DAY 229 - BERG TO SARREGUEMINES: 21.4 MILES (42,800 STEPS)

8 December, 2011

21.4  miles (Total: 2241.1 miles)–42,800 (Total: 4,791,201 steps)

Brothers are often different. I am sure this is merely a function of competing for attention. If the first child is wild then the second is often compliant and if the first child is compliant then the second child is wild. Perhaps for this reason Rob Parsons at CARE for the Family instructs that if you have a compliant first child then whatever you do, don’t have a second. David was the first child and was compliant, scholarly, popular, spiritual, organised and a natural leader, which didn’t exactly leave me an awful lot of room to grow into.

I recall being contacted by my former Headteacher at Heathfield Senior High, Mr Fearon after I was elected as an MP—he was in search of another ‘old boy’ to offer as role model to offer to students alongside Paul Gascoigne (aka Gazza) and clearly thought he had landed on the right one. I was introduced before the school assembly as a “distinguished former student of the school who had been Head Boy, a leading organiser of extra-curricular groups such as the British Association of Young Scientists, Young Ornithologist Club and the Christian Union and had an exemplary academic record which had secured him a place at Northumbria University before beginning his career in politics.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was actually the other guy for whom the only remarkable thing about his five ‘O’ level results was that they spelt F-U-D-G-E and that the only time I ever met him was a rather painful encounter for me after I had forged my father’s signature on an absence note—with my typical luck Mr Fearon insured his car with my father and was able to show his actual handwriting on a Renewal Notice he had just received.

I was always very proud to have such a wonderful big brother and still am. Today David still has all the qualities which he displayed in his youth and they are being used to tremendous effect in West Oxfordshire amongst voluntary organisations—if David Cameron was ever looking to re-launch the ‘Big Society’ then he should simply present David, explain what he does and say, “go ye therefore and do likewise.”

Why did I go off on that tangent?  Well to explain a difference of approach which was to be influential on the days walking; I had spotted a possible route which would shave a few miles off the walk by avoiding Sarre Union and veering off on farms roads at Rimsdorf. David had suggested we got some more detailed maps or perhaps even drove the route, but that sounded too much like ‘preparation’ for me, so I headed off with a tourist map of the area. I took the farm track, which I thought the map was referring to, and before long I was climbing fences and trying to trek across muddy fields. I could see the road I needed to be on in the distance, but made a complete hash of getting there so it actually took longer. Still when you don’t have the mindset to prepare, you must learn through experience or the ‘School of hard knocks’, as some have put it. This I did and realised that the line referred not to a farm track, but to a forest track and from then on I made good progress on a very pleasant walk through the working forest to Herbitzheim. David was waiting for me at the railway station in Sarreguemines and offered to take me to the Tourist Information to get some more detailed maps for the next day—this time I agreed.

DAY 228 - SAVERNE TO BERG: 21 MILES (42,400 STEPS)

7 December, 2011

21 miles (Total: 2219.7 miles)–42,000 (Total: 4,748,401 steps)

The weather has taken a significant turn for the worse with driving hail on exposed roads and no tree cover is a challenge, especially when you are walking into it; there is a feeling of constant pins and needles striking your face. If the hail posed one set of problems, then the rain provided another – that was especially the case around Phalsbourg; it was like having a freezing cold power shower for an hour. The result was that even though my electronics: camera, phone and iTouch were in so called ‘waterproof pouches’ the deluge was just too heavy and all of them cut out which caused an immediate communications problem as I was meant to rendezvous with David and required a telephone—fortunately I had a back up phone with a Swiss SIM card which was still working. I have had problems before with the rain of course and it has shorted out the electrics—the worst previous time was travelling from Pluzine to Focha across the Montenegro/Bosnia/Sebska border. The problem then, as has happened a few times, is that being without the camera means I can’t take photos with the GPS on my Lumix so as to populate the clever map on my web-site showing my route. Still in Saarbruken I went to a supermarket to get my secret weapon—rice! Rice is fantastic at absorbing moisture which is why there is often a small bag of it in electrical items you buy. I bought a big bag, dismantled the phones/camera etc and then left them over night.

Most times that does the trick, but this time my iTouch was a goner—this is such a shame as I was just getting in to my French lessons with ‘Coffee-break French’ although I was getting just a tad annoyed that no one asked me what my name was, where I was from or if I could introduce my brother and I didn’t need to ask anyone what the time was or for directions to the railway station.  I also use the Facetime function on the iTouch as a sharper video contact with friends and family than Skype. Still two bits of good news, one was that my precious new Kindle and my trusty Toshiba laptop were both in my rucksack in Strasbourg so spared the shower and I have since discovered that as my iTouch is still under warranty, I can take it into the Apple store in Paris and get a replacement once I have picked the rice grains out of the headphone socket and worked out what is French for: “My iTouch got soaked in the rain. I tried to dry it out with rice. It was bought in March this year and so is still under warranty. Can I have a replacement?”   

DAY 227 - STRASBOURG TO SAVERNE: 21.7 MILES (43,400 STEPS)

6 December, 2011—Big Brother

21.7 miles (Total: 2198.7 miles)–43,400 (Total: 4,706,401 steps)

I set off from Strasbourg knowing that I had a very tough week of walking ahead—140 miles to Luxembourg. We all need a little help and mine came in the form of my big brother, David who kindly answered the call for assistance in getting my rucksack from Strasbourg to Luxembourg. We used Saarbrucken as a base on the trek as David had hired a car, which is always a huge advantage in the walk as it removes the need to find accommodation en route.

That said, my first night on the trek when I arrived in Saverne and stayed at the National Hotel and the final night of the leg when I stayed in Remich at the Hotel St Nicholas, were two of the best value stays I have had on the trip. What makes one place better than another? Answer, the people. What do I look for in a hotel or guest house along the way? Well the first requirement is wi-fi. I can manage without a bed and a shower, but on the walk I cannot survive long without wi-fi in order to update the web-site and respond to the 40-50 emails a day on the Truce campaign as it reaches a critical stage. Next I look for a buffet breakfast, I have developed camel like qualities and can store vast quantities of food from a breakfast and a good one can last me all day, saving 20 euros on snacks and lunch. I have been well tutored in the art of making up additional cheese sandwiches, bagging nuts and dried apricots, and filling my water bottle with orange juice. Finally, I am of course looking to keep it all within my 50 euro per day budget, which now I am out of Switzerland is manageable—providing you have wi-fi to search out the best deals, which brings me back to the first priority.