April 6, 7 & 8th, 2016
April 8th, 2016
I had a lovely afternoon in the Irish Embassy in Berlin chatting and
drinking tea with Michael Collins. He is the Irish ambassador in
Germany and also there was the deputy Ambassador Denise McQuade. Thank
you both very much for a pleasant time!
April 8th, 2016...cont
Today I am having my first rest day in 998 km since I left Widnes
(which is near Liverpool in England) This afternoon I am humbled to meet
a very important person in Berlin, please tune back later to find out
who!
Yesterday when I reached the Berlin city limits I walked the
1,000th kilometre of my world walk. A little later I was met for the
last three hours of my 36km day by
Benjamin Kniebe my friend and host in Berlin. Benjamin was also a great supporter of my world run an
d
even drove out several hundred km to meet me near Cologne back in July
2014. This time Berlin is also my first major destination and a chance
to take stock. Benjamin has also helped with some logistical enquiries
and accepted a couple of important packages. Moscow 1,700 km away will
more than likely be my next rest stop. Please don't forget to check my
website from time to time www.myworldwalk.com
I would like to thank Paul and Marja Neufeglise Meier for sponsoring my second pair of walking shoes when I walked through Nortup a couple of weeks ago!
Total for 34 road days: 1,022 kilometres.
April 7th, 2016
The first two pictures say it all. The location of the West Berlin
section of the Berlin walk just outside of Potsdam. Am just about at the
1,000 kilometre mark, so a nice place to celebrate!
April 6th, 2016
6th April's total: 986 kilometres for 33road days. I am having
another good day today and expect my 1,000th kilometre of this world
walk to be on Thursday just before I arrive in Berlin! At the moment I
am two hours away from Potsdam.
Most of my days start off slowly.
I usually make many stops for coffee or tea; and talking to people as I
warm up to the road ahead. As the day progresses I pick up my pace.
This usually means I finish late, often well after 8:30 in the dark. It
is not really a problem now that I am walking on the safe bicycle paths
in Europe with a pleasing climate, obviously that can't continue but for
now I am enjoying it.
I was in Germany last October and on that
occasion almost everyone spoke in glowing terms of Chancellor Angela
Merkel. Now I am experiencing the opposite, almost everyone I ask let's
rip with a mouthful of distaste, to put it mildly towards the Times
Magazines 'Person of the Year.' It seems she is loosing out heavily in
the popularity stakes over the migrant/refugee crisis. In most peoples
eyes, she is to blame.
There were days and especially evenings
when I walked through small towns and villages, one after the other,
they were almost like ghost towns, it seems in small villages that
people just go to bed early, or stay inside and watch television. Most
bars are closed. I walked across most of Germany and rarely saw a
roadside shop outside of large towns. Though it's my favourite country
of the walk, it's still pretty frustrating. Sometimes I almost felt I
was walking in a sparsely populated country for I encountered more
places that were open in order to find refreshments in the Iranian
desert on my world run two years ago! Here, most of my meals were in
Turkish Kebab shops, thank God for the immigrants! I was so grateful as
so many German establishments were closed.
April 4th 42km were
walked and the next day 47. I started that day from a forest just before
Fishebeck and finished in another forest, eight kilometres west of
Brandenburg, a major city. Most nights I pitch my tent. Previously, I
was always a lazy camper, now I have been won over. Pop-up tents have
finally won me over! Within about seven (relaxed) minutes after
selecting my spot for the night I have my tent pitched, sleeping bag in
place on my insulation mat, pillow sorted and other essentials all in
place. In addition I have Karma wrapped up for the night with an old
tent fly sheet. It is essential I keep her covered, not just to keep her
dry, but because she is highly reflective and I don't want to draw
unwanted attention to myself.
On the way that morning I stopped in
a small town called Wust. I was looking for a restaurant and was
directed to a primary school canteen where I was told I could buy my
lunch €2:20 for potatoes carrots and meatball. Two lovely ladies served
me and I also got the same for a takeaway to eat when I finish! There
were about fifty young children milling about with three teachers to
supervise them. I was a bit surprised that despite all that we have been
reading about the enormous influx of Syrians and others nationalities
that all of these children seemed to me to be German born, at least
there were no dark skinned children that I noticed. In fact, other than
the omnipresent Turkish community, I have seen very few Muslims in my
walk across Germany, except for small groups here and there.
So far
today (Wednesday) have 37 km under my feet, I will walk for a bit more
and that will leave me with less than 40 to Berlin. I met a friendly
Korean cyclist called Kim who is on a three month long European cycle.
As always a roadside chat ensues when meeting fellow travellers.
