The 25.5 km (16 mi) seemed to go by quickly and ended a few hundreds of meters off the track at a pleasant country inn, the Landgasthof 'Zur Quelle.' As I entered they were at their peak lunch-hour service, and still the receptionist went out of her way to get me a 40% pilgrim's reduction. I was overjoyed for that and for having beaten the storm by a few hours! As you read these lines you might even feel the thundering vibrations!

As I walked past a paddle-boat rental on a dammed stream (the Kitzig that flows into the Main further downstream) my mind wandered off at the endless possibilities for fun. One of them is rehydrating with a good glass of beer (like the one in the pic).

As a summary, I'm thankful for having achieved 462 miles, and am looking forward to another 1,519. Not repeating what I walked last year and some "shortcuts" with Eddie brought the expected total to just under 2,000. I feel great and in a groove, and, barring those unforeseen things, expect to finish in about 120 days--one step at a time!

The day sprinkled me with "nice": an easy 24.3 km (15 mi); only 72 deg with some clouds; no rain, and mostly paved secondary or pedestrian/bike only roads. Many were next to the road (as in the pic). Saw an occasional blue/yellow shell marker and my brain drenched me in "happy juices"--I suddenly didn't feel alone out here but in a bigger pilgrims' world, past, present, and future. I picked up my pace, each time I saw a marker.

Tried to get lodging at the church, but no one was home. The only alternative was the city hotel listed by Booking.com for 65€, but after asking for a pilgrim's discount, she couldn't help me out, but gave me their std. rate of 59.50€. Then she called me that her mgr. allowed a rate of 52.50€ with breakfast on the house! There are trail Angels! And it's a beautiful room--too nice for a "pilgrim."

And reference Day-43, I finished walking the Fulda Gap. Four more days and I'll pass Frankfurt am Main.

Walked 29 km with a 2 km overshot error (18mi) --the constant drizzle kept me from checking my iPhone too often, and then I paid the price. I see where France and the rest of Germany is getting soaked--they're even moving some of the Louvre's art to higher ground.

The intermediate goal today was Fulda, a name that's resonated with me for over 50 years as the famous Fulda Gap through which we expected a Soviet ground attack as strategically the most likely during the Cold War years. It became a mantra all day.

I had to find a good graphic to show that ever since I started the German phase at Eisenach, it's essentially the start of the Fulda Gap, and as I continue, I follow the southern branch of the Gap when I arrive at Schlüchtern tomorrow night (it's also shown on the map). I imagined the thousands of tanks roaring around me--perfect terrain for them. Thank God the attack never came to pass!

Walked 31 km (19+ mi) all on paved roads (but much was on the muddy shoulder to avoid traffic). After Vacha there is no official waymarked trail until Paris, France. The route to there is a Google Maps creation when tying together the requisite Via Regia towns using the "walk" criterion. In Paris, recommended trails take over.

Most of the road was up and down but not as steep as that 12% stretch--that was good training for the del Norte! Lots of mining in these hills and with them the familiar "Glück Auf" greeting that miners give each other to wish them luck in opening a new lode or new rich shaft.

One of the major highlights of the day was crossing the old east-west border, even with one of the watch towers nearby. If the events in 1989 hadn't taken place, I wouldn't have been able to make this part of the journey--thank you to all who made it happen!

Am staying at a Hünefeld parish training center: a couch that's adequately comfy--see the pic. Hünefeld is a precious town with lots of Fachbau houses (exposed timber houses) that gives it a special flavor.

Took the long route of 23 km (14+ mi) on paved roads rather than through muddy, wet fields (rain was predicted earlier, but came with a downpour vengeance for the last hour). I stopped at a Gasthaus in Kieselbach and they served me the local specialty: Thüringische Klöße mit Schweinefilet (I'm in the state of Thüringen--and their big potato dumplings were a treat!!!)--I was the only one in the restaurant, but then it was only 11 AM.

On arrival at Vacha, I picked up the key to the hostel at the bookstore and was awarded a pin and a little certificate for completing the Ökumenischen Pilgerweg (the special German part of the Via Regia/Camino that ends here). The Via Regia/Camino continues on just not the "Ecumenical Part."

Vacha is precious, but few people seem to be out--the rain a while ago might explain that. I love the Fachbau style of houses and captured a pic of their city hall in that style. You can also see my tasty lunch and very modern room (in fact, the hostel is a remodel in a very old building).

On Day-40, May 30 (Memorial Day), I spent 6 hrs on regional trains (4 different ones) traveling from Görlitz to Eisenach. (Look at pic with section on train for bikes.) Arrived just in time to get a bed, as the last two nuns were leaving. It all worked out well staying at the Diakonnesian House (5€ for bed and 5€ for breakfast).

After a hearty breakfast, they had a prayer service where they asked me to describe me and my pilgrimage. At the conclusion, the sister in charge presented me with a memento--it was very touching!

Began my walk at 9 AM, first along a country road, then a rough trail into thick forest--mostly a gentle climb all the way. My biggest challenge (in all my 40 days) came when the trail ended at a locked gate to backyard of a house at a point where the nettles were waist high. My only out was to climb up a 20-ft embankment up to a road, but the slope was steep with loose humus and wet leaves and nothing to grab hold of.

For 30 min. I feared falling back down into the nettles--but I finally made it. All was easy after that, even walking through wet vegetation.

Great pilgrims' hostel and well stocked--no stores or eateries in this small village. Will meet the owner at around 6 PM. Goal is Vacha tomorrow--the official end of the German Ökumenischen Weg.

Great 27-km hike over narrow, paved country roads lead us into Görlitz. Incidentally, this last stretch lays claim to being genuinely on the Via Regia through countless archeological discoveries.

Like many intermediate milestones, this one was bittersweet in that the Polish phase ended and the German phase began. Under way, we stopped at Poland's oldest tree, the 1500-year old yew tree--of course, I expected something of the size of a redwood, but encountered instead a smallish struggling evergreen. At its age, however, I still paid him my deepest respects! Same species, BTW that the churches of peace were made of!

A few iconic pics are included of Görlitz. Now obtaining a place to stay at the Peregrinus Haus was worth blogging about. Although I has tried to get email confirmation, I was too late. A knock on their door and we were greeted by a person who turned out to be the groom of a huge wedding party on Saturday--he and his new bride et al were cleaning up a bit--no way they were authorized to let us stay there and there was no staff. After being visibly disappointed, his father (fairly high up in the Peregrinus chain of command) gave the go ahead telephonically. Needless to say, were most grateful! We celebrated our hike through Poland with a great dinner and glass of good wine.

Yesterday's rain caused us to plan our gondola trip up the mountain this morning and then take a bus to Luban around noon. Well, it continued raining this morning so our climb to the gondola was a wet one. Once on top of the 3600 ft mountain, the rain stopped and we began a hike toward the Czech Republic border, maybe a few kms. The path got so rocky, I bowed out for fear of getting a bone bruise--so I missed it by 600 m!

The pics show the gondola and the bottom right the hall of their big hotel--note the wood-carved walls and ceilings.

On the way back down, we again filled up on the "miracle" water. See Joyce Summer's comment for yesterday on what potential ailments this water might cure! Once at the bottom, the downpour was relentless and the bus schedule showed nothing go Luban today. A quick look at another night here vs a taxi (at only $25) to Luban turned into a no-brainer. While in the cab, I reserved us a "great" deal with Booking.com: a brand new Novotel Hotel suite for the two of us for $38.

Also tried to reserve something at Görlitz at the German border for tomorrow night--YES, one more day in Poland.

Walked the short distance of 6 km from the Bożkowice Wroclaw University Retreat Centers to Zlotniki (gold workers), so named because of the gold mines that existed in the vicinity. We then took a bus to the spa town of Świeradów-Zdrój, a favorite town of Eddie's, mainly because of the beautiful views from the nearby mountain.

But when we arrived and tried to look for lodging, we soon discovered it was very pricey and nearly zero availability, unless you went some 10 miles away. We felt bummed about that and the downpour that we barely avoided by having lunch under a large umbrella. Eddie checked in with the Local Information Office and located a cute room at a private residence for $15 for both of us!

The rain hasn't let up, so we postponed our gondola ride until the morning after which we'll head to Luban by bus (we already walked all except 1.5 km to Luban when we veered south to Olszyna).

Some interesting tidbits on the way to Świeradów-Zdrój: old German farming implements the Germans abandoned when they were ordered to leave Silesia at the end of WW II; Patton's Army apparently had pushed as far as Orlowice here in Poland (wow); and in Giebułtów a monk who was dispensing sins yet to be committed apparently helped trigger Luther's Reformation (I have no reference, except Eddie!).

When we first arrived here, we filled our bottles with their famous spring water laden with curative powers. I've also included some shots of the main street and their huge hotel.

Got an early start so as to make the 5.5 km to Bożkowice by 9:30. We took a look at the "castle" that rents for $250/night--the security guard let us in to look at the fabulous view and he gave us a stamp for our Credentials (1st close-up pic). Then we proceeded to our place (another 0.5 mi) to arrive at the University of Wroclaw Retreat Center nestled in the middle of the forest with 20 some cabins ($17.50 for the two of us per night). No restaurant or store anywhere around! Lots of volleyball in evening.

We got settled by 11 am and took off for a cross-country hike around the lake (actually a dam-filled reservoir). Lots of steep ups and downs--some that I wouldn't risk. Amazing paths around the lake that took us over two dams (each with hydro plants), but the highlight was Zamek Czocha, a 13th century castle (pic of it is at a distance). We didn't take the tour, but ate there instead. Just imagine the setting!

And so after six hours we made it around the lake--oh, that included coffee, goodies, and chitchat with a "friend" of Eddie's.

Gray skies accompanied us all day. We walked 28 km (17.5 mi) just a few km less than our goal of Luban would have been. We changed destination midcourse (from Luban to Olszyna) based on Eddie wanting to show me the Bożkowice area only about 6 km from Olszyna: beautiful lake, castle/hotel, etc.

The pics show the typical trails we encountered. Personally, I didn't like the deep ruts previously made by tractors while the ground was very muddy that had since hardened to the point of easily twisting your ankle. Out of caution, my pace slowed dramatically over such terrain. I've also included one of a field that when the grain matures might make the trail disappear!

We also noticed how one church steeple was newly surfaced with copper. Its "cousin" down the road still awaits a new copper facing.

Great walking day because the heat retreated and the forecasted showers for later in the day never materialized. We had a huge adventure trying to get back on our trail after it abruptly disappeared.

PocketEarth showed us where we had to go, but we just couldn't get there "easily." We went for over a mile in rapeseed fields over waist high. Pollen everywhere! The picture shows how high. Then we escaped down a slippery 10-ft bank to explore going along a defunct rail track overgrown with thistles and nettles and whatnot! My greatest fear at that moment was falling head down into the nettles (Brennesel) as I did once in Austria. Finally found a way to get back up the steep bank and on along our way--I was in disbelief for miles afterwards.

Several hours later we found ourselves plodding through a grain field that had promise of repeating the trail disappearance act. The pic shows that there wasn't much of a path! We made it, however, but wondered how.

Wonderful views along the way, and superb forest paths as shown in the pics.

We're staying at a Caritas facility (donativo only), and not many here. Our room is set up with two-double bunks, and luckily we have it to ourselves. Dinner and breakfast was a shopping trip to the grocery store: rolls, cheese, marinated herring filets, apples, and yogurt. BTW at the other end of the spectrum, the breakfast spread this morning was the best so far (included in the $22.50/person price): eggs, sausage, umpteen kinds of lunch meats and cheeses (incl tasty prosciutto) and the list goes on. We left with extra for lunch and more!

Summer weather caught up with us--I started and ended our 24-km (15-mi) walk in one short-sleeve layer. About half way through we married up with the Via Regia again and stayed on many shaded, low/traffic farm roads.

The overwhelming importance of this area around Legnica remains the Mongolian invasion during 1241. The battle here was a crushing blow for European forces, but the Mongols had no immediate intention of conquering more territory to the west, rather focusing on their conquests in Hungary. The map I'm posting that we discovered in Legnica by its castle last evening shows the region, several of the battles (with cross swords), and the various trails (szlak). Interestingly, it has the Via Regia and the Szlak sw Jakobu (St Jakob = St James) going through Legnica rather than skirting around it!

Zlotoryja is noted for its late 12th century discovery of gold (one of its earlier names being Goldberg). That alone helped bring it onto the Via Regia "map" as being on the road tying Leipzig with Wroclaw (Breslau)! Most of the gold miners fought in the 1241 Battle of Legnica and perished.

Had an amazing time sightseeing at Świdnica, Eddie's home town. We selected five points of interest:

(1) the gothic church of Sts. Wenceslas and Stanislaus with a uniquely kneeling St. John Paul II next to it;

(2) the Evangelical Church of Peace, a UNESCO Heritage site, built from 1656–57 (we saw the other Church of Peace yesterday)--notice the wooden nails to fasten the timbers (no metal allowed) and we had a look at the neglected graves around the church--neglected because the Germans were expelled from the area;

(3) the town square where we enjoyed a great local beer;

(4) the Red Baron's memorable sights, including where he lived, an unmarked memorial wall (with graffiti) and where he attended first grade (sadly, there's no fuss made over anything--the Soviets apparently cleaned out his belongings when they left--yet Manfred von Richthofen, is the greatest ace fighter pilot who ever lived credited with 80 planes shot down; and

(5) lastly a life-size statue of someone sitting on the "throne" with his naked behind exposed--the statue to be found at the outskirts of the town in front of the sewage plant entrance.

We left the Camino Trail heading south to Eddie's home town of Swidnica. Due to available south-bound train connections, we walked south off the trail from Legnickie Pole about 13 km to the town of Jawor. But another reason for Jawor was its unique post-30-years-war church made just of wood, clay, and straw!

The treaty of Westphalia of 1648 (after the 30-years war) permitted the Lutherans in the Roman Catholic parts of Silesia to build three churches from wood, loam and straw outside the city walls, without steeples and church bells. The construction time was limited to one year! Amazing piece of work. The second church under this treaty, we'll visit tomorrow here in Swidnica. I've included a set of pics.

Since 2001, these two remaining churches are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

We trekked for 29 km (18 mi) and we both feel it--hence a short blog. Little intermittent cell service in this village of 900+. Pilgrim-priced lodging ($6.50/person) and food store for dinner--great picnic stuff (big jar rolled marinated herrings, bread, Edam cheese, fresh tomatoes, cold beer---WOW). Life is good.

Couple of pics show the trail. At one point we ran out of trail, finding a dead end at a waste-high rapeseed field. We fought on through waste-high grain and weeds grabbing at my sandals to make me fall--what to do??? We persevered but slowed our pace to a crawl. Then PocketEarth showed a nearby trail that rescued us (mind you, all maps were loaded onto the iPhone back home in California--no cell service needed!). The last pic shows us on an overpass over the A4, an "interstate" traversing Central Europe.

We followed Jakob's advice on today's routing--our friend of the Camino who lives in Sobotka. It worked out well to get in a 15 km walk through dense fields that ended abruptly in impassably high grain (one pic captures that).

Środa Śląska is a town of about 9,000 in lower Slesien, that belonged to Germany up to 1945, then transferred to Poland and ethnically cleansed of Germans as per the Potsdam Agreement. We marveled at the bell tower of St. Andrew's Church. Incidentally, nowhere else have I seen such majestic structures built with bricks than here in Poland! At St. Andrew's we also noted the Camino mileage marker--that was a motivator! Only 84 mi. to the German border.

First some logistics to move from a hotel to pilgrims quarters not far away. While waiting for the bus, we visited the local museum that immersed is in local discoveries of pre-homo sapient tools/bones (100,000 to 60,000 years ago). Then off by bus to Wroclaw for a fantastic sightseeing adventure. We took a 90-minute "golf cart" tour that covered every nook and cranny of the old town: won't bore you with dozens of pics, only one of the old city hall. We decided to go back afterwards to the national museum--what a gem of medieval art. We only include four unique pieces: a statue of the holy trinity (God the father is rarely depicted); a pieta painting; one of numerous triptychs, each more stirring than the last; and finally, a painting that gave us pause--pilgrims attacked by the local crowds, a practice quite common in centuries gone by.

After returning to Sabotka, we called a "friend of the Camino" whom we met earlier in the morning. He met us at a local restaurant and enriched our experience! The connection of Sabotka to the Camino (recall that we're 50 some km off the trail) is that early pilgrims used Mount Sleza as a waymarker--a prominent landmark that could be seen miles away. Consequently it became a part of the Camino network with a local St James Church and St James statues (see pic where we're standing under the main gate into the medieval city of Sabotka.

Today we made it up as we went along. After walking only about 15 km (9mi), we didn't see any places to stay overnight and a contact to call fell through, so we caught three buses in all deciding to get to Wroclaw (40 km) and beyond (off course) to Sabotka, another 36 km (22 mi) to the southwest.

Sabotka lies on the northern slope of Mount Sleza. Sabotka is on a Polish Camino, one of several that funnel into one in western Poland. Mount Sleza was the site of a sanctuary of the Celtic Boii (a Gallic tribe of the Iron Age) and gives its name to Silesia. I found it interesting that Mount Sleza in ancient times was the pagan Solar cult center. The area was Christianized in the 10th Century.

We'll visit the Church of St James (1738) tomorrow, one of the main draws for us. Pics for today include a glimpse of the roads, an impromptu lunch in the forest, and a distant shot of Mount Sleza.

We left our hunting lodge at around 8 am, and started on the Camino trail expecting about 27 km (17 mi). About two hours into it we found ourselves walking on a levee in tall, wet grass. Our socks were drenched and to top it off, we went in the wrong direction for about a mile! Enough of that! We stopped in the next village, after making up the error, changed socks, and decided to take the highway. The narrow shoulders made it nerve-wracking--never again--we'll take the wet socks (I have waterproof ones if I get advance warning!).

No pictures--too dangerous from the shoulders. And our $10/person place is still in the suburbs.