Wednesday, April 6, 2016

March 31 to April 1st, 2016

April 1, 2016
756km for 27 road days. I was escorted out of Hohnhorst by my hosts Felix Stute
and his housemate Benedict! As they are serious night owls one has to give them credit for making the huge effort of getting up early in the morning for me! On the way to the Mittellandkanal, Felix informed me that the area we were walking in before we reached the canal has some quicksand! Some time ago they even had to rescue a man who had been sinking. I had often wondered I quicksand was an invention of Holywood, pertaining to western movies as I have never seen it in all of my travels, indeed Felix is one of the few people I know who has experience of it. Trying to scare me further he told me that the area is definitely not recommended for camping as he had also been chased by a wild boar pig! Boars can be one of the hazards for the outdoors person, thankfully I have never met one! However my American fellow world walking friend Steven Newman has! Steven was chased by one in Spain and I remember reading in his book (called World Walk ) that he climbed up a tree to escape, as it was a holiday weekend and there was nobody about; he was stuck up that tree for 24 hours!! I don't think I am in any condition for climbing trees! I wondered if my Dazer 2 dog deterrent works on wild boars! I will keep it handy in my tent!
Finally my hosts left, and later Felix texted me to say he went back to bed for another couple of hours as it was still too early in the day for him! Thanks so much to my new friends for great help and a huge effort!
I continued walking along the Mittellandkanal for 30 more glorious kilometres of my record 46km day. Barges were moving cargo, young and old were out walking and cycling, enjoying the glorious weather. I passed many small beer gardens and small cafés, that was my favourite day of the walk so far. I was enjoying it so much that I added a few extra kilometres to my day by continuing to walk east when my route changed to the North East. By that stage I was North of Hanover, a major city and all I saw of it was a beautiful park I walked through alongside the canal. When it was finally time for me to leave I walked past some of the cities satellite towns and an industrial area.
That night I slept under a bus shelter in a quiet village called Kirchhorst.
The following day I advanced only 35kms for an effort that was well over 42, a marathon. The problem is that cyclists and pedestrians are not allowed to use the main roads. We are obliged to take indirect walkways and cycle paths. Often at the entrance to a town ( Uetze an Meinersen) there is no obvious follow on path to bypass an approaching town and I am forced to walk through that town or as I frequently do, take a longer and less travelled way which is infinitely more interesting than on the main roads. That morning I met two wonderful elderly people, called Elaine and Erwin. They were pumped up with excitement when they met me at a petrol station and so interested in my story that they insisted on buying me breakfast, Danke!
Fogra: I am not sure if I will be the first European to walk around the world smile emoticon I am aware of three Americans and one Canadian. As many people know Ffyiona Campbell (UK) declared her world walk (which was done in continental stages) to be ineligible for authentication due to serious rule infractions.


 





March 31, 2016
Yesterday I walked a record 46km for the world walk to date. My current location is about nine km west of Uetze.
Here is my interview for the German newspaper Schaumburger Nachrichten. Thanks Jan. I have put a Google Translation in comments if you don't have the facility. We all know Google translate can be a bit rough, but better than nothing! Just a couple of errors. Only 750 km walked and he left out Australia and New Zealand out of the route. Not sure if something was lost in the translation but I never take transport to advance me, only as a commute to my previous finish, as readers know!


Felix Stute ist sichtlich beeindruckt: „Ich würde wohl schon nach ein paar Kilometern aufgeben“, sagt der 21-jährige Hohnhorster, als er seinen Schlafgast be...
sn-online.de|By Schaumburger Nachrichten, Stadthagen, Niedersachsen, Germany...


Read the article here:  http://www.sn-online.de/Schaumburg/Nenndorf/Hohnhorst/Tony-Manga-In-1095-Tagen-um-die-Welt

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