung
• Spiegel Online: 9. April 
• Stuttgarter Nachrichten (Reiseteil der Wochenendausgabe): 23. April 
• Sächsische Zeitung: 27. April: Online-Fassung

TV:

• NDR DAS!: 1. April, 18.45 - 19.30 Uhr:  (Talkshow-Gast): Download
• RBB zibb: 18. April, 18.30 bis 19.30 Uhr: (Talkshow-Gast): Download
• ZDF Sonntags: 1. Mai, 9.00 Uhr (Filmbeitrag) 

Radio: 

• WDR 5 Reisemagazin: 2. April, 10.00 bis 11.00 (Interview): Podcast 
• NDR Klassik a la carte: 27. Juni: Podcast

Reading tour:

• Berlin: 8. April, 19:30 Uhr, Aula Edith-Stein-Schulzentrums, Greifswalder Str. 18 A
• Hamburg: 14. April, 19 Uhr, Dr. Götze Land & Karte, Alstertor 14-18
• Höchstadt: 20. April, 19 Uhr, Wigwam, Hauptstraße 26
• Hochheim: 21. April, 20 Uhr, Buchhandlung Eulenspiegel, Weiherstr. 16
• Schömberg: 22. April, 19 Uhr, Kurhaussaal, Lindenstraße 7
• Stuttgart: 23. April, 17 Uhr, Globetrotter, Tübinger Str. 
• Berlin: 25. Mai, 20 Uhr, Schropp Land & Karte, Hardenbergstr. 9a