The longest day preceded by the wettest second-shortest night. Sunday evening around 9pm, it started pouring and it did not stop until Monday 12pm. Packing up your tent in the rain, this is something no camper looks forward to.
The wetness made pebbles and twigs stick to my soles and, with clock-like regularity, some malevolent demon catapulted them into my other shoe. Having to empty your bottoms every so often in the heavy rain is not cool, and my shoe protectors I did not have with me to save weight. I crawled into an empty stable to fabricate something with handkerchiefs or plastic bags, and miraculously there were waste bins with all kinds of useful material. Two oblong bags of brioches and two rubber bands did an excellent job: nothing more got into my bottoms!
At Gravenvoeren was Hotel-Brasserie Blanckthys thankfully opened. In the afternoon it would stop raining, I was now better off updating my social media over a hot drink.
The friendly waitress allowed me to take a seat next to two sockets. Plug in and write. After a while I noticed that my battery had dropped to 60%. Panic! Charger did not work. Nor to other outlets. I use my phone to navigate, I really can't do without it. Scenarios were already starting to shoot through my head to take the bus to Liège and buy a new one there, when I tried to hook the phone to my powerbank anyway. Ping! The redeeming charging icon appeared! There was bloody no power at the sockets in the tavern! What a relief...
After another nutritious and cracking dish asparagus à la Flamande it had stopped raining and I was able to continue on my way through the beautiful Voerstreek. The photos speak for themselves. With all the undulations, +300 altimeters crept into my legs today anyway.
I arrived in Aubel too late to do any shopping and was forced to eat in a restaurant. As a result, I only arrived at the beautiful Welcome to my Garden garden garden by Bernard.
Today: through the wind, through the rain, right through everything (song Ingeborg and Stef Bos)... but mostly through marrow.
It was stiffer cold: 11° and nonstop rain and wind. So few photos, because with wet fingers and drops chattering on the touchscreen, there's not much to do with a smartphone. I was already happy to get the navigation screen open when needed.
The route departed two kilometres via a Ravel in a deep bed that gave shelter from the elements. As usual, Komoot wanted to lead me via small field paths after that, but I had no appetite for splattered high grass and preferred to follow the Ravel for as long as possible. There I enjoyed the occasional shelter of a train tunnel to rest dry under. Resting for long didn't work anyway, I cooled down far too quickly when I didn't move.
Halfway through, I passed Clermont, but the village pub was closed on Tuesday. Murphy. The covered terrace was walkable, so I added my down jacket against the cold and took a longer rest and lunch break there.
After Clermont, it was steep uphill to cross the motorway and a railway line a little further on, which I then had to follow for about four kilometres along a path/swallow track to Welkenraedt.
In Welkenraedt, I would camp in the garden of Catherine, but because the bottom was so side wet, she offered me a spherical hut to those that her creative sons cobbled together themselves to throw parties in.
Spherical hut in garden Cathérine
No special scenery or spectacular experiences today. The highlight of the day was that it stopped raining. The sky was plain grey and the landscape colours were also In 'grisaille'.
A little before Eupen I bumped into an old boundary post from 1817 which marked the boundary between Holland, to which our country then belonged, and the Prussian Empire. On the Congress of Vienna (1815) those boundaries were established. There are still several like this in the Eupen area.
On the approach road to Eupen, I had lunch in a wok restaurant with a buffet à volonté. I let myself go and also sneaked in some fruit and dry snacks for the long trek across the High Fens tomorrow. That will surely be a more fascinating (and tiring) walk than today's.
High Fens
Although a long trek across the High Fens was on the menu, I left quite late anyway. I stayed overnight in a B&B in Eupen because I had to make a video call with the home front on Wednesday. And a bed and a good pillow is what I want to enjoy for as long as possible. It stayed light late, no rain was forecast and my next stop was at Welcome to my Garden hostess Luzia. No campsite reception where you have to sign in before 8pm.
The day before, when Luzia confirmed that I could go in her garden, she suggested picking me up somewhere if necessary. That did not bode well as far as the gravity of the walk concerns. Komoot also qualified the planned route as 'heavy' for the first time.
At 10:30 I started it. I was staying in upper Eupen and the GR started on the other side of town, by the river. I was expecting about two kilometres of concrete, but Komoot managed to get me into the suburbs via narrow paths between garden hedges almost concrete-free to the GR.
Up to kilometre 17 km it was almost steady uphill through a forest, upstream alongside the dark brown and sometimes foam-covered Hill River. That dark colour and foaming are due to the peatlands and the typical bog plants along which the river flows. These contain fatty components that cause foaming.
The profile of the tour shows that you are better off taking this walk in the other direction. Then you step comfortably for 17 km gently downhill. At first, I was little bothered by the slight rise, but From km 12 it started to weigh a lot anyway and I had to take rest breaks more frequently than usual.
Some sections were a little more difficult, but most of the trails were easily walkable.
Once I reached the top of the bog, it flattened out again and I felt the energy flowing back to my legs. The breathtaking expanse of the landscape and the silence and solitude will certainly have played a role in this. These dispel feelings of pain and fatigue almost immediately, or at least that's how I felt it.
After the peat, from Le Croix de Lorraine, I had to walk another two kilometres or so through an imposing forest. The last 1,500 metres on asphalt to Luzia's home then suddenly began to 'weigh' again. Both legs and backpack felt heavier. Unbelievable what influence the landscape has on your sense of energy! I was glad when Luzia took me to the camping spot in her garden and I could shed my bag.
After my quickly improvised supper, answering my e-mails was out of the question. The lure of the sleeping bag was too great.
16 September: Opening the door at Diamondway Buddhist Centre in Tallinn The centre's meditation sessions are open
