What to do? Well number one is find somewhere to spend the night, it might’ve been warm all day but its much cooler now, question is, where? It didn’t take long to rule out the station, no real cover anywhere, no I need to look elsewhere.

Bus shelter? Well it’d hardly be the Ritz but there’s usually a bench or something, sure I saw one just along the road. It didn’t take long to retrace my route back towards the town where sure enough there was a shelter. That was the good bit, the downside was that it was on the basic side and after sitting on the bench for a couple of minutes I decided it wasn’t going to work, so now what?

For want of something else to do I looked at the map adorning the back of the shelter. It was one of those stylised things much favoured by transport providers, you often can’t really navigate by them as everything tends to be straightlines. This one was a typical example, a spiderweb of coloured lines radiating from this Münstereifel place.

Of course it might as well have been Chinese, I’ve no idea where any of these places really are. Hang on, Remagen, that’s where I’m headed for! I traced the line back towards the centre and then worked out what the symbols at some place called Altenahr were about.

Seems the bus doesn’t go all the way, you have to catch a train in this Altenahr place to take you to the blue squiggle which I’m guessing is the Rhine and where Remagen is. It must be quite a way, there was a list of seven or eight places before Remagen but if I can get to the train place. Well that sounds like a plan, now how do I get there?

Clearly at something after midnight and with my funding position the actual bus is out of the question which leaves walking. Well its not like I’ve got anywhere to stay, I might as well set off now, never know, I might find somewhere for a kip. I traced the route again, the first place is called Rodert and I already know I’m on the right road.

Lets do this Mad. I set off back towards the station but I was distracted just a short way along by a sign for this Rodert place. Hmm, should I? Its probably a short cut, got to be better than walking along a main road right? The lane had a few streetlights and looked like it went through a housing estate, yeah, I just need to follow the signs.

Ten minutes later I was out of the houses, out of the streetlights and out of breath. Yeah the path was quite well maintained but it was going uphill quite steeply and under the trees the moonlight wasn’t doing a great deal. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

I was just on the point of turning to retrace my steps to the relative safety below when the path broke into some sort of meadow, the moon now providing ample illumination and whilst still above me, a few lights which I’m guessing is Rodert or Rodent as I’ve now christened it. A dark shape caught my attention, I froze in place when it revealed itself to be a stag, OMG, its like ten metres away.

We sort of stared at each other, Mr Antlers clearly not fazed by my presence anywhere near as much as I was by him. It was a sort of Mexican stand off, me rooted with fear, he clearly expressing his staginess. There was only ever going to be one winner, I carefully stepped backwards, one step, two and then with a snort and shake of the head he moved off, disappearing quickly into the shadows.

I took a deep breath that I didn’t think I was holding, gathered my wits and cautiously but quickly headed towards the village. I’ll say this, these Germans are damned thorough, there was a name board just before I reached the first house confirming that this was indeed Rodent. The lights I saw from down the path turned out to be not streetlights but exterior house lights, you know, by the front doors?

The gravelly path was replaced by tarmac, even if it remained quite narrow and soon I found myself in a small square, now where? Where indeed, I guess I didn’t really think this through very well did I? Almost at random I picked a path down the side of the church, it was the best lit option and wasn’t going downhill which I thought was a good thing.

Clearly Rodent isn’t very big as I soon found myself at the end of the houses again, this time at a small grassed area hard up against the trees. There was however one of those boards they have at nature reserves and stuff, well it was worth a quick look, the moon has the place lit almost like day. One side was no help at all, a typical illustration of stuff you might see on the trail but I hit pay dirt when I went around the other side.

The map was your typical ‘you are here’ thing with different paths and routes marked. But just like Rodent there was a name I recognised, next to an arrow pointing off to the top it said Effelsberg, another stop on that bus route. The map scale suggested it was about a couple of kilometres to where the arrow was, that's not far.

Only question is, do I want to head into the trees? How bad can it be, I mean its not like there’s a handy bed here and the whole idea of walking is to get closer to the Bonds place. After another study of the map and I’d convinced myself to at least give it a try, if I can’t see I’ll come back, maybe I can get into the church like last night. The path appeared to end in a black maw but when I got closer I realised that whilst it wasn’t well lit, you could see the track quite well, okay, here goes.

It was a couple of hours later that I emerged from the trees into a sort of picnic area, a parking area just beyond it. Can this be Effelsburg? I slumped onto a bench, after the last 48 hours exhaustion was fast catching up to me. Maybe I should sleep, have a fresh start in the morning, my watch claimed four thirty, yeah a couple of hours and it’ll be light, get an early start.

Not on the bench though, I cast around for somewhere a bit cosier and spotted some sort of log cabin. It didn’t smell great but there were benches and it was out of the weather, I’d barely closed my eyes before I was out.

“Heimy, kommen sie hier!”
I jerked awake just in time to receive a faceful of dog slobber, urgh gross!
“Heimy wo ist da?” the voice called again.

I guess the smelly slobbering thing panting at me is Heimy, “er Heimy go,” I suggested shooing the hound away. He however was having none of it and just stood breathing gross er breath over me. “um good doggy?”
“Ach du bist! Hier kommt hund, sind tut mir leid fraulein.” the woman mentioned, no idea what she said but I guess she was apologising for the dog, who gave an enthusiastic woof before bounding off. “Heimy! Hier kommt!” she shrugged at me before setting off after the recalcitrant animal.

I sat myself up before finding a paper napkin to wipe my face clean of dog drool. Great, I must look like a right tramp. My brain started to re-engage, where am I? What time is it?

A look about me sort of answered the former a look at my watch the second. Nine thirty and in some German picnic cabin if the debris was anything to go by. So much for getting ahead.

I dug in my bag and found I still had the, now slightly robust roll that I made at the bakery place yesterday, that with a few sips of water made an unsatisfactory breakfast but it was better than nothing. I laughed to myself when I heard Heimy’s exasperated owner herding him, I presume into a car, a moment or two later an engine started and I was alone again.

It was a bit cooler this morning, not cold but the sun was somehow less intense in its energy. I felt a lot calmer today, surely I can get to my Aunt’s place today – well if I can find them that is. Yep, get to this Remagen place and I’m sure someone will know the Bond’s and point me in the right direction.

After my poor repast I gathered my stuff and set off in the direction ‘Heimy’ and his owner went. There was indeed the car parking area I remembered from last night and, yes, another one of those map information board things! I hurried over to check it out – I don’t want to end up going back where I’ve come from.

So of course it took me a minute to get myself orientated, the ‘you are here’ spot was easy enough but working out how I got there and where I need to head is a different matter. After I found Rodert on the map it was clear that in the dark I’d missed a turn, maybe two, which left me about a kilometre from where I thought I’d be. In the light of day it was easy to see where I needed to go, up and over the road then follow the blue arrows, which should bring me out not far from this Effelsburg place.

The trail was easy going, kinder to the feet than walking on the cycle paths and if I hadn’t been lost hundreds of miles from home I’d probably actually enjoy the walk. The forest was alive with life, birds up in the canopy singing away, butterflies flitting over the sparse undergrowth and I swear there was a woodpecker tapping out a tattoo somewhere too. It was a path clearly used by horses as well as walkers, in a few places it was a bit churned by hooves with the accompanying deposits decorating the track.

Don’t ask me what any of the stuff was, I can just about identify an oak from a pine but Chris Packham I’m not. I hummed along to myself, thoughts of my predicament temporarily forgotten as I enjoyed the walk. After about thirty minutes I came to a junction, my signed route barred with a steel barrier, an arrow with ‘umleitung’ on it pointing off to the right with some sort of notice below – bum.

What to do? Why is it closed, could I get through? Away in the distance the sound of some sort of machinery carried through the trees, hmm maybe I’d best follow the arrow. Not for the first time this weekend I wished I’d paid more attention when we did German in year ten.

The diversion started out well enough but it wasn’t long before it closed in somewhat and then started winding about. When the path started clambering over and between rocks I did begin to wonder if I was going right, not that I’d seen an alternative anywhere. Given the lack of an alternative, bar retracing back to the road, I pushed on.

I started to catch glimpses of fields through the trees below me, the path angling down towards the open ground. There was a bit of a scramble down a steep bit before it fetched up at a very un-German looking field wall complete with a stile. Once over I found myself on a grassy track, another one of those ‘umleitung’ arrows directing me along to the left.

Oh well, after a deep breath I set off anew now under a blue sky rather than a green canopy. It looked like the field had been recently cut, bales of hay scattered across the parched landscape, off at the bottom more trees closed the area off. I seemed to be heading towards a road, well at least I saw a tractor and a couple of cars driving along the edge of the trees ahead of me – hopefully I can get back on track from there.

What I hadn’t seen until I got almost to the road was that it didn’t run straight down the hill but followed the edge of the trees, disappearing around a bend maybe a hundred metres to the right of where the track joined it. By now it was heading towards mid day and my stomach was rumbling a bit, my ‘breakfast’ having made barely any impact on my calorific requirements. There were two arrows on the opposite side of the road, the ‘umleitung’ pointing to the left and up hill, the other stated ‘Lierser Mühle 250m ’ and pointed the other way.

Hmm, I considered my options, plug on along the diversion or make a further deviation and perhaps find some food. Not that I’ve got much in the way of resources here, a quick check of my remaining purloined cash revealed a measly three euros ninety five – pity they don’t take pounds here, there’s about seventy quid in my purse. Another rumble decided the issue, I set off towards this ‘Lierser Mühle’ place, maybe I can get a bar of chocolate or bag of crisps?

I’m not sure what I was expecting but five minutes later I wasn’t looking at it, rather I found myself in what was pretty much a few houses gathered around a fairly large, posh farm. I was through and out in no time, not so much as a pub let alone a shop to be seen, oh well, guess its back up the hill. About halfway through I had to stop as a car came along a lane of packed dirt in a cloud of dust.

I had to wave the dust away before moving on after the Mercedes scorched away down the lane. If it hadn’t been for that I might’ve missed the ‘Illy®’ board and the sign for the ‘Café Bühlerlochsmühle’. Well I’ve come this far, why not?

Ten minutes walk along the dirt road brought me to a building that is best described as rustic, all timber, a waterwheel along one side hinting at a previous use. A couple of cars were parked off to one side, several tables with furled umbrellas occupying an enclosed area, just the sort of thing you see in holiday brochures. I continued to where there was a menu in a cabinet, not that I can afford anything like.

The surprise was that I could, the Tagessuppe was just three fifty, yep it clears me out but what else am I gonna do? I walked into the garden and sat myself at a table off to one side, I’m sure someone will come out. I hadn’t been sat for more than a minute before a waiter type came out and wordlessly put the parasol up.

“Essen karte?” he started to offer a menu.
“Er tags soup?”
I didn’t get the menu instead he spoke again, “Heute wie haben zwei, Minestrone oder Tomate.”

Nope, not getting all that but minestrone sounds okay.

“Er, eines bitter.”
“Minestrone?”
I nodded my head, “um yar,” I agreed.
“Getranke?”
“Er nine danker,” whatever it is I can’t afford it, “um toilet?”

I was directed inside, suddenly aware that I probably look a right mess.

Ten minutes in the facilities was enough to sort out my needs, have a quick wash down and a general tidy up and slap job, at least I looked less like a tramp. Out at ‘my’ table I was surprised to find a jug of water, several bits of bread in a basket thing along with a linen napkin and spoon. The waiter almost followed me back out, placing a sizeable bowl of soup in front of me, oh yeah!

“Er danker.”
“Enjoy.”

I looked at the food, is this really just three fifty? Another rumble from my stomach decided I didn’t care, I mean what are they gonna do if its more, make me give it back? I poured myself a glass of water, added salt and pepper to the soup and dug in – nirvana!

After shovelling in several spoonfuls, my immediate hunger abated and I relaxed, lets savour this, after all I don’t know when I’ll get to eat again. The soup was good, nothing like the tinned stuff at home, this was more like a thin vegetable soup, which is I guess what it is but of course with the addition of bits of pasta. The bread was maybe a bit crusty for me, bit like those rolls yesterday but they certainly helped bulk the meal out.
 

Maddy Bell © 30.07.2018