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Journal: |
I left about 8:45am after an 8:00am breakfast (the earliest most
places will do) expecting it to be a short and easy walk into
Blumberg, but I was wrong. The path climbed steadily through
dew-damp fields before entering the forest and climbing around a
high knoll. It was nice walking in the early morning light and
cool temperature, but it was slow going. The trail then
emerged from the forest and followed a country lane into the
sizeable Blumberg where I hoped to do some shopping. After
walking a kilometre or two through the town, during which I had a
nice conversation (mostly in German!) with a 70yo working in his
vegetable garden allotment, I realised the trail was heading back
into the countryside without going near any shops. I
backtracked and then slowly traversed what seemed to be the main
street, working down my list. At a newsagency I agonised over
the available maps trying to work out the cheapest useful
combination to see me through the next few days, since the map I had
hoped to get wasn't available. I finally made a choice and
moved on to a pharmacy where I got a band to keep my sunglasses
looped round my neck when I'm not using them. This has become
an issue because there's no easy and safe place to put them and I'm
sure I will lose or damage them if I don't come up with a better
plan.
I was right through town and out the other side
despairing of finding a grocery or supermarket when I happened on to
a new retail park with several small supermarkets. I stocked
up on muesli bars, biscuits and chocolate and found some prepared
sandwiches and a big bottle of Diet Pepsi. The muesli bars
will be my lunch fall-back now if I can't find a bakery.
By
now I was quite a long way past where the Querweg exited town so,
using my new map, I plotted an alternative and more direct route
which would link up after about 6km. Of course, you never know
what you miss by taking a different route, but my alternative proved
interesting enough, passing by a railway museum and then near an
airfield where gliders were being continually dragged aloft by a
light plane. I remember reading somewhere about what keen
glider pilots Germans were, and this seemed to be born out by the
number of gliders being launched, and then visible for the remainder
of the day. Of course it was a perfect day for flying or
walking, with the sun beaming down, but not too hot and a light
breeze.
My alternative route intersected with Querweg at the
small village of Riedoschingen where I passed a monument celebrating
its 900th year in 2000. Just the other side of the village, I found
a lovely spot for lunch on a grassy area in the shadow of an old
barn on the side of a hill affording views across the valley.
While eating, I watched a girl slowly running up a hill along one of
the nearby rural lanes. She had chosen one of the warmest
parts of the day for her run.
The next 10km was just magic.
The trail gradually climbed to a ridge which it then followed
north-eastwards, mostly through open country, but occasionally
forests. From the trail I could see a long way eastwards
including many small villages and the town of Tengen, rolling fields
of all shapes and colours and some craggy forested peaks which
looked like old volcanic plugs. In the far distance I could
make out Bodensee and even perhaps the white dots of yachts sailing
on it and, to the south of that, in what would be Switzerland, I
thought I could make out some very high snow-covered mountains.
High above, passenger jets left vapour trails in the blue sky
and below them I could see gliders circling in thermals. Below
those, I noticed some smaller radio-controlled gliders finding their
own thermals, and soon came across a launching place for the latter
on the brow of the grassy ridge. There were half a dozen
people there launching and watching the gliders, some of which had 2
metre wing-spans. I stopped for a while. It was very
relaxing and absorbing to watch the gliders circling with the ground
pilots seemingly in complete control.
Eventually the trail
began descending slowly to Engen, my target for the day. It
was quite a large town that had grown around an old fortified
village built along a steep ridge. The height of the houses,
whose external walls formed part of the fortifications was very
impressive and the town was well-preserved. My hope had been
to quickly find a guesthouse (with wi-fi) and then have a look
around, but I couldn't find any at all. I just kept walking
and did a tour of the town with my pack on before leaving in a
southerly direction in the hope of finding somewhere to stay on the
outskirts. By this time my feet were getting pretty tired, but
I seemed out-of-luck, Ultimately I tried five places, some of
which were full and some closed, before my last hope in the small
village of Welschingen had a room....in fact I'm the only person
staying here.
After a shower and washing, I went to a nearby
pub, which was pretty quiet for a Saturday night, and ordered my
usual schnitzel. I'm getting a bit ahead of schedule, so may
give myself a couple of easier days before Switzerland.
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