Start:  Nuremberg 

Finish:  Nuremberg 

Distance:  0

Total:  1369

I had a great day off in Nuremberg today. The weather was beautiful and I got out and did some sightseeing. 

I guess I’ll just give up on sleeping in. I woke up at 6:30 like it was time to go walk. I just hung out in my room watching coverage of the earthquake in California for an hour, then ventured out into Old Town Nuremberg for some breakfast and see the sights. 

Nuremberg is a traditional Bavarian city with a wall built around the original old town.  The architecture is medieval with fortifications and stone towers around the entire perimeter.  Many of you probably remember Nuremberg for two things.  First, before WWII, and especially in the 1930s, Nuremberg was the site of major Nazi rallies.  The city became the epicenter of the Nazi movement and at a 1935 rally, Hitler ordered the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws which revoked German citizenship for all Jews and other non-Aryans. Second, Nuremberg was the site of the Nuremberg Trials which held to account many Nazi officials after WWII.  After the trials ended with convictions, a series of executions took place in Nuremberg on 16 October 1946 when 10 members of the military and political leadership of Nazi Germany were publicly executed. 

During WWII, the allies pretty much bomber Nuremberg back to the stone ages.  On 2 January, 1945, the medieval city center was bombed relentlessly by British and American bombers and in only one hour, about 90% was destroyed.  With Nuremberg being a walled city, it’s fortifications were a difficult challenge for allied ground troops. During a fierce battle that took place 17-21 April 1945, three U.S. Army Divisions fought house-to-house in the already bombed and shelled buildings of the inner city to capture Nuremberg. 

Today, much of the original Nuremberg Old Town has been rebuilt. Though many of the buildings have modern architecture, many of the medieval buildings, particularly the government buildings and cathedrals were rebuilt to look original. In all, it’s a great old city with a rich heritage. 

Tomorrow it’s back on the road for me. I’ve got a 22 mile day planned so it’s up and at’em for me.  I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Thanks for reading. JB. 

OBTW:  I posted a new video. Watch it by clicking on video on my website or search thewalkingaggie on YouTube. 

Start:  Roth

Finish:  Nuremberg 

Distance:  17

Total:  1369

Today was a straightforward 17 mile day carrying nothing in my backpack except water. The weather forecast had a zero chance of rain so I didn’t even take my rain gear with me. 

The day started at 7:30 with a half-mile walk to the train station nearest my hotel to catch the train back to Roth where I stopped walking yesterday. I didn’t eat breakfast at the hotel this morning; opting instead to stop in one of the bakeries along the way and eat on the 30 minute train ride. Because I was leaving from a different station than I came into yesterday, I was just assuming I would find a bakery between my hotel and the station. Bad assumption. I saw nothing, so I had to wait until I got to Roth to get something to eat. I knew for a fact there was a bakery there because I saw it yesterday while I was walking around town looking for a hotel. So I got to Roth, started walking through town, and stopped at the bakery.  They had a good variety of pastries to pick from but had nothing to drink except coffee. I don’t drink coffee, so I ate my pastry and drank my own water as I walked. 

The first five miles were along the highway with no shoulder. Luckily the traffic was fairly light and I could step off the road into the grass when there was a conflict. Eventually I made my way onto a trail built along the top of the levy that runs along the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. This 106 mile long canal connects the Main and Danube rivers and passes through Nuremberg. I walked about eight miles on the levy. There was zero vehicle traffic; just an occasional bicyclist, jogger, or someone out walking their dog. The only negative thing I have to say about the levy road is that it was made of very dusty, white rock that was basically just dusty powder. I totally trashed everything below my waste and was a dusty mess when I got off that road.  

Just before I turned away from the canal, I walked past the Nuremberg River Cruise Dock. There were two Viking River Cruise boats at the dock with 10-15 tour busses picking up cruise passengers for the excursions. I found the location of the dock a bit unusual; it was literally in the middle of nowhere; you couldn’t see any of the city from where they were docked but the city was maybe 10 minutes away by bus. 

I eventually got into the outskirts of Nuremberg, which like other large European cities, has almost no suburbs. For a city of 500,000+, I got to within three miles of the city center before I saw any apartments, businesses, etc..  Because I was walking along the canal for so long, I never found a place to eat lunch until I got within 15 minutes of my hotel. I was pretty tired and hungry after walking almost six hours on nothing but a pastry. 

I’m staying at the Holiday Inn in Old Town Nuremberg. Tomorrow is a day off and I’ve never been to this city so I’ll do some site seeing tomorrow and post pictures of this historic town on tomorrow’s post. I hope everyone has a great weekend. JB. 

Start:  Weissenburg

Finish:  Roth

Distance:  17

Total:  1352

Day 89 was a very nice day of walking until the frustrating end of the day. The weather was very nice, the road wasn’t half bad, and 17 miles is an average day. But unfortunately when I got to my destination of Roth, things just didn’t come together the way I would have liked.  

After a good night’s rest at the Gasthof Schwarzer in Weissenburg, I hit the trail this morning at 8:00. The route today was nice and flat and I made good time until I got to the little village of Rottenbach. I got there about lunchtime and stopped at a little meat market that also made sandwiches. Shortly after leaving the lunch break, the road leaving town was closed for construction. There were detour signs for vehicle traffic, but sometimes I can just stay a safe distance from the road work crews and walk through their construction zone. Not this time. The road was completely torn up and machinery was everywhere, so I decided to follow the detour route with the vehicle traffic, not knowing how far out of the way this would take me. Lucky for me, it only added about a half-mile to my route and I was back on my planned route fairly quickly. 

I had been walking a bike route that paralleled the main road all morning, but immediately after walking around the first relatively short construction zone mentioned above, there began a much more extensive road closure that even took away the bike route. For the next five miles I walked in the ditch along the temporary road that had been built for the vehicular traffic. The ditch had been mowed, but the grass and weeds were still about six inches tall so it wasn’t the best walking conditions. After the road construction ended, the bike trail reappeared and I was able to follow it the rest of the way to Roth. 

Unlike most other days, I decided not to make a lodging reservation in advance in Roth. It’s a reasonably large town with several hotel options so I waited until I got to town to find a place to stay. However, as I walked into town, there was a big banner across the road that read “Welcome Triathlon Athletes.”  After stopping at a half-dozen prospective hotels, and walking in circles for an hour, I finally decided the triathlon participants had beaten me to the punch and it just wasn’t in the cards for me to stay in Roth tonight. So I went to Plan B; take the train 15 miles forward to tomorrow’s destination, Nuremberg, stay in the hotel I already have booked for two nights there starting tomorrow night, and take the train back to Roth to pick back up the walk tomorrow. So I called the hotel in Nuremberg to ensure I could stay there tonight, backtracked a mile to the Roth train station, and rode the train to Nuremberg. The hotel is only about a 15 minute walk from the Nuremberg central train station so after originally arriving in Roth at 2:00, I finally got to my hotel in Nuremberg at 4:00. 

Tomorrow I’ve got 16 miles to walk from Roth back to my hotel in Nuremberg. I’ll get to slack pack so assuming there are no unexpected surprises along the way, it should be a fairly easy day. Today was Independence Day at home.  All of my family are at the Frio River west of San Antonio having a good time. I hope all of you also had an enjoyable July 4th holiday. Thanks for reading. JB. 

Start:  Eichstatt

Finish:  Weissenburg

Distance:  16

Total:  1335

Everyday of this walk is unique, even though sometimes it seems like I’m just trekking from one little German village to the next. It’s the choices I have to make from minute to minute that keeps me on my toes. Today was no different. 

After a surprisingly good night’s sleep in a room the started out pretty steamy, but by morning had me covered up to my ears, I was out the door at 8:00. Today’s walk was suppose to be 15 miles across more farmland, but first, there was a 1000’ tall hill to climb immediately after leaving the hotel. Once again, my choices were to follow the main road and walk an extra mile, or follow the Google Maps walking route and take a more direct approach to this hill I had to climb. Both routes ended up in the same place. As I’ve learned 10X over, if the driving route  looks very crooked, and it says it’s farther, it’s because the climb gradient is less. If the route looks like it pretty much a straight line and ends up in the same place covering less distance, you can bet it’s a lot steeper to walk. So I made my choice. It was early in the day, and the day was a relatively short one, so I took the direct route straight up the hill. And as usual, halfway through the climb, I was questioning my sanity. But I made it to the top quicker. 

About 10 minutes after I crested the top of the hill, my phone rang. It was a number from the town where I’d just spent the night. It was the hotel calling, telling me I’d left a shirt (one of three I have with me) in my room. They wanted to know if I wanted to come back and get it. I could hardly keep from laughing. There was no way I was going back two miles down that hill, and two miles back up, for a shirt. I politely let them know they could just keep the shirt. So now there’s a heavily used, white dry-fit t-shirt with Texas A&M on the front in a hotel in Eichstatt, Germany.  I hope it finds a good home. 

I walked most of the day on a main road with no bike trail. Luckily, the traffic wasn’t quite as heavy as usual, but of course, there was no shoulder. After the mistake I made a couple of days ago not paying enough attention to the route on my iPhone, I kept a closer watch today. When I was within about three miles of my destination, the route showed me getting off the main road and basically taking a trail through the woods straight to town. The distance if I stayed on the road was about one mile farther, and very crooked. I also noticed I had 700’ of elevation still to lose.  I decided to get off the road onto the trail and give it a look. It didn’t take but about a quarter mile to see I did not want to walk on THIS trail. It basically disappeared into the undergrowth and was going to go straight down the 700’ high hill. The other lesson I’ve learned about this option is it can end up at a creek or stream that has no dry crossing. That’s happened more than once already. So rather than go explore the unknown, I took the conservative route and walked the extra mile on the road to town. 

The town I’m in tonight, Weissenburg, population 17,000, dates back to the 1st century when the Romans built a fort here. There are still some old Roman ruins that have been excavated in and around town.  I’m staying the night in a comfortable little family-run Gasthof (Inn) in the center of town.  

I think that’s about all for today. I hope everyone has a happy July 4th tomorrow. Of course it will be just another day here in Bavaria but in my mind I’ll be celebrating with all of you!  JB. 

Start:  Ingolstadt

Finish:  Eichstatt

Distance:  17

Total:  1319

Today was a very good day for walking. Mild temperatures, low humidity, and a nice north breeze in my face.  Most of the day I was on narrow, busy roads but I got to my destination in one piece so I’m not complaining. 

The day got started back at my cool, clean hotel in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm.  I had backtracked to that hotel by train after finishing my walk yesterday. It rained most of the night from a cool front that came through, thus the cooler temperatures today. After breakfast at the hotel, I walked a mile to the train station to catch the train to Ingolstadt where I stopped walking yesterday. The train was scheduled to depart at 9:00, but was a few minutes late. I got to Ingolstadt and started walking at 9:40. 

I neglected to mention anything about Ingolstadt on yesterday’s post.  With a population of 100,000+, it’s a very industrial city. The headquarters for both Audi, the auto company, and Airbus, the aircraft company, are in Ingolstadt. In addition, the Danube River runs through the middle of town. There were several nice parks throughout the city as I passed through. 

Once I got out of Ingolstadt I was back into rolling hills and farmland.  Unfortunately there was no bike trail for the next 10 miles so I was sharing the road with cars and trucks. I stopped about 1:00 in a little village for a 30 minute break and lunch, then back out into the traffic. When I was within about five miles of my destination, I picked up the bike trail and it lasted the rest of the way to town. Eichstatt, population 13,000, is a very traditional Bavarian town with a city square and many nice old buildings.  The highlight of the town is Willibaldsburg castle; built  around 1353.  Unfortunately I was unable to see it on the hillside as I walked into town today because the trees were in the way. I hope to get a sighting as I leave tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I have a 1000’ climb right off the bat tomorrow morning. Luckily it’s only a 15 mile day so it won’t be too bad.  So from deep in the heart of Bavaria, that’s all I’ve got for today. JB. 

Start:  Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm

Finish:  Ingolstadt

Distance:  19

Total:  1302

Today was one of those days I just needed to grit my teeth and get it over with. It wasn’t particularly difficult walking; fairly flat, not all that hot; but for some reason it was just a real grind. 

Because I did not have a lodging plan for tonight, even though the town I was walking to, Ingolstadt, is a fairly large town with several hotels, I just couldn’t decide on which one to stay in in advance. So last night, my daughter Karla suggested I slack pack today and take the train back at the end of the day and stay another night in this nice hotel in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm. So that’s what I decided to do, even though I had to switch rooms because of scheduling issues with the hotel staff. 

I got out the door this morning at 7:10; a little earlier than usual but there were forecast thunderstorms at my destination starting at 1:00 so I was trying to beat the weather. The first half of the day was spent walking on a bike path along Hwy 13. Then about halfway, Hwy 13 was joined by Hwy 300 for a couple of miles. After that, my route, Hwy 13 turned to the left and continued toward my destination. Well, I don’t keep a constant watch on my iPhone with Google Maps when I’m walking. If the route is straight forward with no crazy turns, I just refer to my phone and the route occasionally to make sure I’m still on track. So I was walking along about 9:00 and I noticed I was walking straight toward the sun; like due east. That seemed odd because my route is basically north. So I got my phone out, looked at my route, and as I feared, I had missed a major turn about a mile back. My intended route, Hwy 13, had kept going north and Hwy 300 had gone straight east, and now I was following the wrong highway. I had two choices; backtrack a mile and get on the correct road, or continue to follow Hwy 300 until it looped back and joined Hwy 13 after a few miles. Either way, I was going to end up walking a couple of extra miles. Not a big deal if you’re driving in your car. But it’s a real mental bummer if you’re walking. So I continued straight ahead and eventually got back on track after going out of the way by about 40 minutes. Lesson learned. 

Because I got an early start this morning, I didn’t stop for lunch or a break all day. I walked straight through for 18 miles. By the time I got to the train station in Ingolstadt I was tired, hot and sweaty, and hungry. I went straight to the train ticket office to see when the next train was leaving to take me back to Pfaffenhofen. I had 30 minutes; perfect for grabbing a sandwich and drink to have on the 30 minute train ride. 

I got back to Pfaffenhofen at about 1:45 and had a mile walk to the hotel. When I stepped off the train, the sky was dark and rumbling thunder. I made it to the hotel just in time. 

Tomorrow I’ll catch the train to Ingolstadt and start walking from where I stopped today. Lucky for me it’s suppose to be cooler for a few days. I’m looking forward to getting to Nuremberg on Friday with a day off Saturday. That’s all for today. I hope everyone stays safe if traveling this week for the holiday. Thanks for reading. JB. 

Start:  Haimhausen 

Finish:  Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm

Distance:  16

Total:  1283

I had a very good day of walking today, though this was the hottest day since I began Part 2 of the walk on 11 June. It is 99 degrees outside but thankfully I’m finished for the day. The temperatures are forecast to cool off to their normal highs of the upper 70s/lower 80s for this area beginning tomorrow.  

I intended to get on the road earlier today to beat the heat but last night’s hotel didn’t have breakfast until 8:00 this morning so I walked out the door at 8:20.  I spent the first hour walking through corn fields on gravel roads which worked out well. This was a shortcut Google Maps took me on, and it’s not unusual. The paved roads tend to wander around the countryside from town to town and the computer program looks for alternate walking routes to shorten the day. This usually works out OK, but sometimes the route is barely walkable because of undergrowth, streams with no dry crossing, etc..  I try to study the route the night before but sometimes I just can’t tell how good the route is until I get there. 

Tonight’s stop in the town of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm is great. This is a town of about 25,000 and is on the river Ilm. The hotel if fantastic. When I walked into the lobby from the heat, I definitely felt air conditioning. That was a very pleasant surprise as most hotels around here are not air conditioned. 

Tomorrow I inch my way closer to Nuremberg, a very historic city that I have never visited. I’ll be there Friday with a day off Saturday. 

I think that’s all for today. Time to go get some dinner and enjoy this cool room. Hope everyone had a great weekend. JB. 

Start:  Munich

Finish:  Haimhausen

Distance:  14

Total:  1267

Today I made my way north from Munich into the rolling farmlands of Bavaria. It was a relatively short walking day at 14 miles but the day was beautiful and not quite as hot as it has been with a nice north breeze. 

The day got started with an 8:15 departure after a good breakfast. You probably wonder why I don’t leave the hotel a little later in the morning when I don’t have a particularly long distance to walk that day.  I should, but I just can’t make myself sit or lay around the hotel room, especially after a day off.  

Today’s walk took me out of the heart of Munich and unlike most very large U.S. cities, you don’t have the miles and miles of suburban sprawl around the cities here in Europe.  It only took me about an hour (3 miles) to be completely out of Munich and into the countryside. I went through several small suburban towns, but they always had 2-3 miles of farmland between them. I also walked by the Munich Olympic Village from the 1972 summer games. You’ll recall that was the scene of the attack by a group of Palestinian terrorist who took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and killed them along with a German police officer. 

After walking through a lot of farmland, I made it to my destination of Haimhausen by about 1:30. It’s a nice little town of about 5500. The Munich International airport must be just north of here; I say airliners lined up on final approach to land most of the day but I never got to where they were touching down. 

Tomorrow is a 16 mile day with a forecast high of 95. That’s a good excuse to start walking early. That’s it for today. I hope your Saturday was a good one. JB. 

Start:  Munich

Finish:  Munich

Distance:  0

Total:  1253

I had a great day off here in Munich. I had several things I needed to take care of while in a large city and I got them all accomplished. And while running my errands, I had the privilege of meeting some people from the U.S. that engaged me in good conversation. 

The day got started with sleeping in until 8:00. My accommodations at the Hampton Inn was nice and quite, my room was dark, and most important of all, air conditioned.  That all led to a good night’s rest. There was quite a crowd for breakfast but the buffet was very good and had several items that were not normally offered at an international hotel. But this being a Hilton hotel, I had a nice American breakfast. 

After breakfast, I walked a couple of blocks to the subway station to catch the S-Bahn to the center of town.  The place I needed to go was only a couple of miles away, but this being my day off, I decided not to walk there. The subway system in Munich is clean, safe, cheap, and easy to use.  I had three things I needed to take care of and they were all at the same subway stop; Marienplatz.  First, I needed to go to the Vodafone store to get my cell phone plan extended. I use my phone to navigate on my route all day, everyday, so I can’t afford to run out of data. After I got that issue resolved, I needed some Euros (cash) so I went by the bank ATM to take care of that. Finally, I needed some special batteries for my GPS transmitter.  I’ve looked at several stores over the last week but couldn’t find what I needed. So to find a store that might have this special battery, I walked into the tourist information office at Marienplatz and they said there was an electronics store only two blocks away. I went there and they had exactly what I needed. 

After taking care of my errands, I took a seat in the shade on the plaza to take a break and do some people watching. Today I intentionally wore my Texas A&M shirt because Marienplatz is one of the main tourist destinations in Munich and I thought I might attract some Aggies with my shirt. After cooling my jets in the shade for a few minutes, a group of tourists with their guide stopped near where I was sitting, and two ladies in the group decided to take a seat beside me. They were talking with a noticeable southern accent so when I got my chance, I asked them where they were from. At that moment I met Jean and Trisha from Columbus, Georgia. They were in Munich on a tour with their Baptist Church. We talked for a while about the river cruise they were catching later today. After a few minutes their tour guide gathered everyone up and they moved on. 

After meeting Jean and Trisha, it was lunchtime. At this point it is important to say I hardly EVER eat at McDonald’s. And you would think if you were in Europe, you would avoid American fast food like the plague. However, I eat three meals a day, everyday, based on the local cuisine. Every now and then, I just need something besides the local food. So I gave in today and went to McDonald’s at Marienplatz for lunch. While I was eating, a man and woman walked by and said “Gig’em.”  That got my attention and at that moment I met Gerald ‘86 and Jill Verwold from College Station. They were in Munich for a few days before also leaving on a river cruise. They placed their order and joined me for lunch. We had a nice conversation before they needed to move on as well. 

So overall, I had a great day off in Munich. I got all my errands run, did a little sightseeing, and met some nice America tourists.  My batteries are recharged and I’ll be ready to move on deeper into the German countryside tomorrow. I hope everyone has a great weekend starting tomorrow. 

Start:  Ebenhausen

Finish:  Munich

Distance:  13

Total:  1253

I had a leisurely 13 mile stroll into Munich after a nice rest last night at the Klosterladen Schaftlarn monastery near Ebenhausen. Especially memorable will be the dinner I had last night  at the monastery restaurant. Two things made dinner so nice; first, the food was amazing, and second, I met some real live Americans there and we had a nice hour-long conversation. 

As I was sitting alone outside eating my awesome schnitzel dinner, I couldn’t help but notice a family with three little girls and another gentleman sitting a couple of tables away from me. They were clearly speaking English learned in America; as opposed to the queen’s English. After a few minutes, the lady of the family walked by my table and as she passed by I got her attention and told her I overheard their English and asked where they were from. She introduced herself as Charmian Eichelberger and said they were originally from Parker, Colorado. We talked for a bit and then I went over and met her husband Jon and their friend Sanford Jones, originally from Massachusetts. They all now live and work in the Munich area. It was very nice to talk to someone from home. This is one aspect of this walk that has been different from my walk across America. I don’t have nearly as many opportunities to interact and socialize with others on this walk. That’s mostly because of the language barrier. So when I encounter someone I can have a conversation with, it’s really nice. 

I got back on the bike trail this morning after a brief walk through the woods. The terrain was mostly flat and after about 6-7 miles in the countryside I was clearly getting into the suburbs of Munich. Lucky for me, Germany really takes care of their walkers and bicyclists.  The sidewalks and bike trails were wide and plentiful. I didn’t have to walk on the road all day. I got into the main part of the city around noon, grabbed some lunch, and found my way to the Hampton Inn just west of city center. It’s nice to stay in an American style hotel occasionally. Air conditioning, some English language TV stations, and even wash cloths in the bathrooms makes a difference every now and then. I’ll be here for two nights as tomorrow is a day off. I’ve got a couple of errands to run tomorrow, but because I’ve been here several times as a tourist, I’ll probably give my feet a rest for most of the day. 

That’s about it for Day 82. Thanks for reading.