May 26, Weisbaden

Penny and I have gone from Salzburg, to Dachau, to Weisbaden and hiked for four days north on the Rhine River and back. We have put in many miles on our muddy boots. We heve visited five castles. One in ruins, one still lived in by the family after 33 generations, one is a hostile that provided us a room for the night and the other two gave us scenic, Robin hood  walks through lush forests. Our days mirror each other, though the details vary, the consistency of German hospitality and cooperative rainfall stays the same.

Each morning begins with the "body part check". The evening's. aches and pains remind us of our age, but our quick recovery has been our signal that all is well and another day of walking is possible. Knees are the most fragile, so we surprise ourselves when a bit of rest brings them back to life.

We dress in our hiking clothes, we left suitcases at Caroline's, so we are truly road warriors now with our hiking clothes and our clean after-hike clothes. We are finding out what our hair looks like after four days without product. Not a pretty sight. The thing I love about Europe is that everyone is out, hiking, riding bikes, riding trains, weathering rain storms, so our look is common and no one sees our dirty boots and careless layers of unmatched clothing as anything unusual. We are just travelers like everyone else, happy to be out in the country.

The hotels, pensions, and hostiles have all included breakfast. It includes fresh German crusty rolls, dark nutty breads, home made jams and jellies, yogurt and mousli, fresh, dark coffee in tiny cups and slices of meats and cheeses. Goat cheese and herbs and Gouda continue to be my favorites. We have not refused the breads, glutin will go when we get home, but it seems rude to pass up the delights of the German breakfast.


Thought the cups are small, the pitchers of coffee are endless, so we drink our fill and commit to visiting every WC  along the way. Our packing takes only a few minutes, our packs are small. Penny keeps buying things, like a sweater for Barry, and the pack seems to absorb the new volume easily. Squashing things into the corners is becoming a refined art. Mine seems to get heavier every day, even when I am only buying charms for my bracelet. We are both glad we left our big packs at home and we are keeping notes for "next time" since so much of what we brought has not been used. Leaving behind our entire suitcase, gives you an idea of how little we really need.

Once our day packs are loaded, we set off on the days trek. Usually uphill, one day we did the river trek, that was a favorite for both of us. Alone on the trail, heading forward gave us a particular thrill. Heading up has its challenges. Using our walking poles we protect our knees, but taking the back roads has lead us to new paths and often, the clear destination from the river bank, disappears once we step into the dense, spring forest and searching out the paths, deciphering the "to castle" signs, has been a challenge. There are basically castles in all directions, so the signs often point both ways.

Our morning treks have varied, but we use the sun to its full advantage and push to complete our hikes before the dark rain clouds start to gather. We have set our destinations to include lunch, rest and a sight seeing castle visit, then back on the road by 1 or so, heading by foot, boat or train to the next spot along the Rhine.  Checking in to our hotel by 4 for a hot shower, dinner and several glasses of the delicious white wines of the area finish our day. Three of our four days brought rainfall as we were heading back, once, our plans got derailed by heavy rain, hail and cold winds that started about 11 so we took the boat on that day and did our walking early and late, still saw two castles, just not quite how we had planned. The towns are pretty quiet, tourists haven't arrived yet. So finding hotels on the fly has not been a problem.

 Penny and I talk about our return to this area, the ease of traveling by bus, train bike and foot makes it unique and the possibilities see endless. Castles jut out on every hilltop and wineries fill the valleys.  We never go a chance to go wine tasting, never took a boat on the Mosel river, and there are many towns we didn't get a glimpse of, so i hope to return with my little pack and maybe a bicycle to the lovely Rhine again.

Today us