Start: Gieboldenhausen
Finish: Osterode am Harz
Distance: 16
Total: 1575
Today got off to a slow start. It ended even slower.
I went down to the restaurant for breakfast at 8:00 and there was a steady shower coming down outside. That was surprising because the forecast didn’t say anything about rain. Luckily, I was scheduled for a short 13 mile day so getting a late start wouldn’t be a big deal. The gentleman who ran the hotel said I could hang out in my room until the rain stopped so after breakfast, I went back to my room and worked on some lodging plans down the road. I also checked the hourly weather forecast which said the rain would end around 11:00. And right on time, it stopped at 11:00 and I started walking.
Today’s route had me walking on the highway for the first three miles. With the wet roads, that didn’t sound like a good plan. So I backtracked a mile and got on the bike path. It lasted for about four miles where I transitioned to a back road with little traffic. Where the bike trail ended I found an interesting little cafe called Tom’s Hutte (Hut) for lunch. It’s the first time I’ve had a cheeseburger where the hamburger patty was cooked in a deep fryer. Interesting; but it tasted good.
After my deep fried cheeseburger, I got on the backroad for about three miles. Then, my route said to get off the road and walk on some trails straight up and down a 1200’ tall hill, plus part of that route went through woods for which I could not tell what the trail consisted of. After walking a few hundred yards up the trail to assess the situation, I turned around and got back on the road. Unfortunately, by taking the road it added another two miles to my route. So all total, my 13 mile day turned into a 16 mile day. I still got to my hotel by 4:45.
Tomorrow I have a 21 mile day. It wasn’t originally planned that way but the town I was suppose to walk to tomorrow had two hotels and both are full. So I’m combining the next two short days into one long one. That will put me another day ahead of schedule but I’ll figure out what to do about that later.
That’s all for today. Happy Friday! JB.
