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08:50: Woke up to the sounds of tyres on wet streets. It’s going to rain all day until 18:00. A thunderstorm rolled over last night and with a window-shaking thunderclap released a torrent of rain. The torrent has settled into light, steady rain, which hasn’t let up since. I’m glad I’m not walking today. Instead, I need to plan the next couple of days’ walk into Germany. Freiburg is a day and a half away. A bit of research indicates I can camp on or near the Rhine, which is under 30km away, and then find a nice cheap AirBnB in Freiburg for two or three nights. Freiburg has a number of bookshops so I ought to be able to find maps to plan my journey through Germany. I’m excited to be arriving in a new country! It’s my first land border — even if these days there’s no border as such.
It was nice to lie spread-eagled in bed after two days in the sleeping bag, but the sheets are nylon. This AirBnB has the feel of a hostel — lots of passive-aggressive notes everywhere. Still, my room is huge and the city centre is ten minutes away on foot.
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So, today I need to do the following:
- 19 Friday [RAIN] Colmar ✔
- 20 Saturday [SUNNY] Colmar ✔
- 21 Sunday [SUNNY] Walk to camping
- 22 Monday [CLOUDY] Walk to Freiburg
- 23 Tuesday [CLOUDY] Freiburg
- 24 Wednesday [CLOUDY] Freiburg
- 25 Thursday [CLOUDY] Walk on
11:42: This is the grossest AirBnB I’ve stayed in. The kitchen is filthy. It’s ingrained dirt, the host clearly leaves all cleaning duties to guests.
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13:20: Finally getting it together to go out the door. First stop, lunch in the town centre.
13:40: Two flukes in a row. A post office open at lunchtime, that only charged my €7.10 to send four maps. I normally pay that for one. And I had the price in change! Next stop, lunch.
13:33: I’m the only diner in a tiny vegetarian eatery. I’m having a veggie wrap. Everything includes something called Steak vegé. I don’t want to know what that is, but it indicates how heavily ingrained meat consumption is here — local vegetarians don’t feel they can get a balanced diet unless they include something labelled steak.
15:36: Oh God, I’m just going through the motions here. I tried to find a creperie, but it was 14:45 by the time I found one and they were closing. I still find French opening times utterly infuriating. I ate a delicious tarte au citron under a canopy in the rainy street and then went looking for a nice place to enjoy a hot chocolate. Instead I found a weird bar where the staff are all Vietnamese women and the customers are all men. The hot chocolate was frothed milk with a spoonful of hot chocolate powder dumped on top.
16:53: Got my shopping done. Butter, salad, tomatoes, scallions, porridge, baguette and now I’ve found a nice café and I’m sitting on a bench by the window having (another) hot chocolate. The rain has finally abated and the sun has come out but the shine has gone out of the town for me.
19:11: Back in the AirBnB. There is a common room. I’m going to prep dinner and then chill out there for the evening.
23:22: Going to bed. Alarm set for 07:00. I’ll pack in the morning and get breakfast in town after I’ve dropped my bag at the youth hostel before 10:00.
