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06:54: Up and into the shower.
07:26: Dressing. I slept well. I was in bed at midnight, but I want to get out the door early. I’ll have breakfast at a nearby bakery. It’s a bright day with blue skies.
07:56: Almost packed.
08:09: Goodbyes done, on the street. Off to get breakfast.
08:17: Having breakfast. €3.65. There’s a funny habit here of grudgingly providing tap water. “Leidungswasser” is the name for tap water.
I forgot the cheese and scallions but I think I’ll survive without them. I have another 500g of oatflakes.
08:37: Heading south — or I would be, if the road wasn’t closed. I have to take a huge detour because the most direct route brought me under the railway. Now I’ll have to detour half an hour or more to find another railway crossing.
09:22: Walking out of the industrial ring around Ulm and — soon — into countryside. I’m on a huge road on which fleets of articulated trucks are passing. I’m on a cycle track parallel to the main road. I’m going to put my earbuds in and listen to a Grayson Perry interview that YouTube offered me the other evening.
10:14: Passing through Finningen. Next stop Holzheim.
10:57: Stopped under a sun umbrella at a table beside the bakery and grocery in Holzheim. €5.60 for elevenses (choco milk and a huge biscuit) and a stinky cheese sandwich for lunch. This is so much easier than France.
11:09: “…und sie laufen, durch unser dorf!”1
12:01: Roth
12:10: Berg
12:24: Stopping for lunch at the edge of a field, on the way to Beuren. The wind has picked up and the sky is becoming overcast.
13:01: Ready to move again. The sandwich was very basic, just bread and cheese, no butter or salad, but tasty and satisfying nonetheless. I also ate the apple and drank some water. I have nothing for dinner.
13:35:47
13:35:57
13:36:58
13:37:07
13:37:16
13:37:43
13:40:26
14:09:39
14:10:21
14:11:04
14:35:21
14:35:41
14:52: Over low hills and through forests to Autenried.
15:31: Oxenbronn.
15:50: Ichenhausen.
16:00:46
16:01:00
16:01:11
16:17: Stopping for a rest on the way out of Ichenhausen.
16:53: Unterohr. Feeling it now. Just a few kilometres to go.
17:09: I’m at the Western outskirts of Ettenbeuren. I need to head to the North of the village to find the camping.
17:11:34
17:17: At the camping. Seems to be for camper vans only. Ill have to blag my way in.
17:21: All cool. They take folks with tents. Gonna set up now, then pay. I think this is my earliest finish to a 30 kilometre day!
17:49: €12.00. And they have a little restaurant.
17:59: I’ve ordered a Flammkuchen mit Speck and black tea.
18:26: Delicious. The sky is clearing. I’m still sitting on a high stool in the café. It’s grand.
19:25: A few minutes after I wrote that, I was chased out of the café by the god-awful Schlager German pop they were playing. It has a Eurovision dirge quality to it which I just cannot stomach. I’m sitting outside now catching the last rays of the sun before it drops behind the hedge. Tomorrow’s walk looks to be about 25 kilometres and the weather is due to be fine.
Objects I can post home:
20:05: Lying on my back under the basha, reading. There are plenty of mozzies.
“…and you’re walking through our village!” A snippet of a conversation I had with a passer-by. I had so many beautiful conversations like this, when people stopped me to say hello and ask me where I was going. I got such terrific responses when I’d tell them my destination was Istanbul, and that I’d already walked here from Dublin. Delight, open-mouthed surprise, total disbelief, even utter incomprehension.↩
