At only 16 km (10 mi) and a 1760 ft climb (half of yesterday’s) you’d think this would have been a cake walk. Well it was the stream crossings and mud that showed me who’s boss: the final score today was Kurt five and streams two and mud came in the winner. I didn’t fall into either of them, but I slipped on some rocks and ended up stepping into the water and there were a half dozen places where I just couldn’t walk around the mud, so I had to bite the bullet. I took my shoes and socks into the shower with me. Shoes are drying in the bidet—clever, huh!
Twice I said to myself, “You’ve got to be kidding.” I missed my turn by about 100 yards, which ended up turning off a six-foot wide muddy path onto a steep uphill one-foot wide path that the deer would use. Then about a mile up this path, a bunch of trees were cut right across the path, blocking your way. Luckily I found a bypass.
It was fun at the end of the day to find my German buddy sitting at a bar/cafe. We had to compare stream and mud stories!