Day 3 Langenburg-Schwäbish Hall, 22 km

No breakfast report today, though it was good and I got to take the leftovers for lunch - which was lucky because nothing was open!

The day started with the stamp. I had a very long conversation with the woman who owns the pension about pilgrims and stamps. She thought she needed a special
Jakobsweg stamp, but, of course, she can just use the stamp for her business, and so that’s what we did. And it was a good game for her kids. I got one stamp and they got about half a dozen each.

So when I met up with Angelika a few minute ms later, I asked her if she had been able to get a stamp. No she hadn’t. And it was too bad, because the Rathaus (where you could get one during the week) would be closed on Saturday. But then we looked across the street, and this big magnificent house, which we thought was the Rathaus, had its front door open. And so we go up the stairs, and what we can see inside is this big long table, like for meetings. And there is an older woman and a man at the table. I honestly thought they were getting ready for some kind of community event. And then Angelika says, we are here to get stamps for the Jakobsweg. And then there is this long conversation, and some laughing, and I am trying to follow what they are saying, and it turns out that we are not standing in the Rathaus, we are in the woman’s home!!! And yet they invited us to sit down, offered us something to drink, and, well, she did have a stamp! It’s a circle of leaves, and she draws little pictures inside it when she sends postcards. Anyway, the whole thing was hilarious. And super sweet. So we now have stamps from Langenburg.

The way out of the village is a descent. And it only takes a few minutes along a path to get to Bächlingen. We looked inside the very beautiful old Protestant church. Apparently it’s one of the oldest in the region. Painted ceiling over the alter. Super simple room. And then we went across (through?) a covered bridge that had a little book exchange library and some cool Madonna sculptures that were at least partly made out of fungus!

The rest of the morning included a sweaty uphill, some big open agricultural fields, a cemetery, more apples, and a very muddy wet path along a stream. We lost the path three times today!!!!!!! All of them were places where the markers were not super visible and we were not being vigilant. Yay to gps for sorting us out.

We passed four lost things waiting to be found: a pair of glasses, two small toy cars, a hat, and one of those scarves that is like a loose tube that you pull over your head.

We’d been hoping to go to a little supermarket bakery half way along today. But, like many things in Germany on a Saturday, the bakery closed at noon and we walked down the hill into the village at 12:05. But then, when we walked by the little supermarket, which was closed, we saw a sign on the door that said: if the store is closed, you can use your credit card to let yourself in and then you can buy stuff and check yourself out. So that’s what we did. Wild.

Lunch (aka leftovers from breakfast and a banana and quark [why can’t we get it at home?]) was eaten on a bench outside a kind of municipal hall where a woman and (maybe) her daughter were hauling in baskets and boxes of flowers and other fall things to decorate a huge room for a party for the woman and her husband who were celebrating both of their 66th birthdays.

And then a few kilometres along an asphalt bike path, and a few more through the woods. In the last village we went through before Schwäbish Hall (we missed one on one of our wrong turnings!!! Yup. We missed a whole village!) we walked by today’s castle, which seems to be a private home. And then we walked by a sign that said “schnapps tasting. “ Neither of us would have gone on our own, but we did. At first it seemed like no one was there, but then a man came out. And no they no longer do schnapps tastings, that was his mother-in-law. But, they do have schnapps that they made themselves and maybe we would like to taste it? Oh, and you are from Canada? I worked in Mississauga a few weeks a year for a few years. I love Canada! He and his wife showed us the still (which is locked by the government with a little tag, and if they want to use the still, they have to tell the government, who will then come and close it again when they are finished. And that way they can get taxes on the alcohol that people make.). We each had a glass of their excellent apple pear schnapps. It was fantastic and super fun. And maybe that’s why we lost the path about a kilometer on?

We sorted ourselves out and walked down a big hill into Schwäbish Hall. The “hall” here refers to salt - salt mines, trade? Like Hallstatt in Austria. Swabian salt something or other.

We stopped for a radler at a cafe. The town is super quiet. Not surprising with almost all of the stores closed. After dropping my stuff at the apartment where I am staying, I went to a free concert in the humongous St Michael’s church. And then out for dinner at a vegetarian Turkish restaurant. A German dinner still eludes me!

Today was supposed to be 22 km but my always under-counting phone called it 25. I am guessing it was more than that. Weather was overcast, between about 8 and 14. Perfect!Read more